Hardbeatnews, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. June 29, 2007: Saying “Congress really needs to prove to the American people that it can come together on hard issues,” President George Bush yesterday voiced disappointment as an ‘on-again, off-again’ immigration reform bill died in the Senate.

“I'm sorry the Senate was unable to reach agreement on the bill this morning,” said the President from Rhode Island yesterday, hours after the bill was defeated after failing to obtain the 60 needed votes. “Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congress's failure to act on it is a disappointment.”

Bush for his part, however, thanked the members of the Senate and his administration who worked on the bill.

The President has been a consistent and ardent supporter on reform, much to the angst of many within his party. He tried desperately to restart a vote on the bill after it was defeated earlier this month, even paying a rare visit to Capitol Hill to meet with key Republicans.

But at the end it was members of the Republican Party who largely turned their back on their leader and the bill, leaving millions again stuck in a quagmire. Only 33 Democrats, 12 Republicans and one independent voted to advance the bill, while 15 Democrats joined 37 Republicans and one independent to block it.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy group in Washington, summed it up best yesterday, insisting that immigrant workers and families hunger for legalization.

“Immigrant workers and families will continue to live in fear, die in the desert, and be subject to exploitation,” said Sharry. “Local communities will continue to be roiled by federal inaction and local ordinances. Voters will continue to ask why their elected leaders seem incapable of solving tough problems.”

But he remained confident that in the long-term, the public and its leaders will come to see that the only way to bring immigrants and immigration out of the shadows and under the rule of law is by combining enforcement at the border and in the workplace with enhanced legal channels for workers and families and a path to eventual citizenship for the nation’s 12 million undocumented immigrants.

“Moreover, in the long-term, we believe that politicians who deny the fastest growing group of new voters a warm embrace will find themselves on the wrong side of history,” added Sharry. “We may have fallen short today, but we remain optimistic that America’s best days are still ahead of her, and that broad, just, and humane immigration reform is still a matter of when, not if.”

The bill would have allowed the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants already in the US to work legally by obtaining a Social Security number and work permit, rent apartments without a hassle, change jobs and get driver’s licenses. But the status would have been probationary and they would have been required to pass a background check, remain employed, maintain a clean criminal record, pay a $1,000 fine, and receive a counterfeit-proof biometric card to apply for a work visa or "Z visa."

However, visas for parents of U.S. citizens would have been capped, while green cards for the siblings and adult children of U.S. citizens and green card holders would have been eliminated.

Additionally, the plan, if it had passed into law, would have created a temporary worker program; provide tools for employers to verify the eligibility of the workers they hire and put border security and enforcement first. – Hardbeatnews.com