Cross posted from The Uncooperative Blogger

I have been waiting for this to break! Shhh, don’t tell anyone, I
already knew about it.

>From The Washington Times
; :

The long-fought Senate immigration bill that opponents say grants
amnesty to 10 million illegal aliens is unconstitutional and appears
headed for certain demise, Senate Republicans now say.

A key feature of the Senate bill is that it would make illegals pay back
taxes before applying for citizenship, a requirement that supporters say
will raise billions of dollars in the next decade.

There’s just one problem: The U.S. Constitution specifically
prohibits revenue-raising legislation from originating in the Senate.

“All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives,” according to the “origination clause” in
Article I, Section 7.

Republicans — including the bill’s supporters — say this
will kill the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he’s
offered a simple solution. He wants to attach the immigration bill to a
tax bill that has already passed the House. It would then proceed as
planned to a “conference committee,” where negotiators from the
House and Senate hammer out differences between the two chambers’
immigration bills.

“This is a procedural issue that we could overcome,” said
Carolyn Weyforth, spokeswoman for Mr. Frist.
But Minority Leader Harry Reid won’t go along with that fix. His
office said yesterday that the concerns raised by Mr. Frist and House
Republicans are “technical in nature” and can be ignored.

“If Republicans are serious about enacting comprehensive immigration
reform, I’ve got a deal for them,” spokesman Jim Manley said.
“All they have to do is nothing. Just let the House and Senate bills
go to conference and let the conferees work their will.”

The bill as written, however, will never make it to conference,
Republicans say. Under House rules, any member can introduce a
“blue-slip resolution” to return the legislation to the Senate.
And although there are plenty of House conservatives eager to kill the
Senate bill any way they can, Hill staffers say it would likely be done
based on “policy-blind constitutional issues.”

“If there is a blue-slip issue, it is not about policy,” said
one House aide familiar with the matter. “It’s about procedure
and the House’s prerogative to uphold the United States
Constitution.”

There is some debate about whether the constitutional ban on Senate
revenue bills pertains only to bills whose primary purpose is to raise
money or whether it also applies to bills that do so incidentally.

Republicans say that because the concerns already have been raised, they
expect the bill to be returned to the Senate.

Anything that kills this Bill is good for America. This Bill would
destroy our country and they are not telling you how much legalizing all
these people will cost our country. How does about 500 Billion Dollars
INITIALLY sound to you?

Well, go read this; well written
in-depth analysis of the Senate Bill.

If anyone brings up the “Open Border” Cato institutes critizism
of this analysis, read their repsonse< \
ml> .

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration
<>;
(CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to
learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition
and let me know at what level you
would like to participate.