"Conservative" Senators Kyl and Cornyn, But "Democrat" Ted Kennedy
Posted by: Clay Waters
5/23/2006 12:06:08 PM
Congressional reporter Carl Hulse’s Saturday report on the status of the immigration bill is, per usual with Times coverage of the issue, littered with labeling bias:
“Conservative critics of the original bill say those additions were significant improvements and they promised to try to reshape the measure even more in the days ahead. But they still do not intend to vote for it. ‘The Senate should be ashamed of itself,’ Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, said Friday. He called the developing legislation flawed and said it would put the nation at an economic disadvantage by focusing mainly on low-skilled workers while other nations concentrate on attracting skilled newcomers.
Hulse has no problem locating conservatives in the Senate opposing the immigration bill, yet supporters like ultraliberal Sen. Ted Kennedy are called simply “Democrats.”
AWhile the Senate bill underwent some changes, efforts by Mr. Sessions and fellow conservatives like Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas to make fundamental changes to the legislation were repeatedly defeated. Their foes were led by Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who took aim at amendments they saw as major threats….The legislation has its Democratic doubters as well. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota failed in his effort to curb the guest worker program, an initiative that has drawn the scorn of organized labor. Mr. Dorgan and other Democrats also joined conservative Republicans in a failed bid to require the Department of Homeland Security to certify that the border was secured before any new programs for immigrants could start.”
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