Is the NY Times lying, AGAIN
Lott urges Bush to wield veto threat
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 24, 2007
U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, R-Az, talks to reporters about immigration at the U.S. Capitol building yesterday. U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, R-Az, talks to reporters about immigration at the U.S. Capitol building yesterday. Astrid Riecken (THE WASHINGTON TIMES)
The Senate's No. 2 Republican yesterday said he has told President Bush to be prepared to save their party from a bad immigration bill through his veto pen.
The comments from Minority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi came minutes before the Senate voted to cut in half the guest-worker program in the massive immigration bill, the first blow that strained, but did not break, the bipartisan coalition trying to pass the measure.
Mr. Lott said Mr. Bush needs to get more involved in the debate by drawing lines in the sand that Democrats can't cross.
"He's got to be prepared to say to [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, 'If you come up with something that really makes a bad situation worse, I will veto it,' " Mr. Lott told reporters yesterday. "That is the ultimate weapon, and it has to be held in abeyance to keep the pressure on us to do this right."
The former Senate Republican leader said he told Mr. Bush this in a recent conversation, telling the president "it's important you emphasize that you want immigration reform, but not just any immigration reform." |
