The Iraq resolution; the Republicans' government spending bill; the pork-laden terrorism bill; the ethics bill; lobby reform: all of these were supposed to be guaranteed quick enactment at the beginning of the 110th Congress--but none of them were enacted.
"Immigration reform," on the other hand, involved so many tricky political cross-currents--on both sides of the aisle--that it had been thought to be unachievable.
Thus, in one short month, Congress moved from an agenda consisting of popular "can't fail" measures that failed--to a "can't-pass" agenda that they somehow thought would pass. In retrospect, it is "interesting" that anyone assumed the "can't-pass" measures could pass, after the "can't fail" measures had failed.
True, at press time, the Senate is going through an arduous, arcane procedure involving what is known as a "clay pigeon amendment"--probably, at best, only to produce a bill that will be "blue-slipped" and thrown in the wastebasket when it reaches the House. Furthermore, the procedure is so "locked in" that it will probably be impossible to cure the bill's constitutional infirmities on the Senate floor. We will talk about this strange second battle next month. . . .
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