March 15, 2009by Roy Beck
NumbersUSA.com
"Is there any difference between the procedural vote on Leahy's tabling motion on Sessions' E-Verify amendment and a straight vote on the amendment (for a long-term re-authorization)? Would a straight vote have won for E-Verify?" -Paul of Montana
There IS a difference.
Many of our readers have been puzzled by the motion to table (and the fact that it made a YES vote mean no on E-Verify, and a NO vote mean yes!).
A YES vote to table an amendment -- instead of a NO vote on the amendment itself -- is intended to give a Senator a fig-leaf to cover the naked truth.
If a Senator had to cast a straight up or down vote, a NO vote would have been a clear opposition to E-Verify.
But by voting YES on tabling Sen. Sessions' amendment for long-term extension of E-Verify, a Senator can kill the re-authorization and still be able to say to angry constituents: "I don't oppose E-Verify. In fact, I am a big supporter. And I think E-Verify ought to have a long-term reauthorization. But I tabled the re-authorization to another time because I just didn't think it was appropriate to tack it onto this giant omnibus appropriations bill. To have tacked it on would have delayed the signing of it, and it had been delayed too long already."
The effect of voting to table the amendment, though, was the same as voting NO in a straight vote -- it killed the long-term re-authorization.
That is why our Immigration Report Cards have graded the YES vote on tabling exactly the same as if the Senator had voted directly against re-authorization.
Nonetheless . . . .
WE LOST 50-47 ON TABLING -- COULD WE WIN ON A STRAIGHT VOTE?
In my analysis of the vote last week, I listed 20 Senators who voted to table but who I felt are fairly inclined to support E-Verify either out of principle or because of strong constituency pressure back home.
If only 2 of those 20 Senators had voted the other way, the tabling motion would have failed and we would have gotten a straight vote.
I think we would have won on a straight vote.
On a straight vote, I can't see why we would have lost any of the 47 Senators who voted against tabling. And I think at least 2 of the others would have found it too politically humiliating to vote directly against E-Verify.
But that is why Senate Majority Leader Reid and Judiciary Chairman Leahy decided on the tabling motion. There was no way that Reid was going to allow Sen. Sessions to win on that amendment last week. Shoving through giant spending bills with little debate and few real chances of amendments is the top priority of Sen. Reid during this honeymoon period of the new Congress and new President. Sen. Sessions' amendment got in the way of that. Too many Democrats who support E-Verify were willing to see the amendment by Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.) as just another Republican attempt to slow down a spending bill.
YOU CAN PERSUADE THE DEMOCRATIC LEADER WE NEED
The close vote last week shows that a clean long-term extension of E-Verify can easily pass the Senate if its supporters can find a way to get it through Reid's gatekeepers to a floor vote that is not tied in with some other issue for which there is a deeply partisan split. Sen. Reid proved last week that, at least for the time-being, if he can cast E-Verify as a partisan Republican tool to embarrass Democrats, he can persuade enough Democrats to vote Party over Principle.
We desperately need a Democratic Senator who cares enough about opening up jobs for unemployed Americans to take the lead in championing E-Verify. This requires more than voting right -- like the 7 who voted against tabling last week. This requires speeches, going on TV and working the backroom to bring other Democrats along with her/him and persuading Sen. Reid that his 8-month stall on E-Verify is becoming an embarrassment to the Party.
Many of you have a Democratic Senator who could be that leader. It will be up to you to help her/him become that leader. Go to the Democratic-comparison Grades page and look at the 12 Democrats with the best Immigration Grades. If you have a Senator in that list, please pour on the effort.
You will note that 7 of the top Dozen Democrats who usually vote with us, voted to table the E-Verify amendment. That shows you just how successful Sen. Reid was in painting the Sessions amendment as a Republican attack. Your job with your Democratic Senators is to persuade them to stop thinking about their hatred of Republicans and to think about their concern for unemployed citizens of their state.
BTW, Paul, you guys did a great job in the Big Sky state. Of the Democrats who voted with us, 28% were from one state -- Montana.
And for those of you with Republican Senators, keep up the fine work. Not a single Republican lined up with the Chamber of Commerce last week. Every Republican vote was for an E-Verify system that is good for American workers and good for law-abiding businesses. That was not only good principles but good politics.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
