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Newt Gingrich gives kudos to the Mike Pence immigration reform plan in his latest Human Events column:

I hope the House will take a serious look at Rep. Pence's thoughtful and pragmatic approach to solving this issue.

As mentioned yesterday, the Senate this week is casting politically explosive votes. Two on items generally favored by conservatives, and one on the unconstitutional Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.

The Hill reports:

The Senate will vote this week on cutting off debate on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, an issue conservatives have clamored for since the 2004 election. It will also vote to quash a potential filibuster of the estate-tax repeal, another high priority for conservatives.

But Frist has also brought a skunk to what otherwise would be a conservative garden party by also scheduling the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka (Hawaii).

More: 

Aides to conservative senators say they are discussing ways to tie the bill up on the floor, possibly by offering anti-abortion amendments. But, nevertheless the bill has a good chance of passing, and if it does it will likely be with the support of almost every Senate Democrat and a minority of the Senate Republican Conference.

If conservative GOP senators such as Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), John Ensign (Nev.), Tom Coburn (Okla.) and John Cornyn (Texas) square off against the Hawaii bill, as they are expected to, it would be the second time in a month that the conservative heart of the Senate GOP conference has rebelled against a bill Frist has brought to the floor. Passage would begin to establish a trend in which bills pass the Senate floor with overwhelming Democratic support and the backing of few Republicans.

“Frist is the leader of what may be a Republican majority but isn’t a conservative majority,” said Michael Franc, vice president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation.

As we have seen, Franc is right. This is indeed a disturbing trend. 

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions today has a must read Op-Ed in the Washington Post:

The death tax hits hardest at heirs of small-business owners and family farmers. In many cases, the heirs cannot afford to pay the tax and are forced to downsize, lay off employees or even sell their business or farm.

There can be no doubt that closely held family businesses that are growing and beginning to compete with the big guys are often devastated by the tax. I believe the death tax is a major factor in business consolidation and loss of competition.

This tax hurts the growth of minority-owned businesses. As the first generation of African American millionaires begins to die, many of the companies they founded will have to be sold to pay the estate taxes. For example, the tax almost forced the oldest African American-owned newspaper -- the Chicago Daily Defender -- out of business.

Also pay close attention to Andy Roth's blogging as this issue plays out on the Senate floor this week.

This afternoon, when the Senate gavelled in from its week long recess, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid used a parliamentary procedure to hold up the completion of the immigration reform bill.

Given the terrible mess the Senate passed bill is in, this will not make too many conservatives unhappy.

Neverthless, Reid took advantage of the fact that the Senate bill is not in compliance with the constitutional rule that all revenue bills must originate in the House. The Senate bill contains tax revenue positions, and as such faces a "blue slip" in the House -- a process where the House denies the Senate-passed bill for the aformentioned reason.

GOP Senate leadership had hoped to fix the problem by attaching the immigration bill to a earlier passed House revenue bill and then sending it back to the House. When Senate Whip Mitch McConnell asked unanimous consent to do that today, Reid objected insisting that Democrats would want to amend that House passed bill.

McConnell pointed out that all the amendments that Dems wanted to attach to that bill could be attached to the pending Death Tax Repeal bill. 

This tactic fits in well with the idea that Reid wants to kill the immigration reform bill because he thinks Republicans will suffer in November if they fail to pass any bill. 

The Senate this week will be a political powder keg. At least three contentious votes have been scheduled.

First, the Senate will revisit SJ Res. 1, the Federal Marriage Amendment. Of course, this resolution will not come close to passage, but it will provide the Senate the opportunity to debate the measure.

Also scheduled are votes on the repeal of the death tax and the creation of race-based governing. I expect those two votes to be cast close together. Unfortunately, pro-death tax liberals in the Senate look to have the numbers needed to filibuster the elimination of an unfair federal tax on small businesses and families.

Adding insult to injury, proponents of race-based governing at this point have a leg up on Senators who revere the Constitution and oppose this nonsense. The Senate vote on this matter is not on final passage. It is a vote on a motion to proceed to the bill. If, as feared, that vote is approved, the Senate could be on the Native Hawaiian bill for the better part of next week. That being said, if I am the Senate Majority Leader I would want to get this embarrasing anti-constitutional bill off the floor as soon as possible so as not to compound the PR damage.

Also on the horizon in the Senate -- possibly next week -- is a vote on a flag burning amendment.

To be certain, there are many highly charged political votes upcoming. But it does not look as though conservatives will be winning many of them. I hope I am wrong. 

Mary Katharine Ham today asks the simple question; "Did anybody ask the Hawaiians?"

In her column Mary Katharine talks to grassroots Hawaiians who are agitating for a voter referendum on the Akaka bill which would create the first ever race-based government here in the United States. These Hawaiians know that if the people of Hawaii are given a vote on this issue they will dispatch this nonsense with ease.

From my column last week:

A poll commissioned by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii showed that by a 2 to 1 margin respondents were against Congress approving the Akaka bill. The poll also showed Hawaiians overwhelmingly want to vote on the measure in a referendum before Congress considers the bill. But the push for a Hawaiian referendum on the Akaka bill is stymied by a Hawaiian law that says any such referendum must be generated by the state legislature.

Grassroots opponents of the Akaka bill in Hawaii say this state law prevents the majority of Hawaiians from making their voice heard on the issue because large institutions backing Akaka have too much influence over members of the state legislature. As such, the fight will have to be fought on the floor of the United States Senate where Akaka has much more support than he does in his own state.

That floor fight will take place in the Senate this week. It's time for Senators to stop paying attention to back room dealing and collegial back slapping and pay attention to the Constitution.

UPDATE: John Fund writes:

Despite all this, the Akaka bill is at least an even bet to win a Senate majority this week. Democrats, who long ago bought into racial spoils politics, are largely on board. The Bush administration has chosen to remain neutral. Linda Lingle, who in 2002 became Hawaii's first Republican governor in 40 years, is convinced the bill is will help her party win over Hawaiian voters. She has been remarkably successful in convincing some GOP senators, such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Norm Coleman of Minnesota, that the bill is benign. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a quasi-state agency, has spent lavishly on a snow job for senators, including its hiring of the top lobbying firm of Patton Boggs.

But the Akaka bill is not just another special-interest boondoggle. It too important not to have senators give it the most exacting scrutiny. Creating a race-based government in Hawaii would create a dangerous precedent that could lead to ethnic balkanization on the mainland too.

Robert Novak says next week's Senate vote on the Akaka bill won't even be close:

Paid conservative lobbyists have helped grease the way for passage in the Senate this week of the long-pending bill, opposed by the Bush administration, that would give Native Hawaiians the same status as mainland Indian tribes.

A report boosting the bill was written by two Bush administration alumni: former Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh and former White House aide H. Christopher Bartolomucci. Also lobbying for the measure have been Chuck Cooper, an assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, and Ben Ginsberg, a longtime lawyer representing the Republican Party. All have been hired by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a quasi-government entity.

The bill is expected to glide through the Senate, with foes unable to collect the 41 votes needed for a filibuster. But prospects in the House are uncertain.

Well done National Review:

Send-a-brick.com, a group dedicated to securing the borders has been sending bricks to Senate offices to prove a point during the immigration debate. As the above pic of a Mel Martinez staffer illustrates, they seem to be doing a good job. Pretty soon the Martinez office will have their very own brick patio.

UPDATE: A friend on the hill tells me that the Senate Superintendent's office has collected over 1800 bricks from Senators' offices. Here is an email the Superintendent's office sent to Senators: 

John at Powerline explains:

Procedurally, the Times says that any member of the House can introduce a "blue-slip resolution" to return the defective bill to the Senate. While the account is unclear, it sounds as if the bill's return is automatic if a Congressman objects

Majority Leader Bill Frist says there is an easy fix: attach the Senate bill to a revenue measure that has already passed the House. That would work, but Harry Reid refuses to go along. He says the constitutional objection is "technical in nature" and should simply be ignored. So, as we suspected, John McCain isn't the only Senator who views the Constitution as optional.

Speaking of unconstitutional congressional acts, there is this and this.  

Michael Barone provides his usual thoughtful analysis here regarding the Mike Pence immigration reform plan. Pence's plan provides border security and a private sector administered guest worker program sans legalization:

Private worker placement agencies that we could call "Ellis Island Centers" will be licensed by the federal government to match willing guest workers with jobs in America that employers cannot fill with American workers. U.S. employers will engage the private agencies and request guest workers. In a matter of days, the private agencies will match guest workers with jobs, perform a health screening, fingerprint them and provide the appropriate information to the FBI and Homeland Security so that a background check can be performed, and provide the guest worker with a visa granted by the State Department. The visa will be issued only outside of the United States.

Pence's proposal has no legalization provisions.

Interestingly, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, who will dominate the House members in conference committee, says he is absolutely against any legalization proposal, but would consider a guest worker plan. This suggests that the Pence/Krieble proposal, or something like it, could emerge from conference committee.

Barone goes on to express some discomfort with the idea of guest worker programs that do not lead to citizenship: 

The United States has always held out the prospect of citizenship to legal immigrants, with the single exception of the 1943-64 Bracero Program (which granted temporary legal status to migratory Mexican farm laborers), and that prospect has helped to stimulate assimilation.

But he concedes that there are "some good arguments for guest workers" and that there are some attractive provisions in Pence's plan:

I like the way that Pence/Krieble uses private sector contractors. Government, alas, is not very good at using information technology, and CIS (formerly INS) has been one of the least effective government bureaucracies.

Read more here. 

The Dallas Morning News editorial board rains on the Democrats' parade:

Cool heads among the party's strategists recognize that basing a strategy on voter disgust with the GOP is pretty shaky. Democrats need to give voters something to vote for, instead of merely someone to vote against.

The same polls indicating voter rejection of the GOP also indicate that voters aren't sure what the Democrats stand for. That gives Republicans an opportunity to define the opposition for voters – and only a fool would downplay the power of Rovian wizardry on that front.

So far, indications are that Democrats will run on small-bore issues, such as raising the minimum wage, revising the Medicare prescription drug bill and taking back tax breaks for the oil giants. Absent broader and deeper themes, especially on the overwhelming matters of Iraq and the war on terrorism, the Democrats' timidity probably will hurt them. The public is hungry for firm leadership in a time of crisis, not tactical nickel-and-diming.

Democrats also lack a telegenic spokesperson capable of convincingly pitching the party to Red America. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is a brittle San Francisco liberal who panicked party operatives when she suggested that a Democratic House would pursue impeaching President Bush (she has since recanted). Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate chief, has the milquetoast demeanor of a parson. Party chairman Howard Dean is ... Howard Dean. And the Democrats' only leading presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is as likely to play in Peoria as Tom DeLay is to blow away Berkeley.

As bad as the Republicans situation currently is, they still are not the Democrats. There is indeed an opportunity here for R's. 

Regarding Dennis Hastert's argument against the FBI Jefferson raid, John Fund writes in today's WSJ Opinion Journal Political Diary:

But the nuances of that argument have been lost in the general public ridicule of what average voters view as an attempt to put members of Congress above the law. Mr. Hastert took some heat during a closed-door session with Republican members last Thursday over his siding with opponents of the FBI raid. Meanwhile, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Florida Republican, has gone so far as to announce she will introduce a resolution criticizing the Hastert-Pelosi effort to shield congressional offices from law enforcement actions.

It's sad when an argument that has merit is shouted down because it is politically stupid. But, I agree with Fund. The argument is lost...

RSC Chairman Mike Pence has an executive summary of his plan for immigration reform up on his blog. According to Pence, his plan would:

2. Make the decision, once and for all, to deny amnesty to people whose first act in the United States was a violation of the law.

3. Put in place a guest worker program, without amnesty, that will efficiently provide American employers with willing guest workers who come to America legally.

4. Enforce tough employer sanctions that ensure a full partnership between American business and the American government in the enforcement of our laws on immigration and guest workers.

From my column this morning:

If Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii gets his way, the Senate next week will pass S. 147, a bill that would for the first time create a race-based system of governing in the United States.

Akaka’s bill, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, would erect a new governmental structure to have jurisdiction over American citizens who have “one drop” of Native Hawaiian blood. As many as 400,000 American citizens across the nation would be subject to this new governing body.

Surely, a United States Senate composed of 55 Republicans and at least a handful of right-thinking Democrats could stop this nonsense in its tracks -- or better yet, not even allow such an atrocity to come to the floor for a vote.

Also, today from the Washington Times:

Hawaiian Sen. Daniel Akaka's seven-year project, the "Native Hawaiian Governmental Reorganization Act" often called simply the Akaka bill, has been labeled many things -- from manifest destiny in reverse to unhinged multiculturalism -- but what it really is is an attempt to legalize and codify what the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2000: a race-based government.

Newt Gingrich is defending his position against the FBI raid on William Jefferson's congressional office: