Immigration reform before 2008?

Sen. Arlen Specter: "I doubt it."

So spoke the Pennsylvania Republican after the Senate overwhelmingly failed to bring an end to debate on a bill that would create a legal path to citizenship for approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants. Mr. Specter has been at the front of the issue for much of the last two years, and his frustration at yesterday's collapse was palpable, although he tried to put up a brave face:

"We are also concerned about the lives these 12 million people will lead, where they are, as the expression goes, in the shadows, living here. We have to find some way to deal with that which is realistic. The complaint of amnesty was raised repeatedly. But they will remain here whether we pass an immigration bill or not. And it has accurately been described as 'silent amnesty' if we do nothing, also accurately described as anarchy, so the problem remains.

"We will now wait to see what suggestions will come forward from the Senate. I think they have a duty to come forward and give us their best ideas as to how we handle the situation. We are not unused to legislative efforts which are not successful. Some legislation takes many years. It took us a long time to get asbestos legislation out of committee, something we are still working on. So we are not unused to the bumps in the road, and we consider it just a bump in the road, and we're going to continue to travel the road."

But this was an especially large bump on the legislative road. With the 2008 election rapidly approaching, major initiatives like the immigration bill will be pushed to sidelines as candidates appeal to their supporters and decline to make controversial compromises. It's highly unlikely that the bill will be resurrected until a new president occupies the White House in 2009.

Executive privilege

Mr. Specter was also at the center of another controversy yesterday: President Bush's assertion that "executive privilege" allows him to bypass congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony related to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

The president has said he'd allow his top advisers, including Karl Rove, to talk to congressional investigators -- but only behind closed doors, without a transcript, and not under oath.

Democratic leaders balked at that suggestion, and Mr. Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, had been leaning to their side. Yet the moderate took a very middle-of-the road position yesterday, telling his colleagues they should accept the president's offer for now to avoid a lengthy court battle.

"I'd also be willing to agree with the president's term that it not be public," he said. "I prefer it public, but it doesn't have to be public. But the one condition which I talked about which I thought had to be imposed is the provision of a transcript so we know what was said without people walking out of the room and, in good faith, having a disagreement.

Political hardball?
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"Now that the president has invoked executive privilege on the issue, I think we ought to give consideration to bringing in those individuals and finding out what we can under the president's terms. It doesn't preclude us from compulsory process and proceeding with the subpoenas at a later time."

Hardball

It's probably not that valuable, but it is rare. Baseball / politics aficionados can view Rep. Mike Doyle's baseball card on the "Arts and Artifacts" page of the U.S. House Web site:

He is the coach of the Democratic baseball team, which just lost its seventh consecutive game to the GOP in an annual charity event on Monday:

Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, who lost her position on the team last year when she lost her congressional seat, also has a baseball card on the site.

Flake vs. Murtha

Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona has become the second Republican to publicly challenge. Rep. John Murtha's earmarks, or pet spending projects, in recent weeks, the Hill reported today.

"Flake offered 12 amendments to House appropriations bills to cut 12 earmarks, a quarter of which were Murtha's requests. No other lawmaker or state was hit as hard -- the Arizona Republican included two other earmarks destined for Pennsylvania.

"'It is tough to avoid them. It really is,' Flake said of the proposed cuts to what he called Murtha's 'earmark incubators.'

"Murtha's office declined to comment. His three earmark requests noted in Flake's amendments totaled about $1.5 million and were directed to projects in southwestern Pennsylvania.

"Overall, Flake asked to cut more than $3.4 million in earmarks in the 12 amendments, averaging more than $290,000 per granted request. Altogether, 14 members' requests were caught in the crosshairs."

Joining Fred

Robert Traynham, the former communications director for Sen. Rick Santorum, is jumping into the 2008 fray, the Harrisburg Patriot News reports. He's now helping former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee "test the waters" for a presidential run.

First Published: June 29, 2007, 5:15 p.m.