JONATHAN CHAIT APRIL 25, 2010
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Last month, Lindsey Graham urged President Obama to take the lead on immigration reform. Now, Democrats are saying they'll turn to immigration reform next, and Graham is so angry he's abandoning negotiations over climate change.
Hypocrisy? Well, sure. But it seems unfair to accuse him of having "negotiated in bad faith." Graham has been painstakingly attempting to assemble a political and business coalition for legislation to mitigate climate change. He has also been working on immigration reform, but the Democrats' weak signals of interest before last week have helped contribute to an atmosphere where nobody expected a bill to advance this year, and thus little headway has been made. There has been no House immigration bill, whereas the House has passed a climate bill already. Graham was set to unveil his bill on Monday when Harry Reid pulled the carpet out from under him by announcing that immigration would come first and climate -- which gets harder to do as the elections gets closer -- probably never.
As for bad faith, Graham is a Republican Senator from South Carolina. His highest risk of losing his seat, by far, comes from the prospect of a conservative primary challenger. Indeed, I'd say that prospect is far from remote, and Graham is displaying an unusual willingness to risk his political future. He has little incentive to negotiate on these issues except that he believes it's the right thing to do. So when Democrats put climate change on the backburner to take up immigration, and so so for obviously political reasons, Graham has every right to be angry. He's risking his political life to address a vital issue, and Harry Reid is looking to save his seat.
6 comments
Several months ago I thought Reid was stupid; then HCR passed. I'll give him a pass on this one.
- rayward
April 25, 2010 at 6:54pm
Yes, I get what you are saying, but how much is the truly odious immigration bill from Arinazi, oops Arizona play into the reason why Reid is doing this? Arizona just legalized rape or robbery of illegal immigrants, because if they report it, they will be deported. The Republicans in Arizona slit the throat of their own long term future just to slit the throat of all Hispanics living there now. How can Reid not act in the face of this horrible injustice? As to climate change, we are all screwed anyhow, nothing we are proposing will prevent the ecological disaster coming, at most it might delay it or lessen it, but we are talking about the difference between a category 6 and 7 hurricane, we are pretty much screwed either way, but this excrement that was passed in Arizona must be addressed now.
- blackton
April 25, 2010 at 7:01pm
But there is no way immigration is going to get addressed, anything that provides a path to legal status is going to be branded amnesty, and not a single Republican is going to want to touch that, and nor will some Democrats. And while attempting it might buy Harry Reid some votes, other Democrats, particularly from white districts, are going to suffer especially in this economy. If nothing else, the energy climate bill had a small shot, and no matter how weak, it could be strengthened slightly. Plus it had the benefit of potentially spurring some new jobs.
- vips73
April 25, 2010 at 8:02pm
Personally, I'd rather see Mr Graham retain his seat even if it means Mr Reid loses his. We need to move on both climate change/green jobs and immigration, but the climate issue is ready to go and should get priority. I don't blame Graham for being pissed. I'm pissed too. Neil
- purcellneil
April 25, 2010 at 8:49pm
I agree with vips73. Immigration reform is no where near ready to debate. There has not even been a substantial back burner discussion on immigration reform which is why the house does not have a bill. I think we can actually get an immigration bill with greater probability after the election. Because the issue splits both parties, it is the kind of thing that requires bipartisanship. With a climate bill however we can also work to address jobs issues and provide more stimulus money in the context of energy independence and cleaner energy. This is a no brainer.
- keepin_on
April 25, 2010 at 11:57pm
For Lindsay Graham, climate change legislation is not pure altruism -- South Carolina has one of the largest concentrations of nuclear power plants in the US along the Savannah River, and the proposed legislation would give a big boost to nuclear power, especially vis-a-vis coal-fired power plants. Whatever his altruistic instincts, Graham could always run for re-election in 2012 by pointing to the thousands of new nuclear power jobs that would be preserved or created in his state. So he is right to feel upset that Democrats now seem to be pulling the rug out from under him on this issue, especially because immigration reform IS an issue that has virtually no upside for a Republican in South Carolina. My sense is that Graham got into immigration reform both as a matter of principle and to ingratiate himself with McCain, who has now abandoned the issue himself.
- wildboy
April 26, 2010 at 8:35am