$ 4 Billion and a Free Lunch

President’s Last Ditch Efforts To Force Amnesty on Americans

Is Met With Outrage By Those Who Remind Him: “No Means No!”

Lancaster, PA/June 18, 2007: The Constitution Party  joins Americans across party lines in expressing indignation at President Bush’s heavy-handed attempts to force passage of a dangerous and unwanted immigration bill (S134 even after the bill was rejected and encourages vigilance as this bill is “revived.”

The so-called Kyl-Kennedy bill contains provisions for granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and was soundly rejected by Republican senators (only 7 of 45 voted for the bill). After the demise of the bill President Bush made a rare trip to Capitol Hill for a lunch meeting with Republican senators aimed at getting them to change their minds and support the onerous bill.

After that Bush offered money as an incentive saying: “I support an amendment that will provide $4.4 billion in immediate additional funding for securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site.” 

“This bill cannot be fixed with free lunches, billions of dollars and endless rhetoric about ‘securing’ borders. It’s a bad bill and it needs to die,” said Constitution Party National Committee Chairman Jim Clymer. “The president has once again betrayed his conservative base with his ‘in your face’ determination to make this bill law. Bush’s comment ‘See you at the bill signing’ illustrates just how contemptuous he is of the will of the people,” Clymer further noted.

The Constitution Party, the country’s third largest political party based on voter registrations (Ballot Access News) applauds the millions of ‘no amnesty’ calls made to the capitol switchboard to register alarm over provisions in this bill. “The disdain for this bill is clear. After the lunch-time arm-twisting Bush had the arrogance to offer $4 billion when for the last six years his administration has not only refused to enforce immigration law but has punished Border Patrol Agents for doing their jobs,” Clymer pointed out.

Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, imprisoned since January, were prosecuted for actions in the course of performing their duties in seeking to arrest an illegal Mexican drug smuggler. The two Americans have distinguished military and Border Patrol service records and face a combined sentence of 23 years in prison.

The Constitution Party is the only political party to pass a resolution condemning the treatment of the Border Patrol Agents.

“You can almost hear a death rattle coming from the Republican Party, already hemorrhaging voters after years of pushing an agenda virtually indistinguishable from that of the Democrats. The president’s pandering to a globalist agenda on immigration while ignoring the wishes of American citizens will be the last straw for the Grand Old Party. Voters are recognizing they must seek an alternative to this madness in a party that respects sovereignty and borders,” Clymer added.

The Constitution Party opposes any immigration bill that gives legal status to illegal aliens. The rejected bill (forced through by the Senate without due time for debate) and the reworked version are, by definition, amnesty bills. The heavy-handed actions of the president and the Senate to force this bill’s passage have no place in a constitutional republic.

The Constitution Party supports enforcement of current immigration laws (USC Title 8, Chapter 12) which call for fines and imprisonment for illegal entry into the United States.