Has the beast been healed of his deadly wound?

Barely an hour after posting the previous entry, I see this item at Fox News which goes beyond any news story I’ve seen over the last three days and undercuts my hopeful angle that the Senate was not actually close to a deal. According to this story, a deal has already been made:

WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will approve a new deal on immigration on Thursday and move to bring the once-dead legislation back to the Senate floor next week, Democratic sources told FOX News.

Details of the immigration compromise remain to be finalized, but top Democratic sources say Reid has closely monitored the behind-the-scenes dickering over policy changes and a finite list of amendments due for consideration. Based on the latest updates on the policy and amendments, Reid will approve the compromise and move late Thursday to put the bill back on the calendar for Senate consideration in the middle of next week.

If this is true, we’re back in the muck of battle, and deeper than before. The fact of the agreement’s being made to Reid’s satisfaction means that he has enough votes for cloture. If he has the 60 votes needed for cloture, then he has the 50 votes needed to pass the bill itself. I can’t believe that after all that has been said, the Senate Republicans would still go along with this. But if they do, then the battle of May 17, 2007 to June 12, 2007 was just a prelude.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 14, 2007 07:33 PM | Send