Off the Hook

originally published June 13, 2007

If you heard the sound of a high wind blowing out of Washington, DC, last week, that was probably Saxby Chambliss breathing a huge sigh of relief. Georgia’s senior senator dodged a big bullet with his name on it when the immigration reform bill crashed and burned on Thursday, June 7. It was a bullet big enough to have blown a gaping hole in his attempt to win another term in the Senate next year.

Chambliss has suffered little if any political damage from supporting a president and a war in Iraq that are opposed by roughly two-thirds of the voters in national polls. If those were the only issues confronting Chambliss in 2008, he could probably have cruised to reelection without many problems. But immigration is an issue that rips a bloody divide among the roughly 30 percent of the populace that now makes up George W. Bush’s Republican base. That division was a major threat to Chambliss’ political future.

The business interests who make up part of the Republican Party want to ensure that a steady stream of immigrants, whether documented or not, continues to enter the United States every year to provide them with a plentiful supply of cheap, compliant labor. The Republican rank-and-file, on the other hand, are sick and tired of the increasing numbers of foreign-born residents who are changing the demographic face of this country. Bush and Chambliss were squarely on the side of the party’s business faction in trying to get Congress to pass the immigration reform bill, and that position was causing Chambliss a world of hurt among the party’s anti-immigration wing.

It can’t be emphasized enough what a shattering experience it was for Chambliss to be booed by audience members when he spoke to the Republican Party’s state convention just days after the immigration bill was introduced. That was something that just hadn’t happened to him during his first term as a senator, when his staunch support of everything Bush said and did was a guarantee that Chambliss would get enthusiastic support from the party faithful.

The senator’s office was getting up to a thousand phone calls a day on the issue, the great majority of them opposed to the immigration bill. In the 10th Congressional District race to replace the late Charlie Norwood, Republican candidates were talking openly about how they had felt “betrayed” by Chambliss and Sen. Johnny Isakson. Even worse, Republicans were pointing out that Chambliss had gotten into bed with no less a figure of Democratic liberalism than Sen. Ted Kennedy in pushing for this immigration legislation. That kind of situation could not be allowed to fester, so it was no surprise that Chambliss was looking for a graceful way to back away from this unexploded bomb. At one point last week, he told the Washington Post, “To say I support the bill, I’ve never said that.”

Late last Thursday evening, Chambliss found the opportunity to put some distance between himself and this vexing issue. The Senate’s Democratic leadership called for an important vote to cut off debate on the immigration bill so that the measure could proceed to a final consideration. While this was the kind of procedural vote that senators make every day without anyone noticing, it was crucial to the future of this bill. Chambliss and Isakson voted with 48 other senators to allow debate to continue - which would effectively allow the immigration bill to be filibustered to death by its opponents. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid then pulled the bill from the calendar, an indication that it probably won’t be considered again during this session. It was a crushing defeat for Bush, Kennedy, and the other supporters, but a big victory for opponents of immigration.

“Senator Isakson and I have worked tirelessly to ensure that this bill addresses Georgians’ concerns,” Chambliss said in explaining his vote to kill the bill. “We must be allowed ample time to engage in a thoughtful and full debate so that we continue to improve this legislation.” In this case, “ample time” means that you won’t be hearing any more talk about immigration until after Chambliss has been safely reelected by Georgia’s voters in 2008. That should be just enough time to give it the “thoughtful and full debate” to which the senator refers. Chambliss may have disappointed his corporate backers by bailing out on the immigration bill - but he also removed a huge problem for himself.

Tom Crawford

Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news site at www.ciclt.net/garpt that covers government and politics in Georgia.