Hume falsely claimed that defeated Obama amendment "may be the killer amendment that ends" the immigration bill
On the June 7 edition of Fox News' Special Report, host Brit Hume claimed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "managed to get" an amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill "passed," and that it "may be the killer amendment that ... ends this bill." In fact, Obama's amendment, which would have required the bill's merit-based evaluation system for new visas to expire after five years, failed by a vote of 42-55 -- making it impossible for the measure to have "end[ed]" the immigration bill.
Hume's comments followed an earlier report by Fox News congressional correspondent Major Garrett in which Garrett falsely claimed that a contentious exchange between Obama and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was "over a move to sunset the bill's guest worker program after five years." Garrett reported that Obama "pushed hard for the sunsetting language, drawing the ire of ... Graham" and that the "Senate narrowly approved sunsetting the temporary worker program." In fact, the confrontation between Obama and Graham was over Obama's amendment, which did not address the guest worker program. Garrett also failed to note that Obama's amendment had failed, and that the "narrowly passed" amendment regarding the guest worker program was introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), not Obama, though Obama did support Dorgan's amendment.
As the Associated Press reported on June 7, Obama's amendment would have terminated in five years "a proposed point system that would make it easier for would-be immigrants to obtain visas based on their education levels or work skills rather than on having close relatives already living in the United States." (The bill itself set the point system to expire after 14 years.) The AP also reported that Obama's "amendment infuriated Graham," prompting him to "loudly accuse[] Obama of undermining a delicate agreement whose advocates have shown political courage." On June 6, the Senate rejected Obama's proposal by a vote of 42-55. An amendment proposed by Dorgan that would have eliminated the guest worker program "after a 5-year period," passed 49-48 several minutes after Obama's amendment was rejected. Obama was among those who voted for Dorgan's amendment.
Hume, however, falsely claimed that Obama's amendment passed. From the June 7 edition of Special Report:
HUME: Folks, that was late last night, and the issue was a measure that the Senate had voted down a couple of weeks ago, which would have ended the guest worker provision in the immigration bill, the guest worker program, after five years. A lot of Republicans favor the guest worker program. A lot of Republican employers favor the guest worker program. It has been a key part of this delicately structured compromise, as it's been called, and [Sen.] Lindsey Graham [R-SC], who is out on a limb and in hot water with a lot of his constituents for backing this bill, watched as Barack Obama, who purports to be the guy who wants to get things done, pushed this amendment and managed to get it passed. That has been thought -- that is -- may be the killer amendment that ends the fate -- that ends this bill, but we'll see.
Earlier in the program, Garrett reported that Obama "pushed hard for the sunsetting language, drawing the ire of South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham." After playing a clip of a contentious exchange between Obama and Graham on the Senate floor, Garrett reported that the "Senate narrowly approved sunsetting the temporary worker program" -- giving no indication that it was Dorgan's, and not Obama's, legislation that the Senate passed:
GARRETT: With the help of an unlikely alliance of Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy and Mississippi Republican Trent Lott, the Senate immigration bill, more despised than loved, appeared to dodge the legislative graveyard for at least one more day, even as more evidence surfaced of public skepticism.
The latest Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll showed 58 percent support enforcement of existing laws. Only 34 percent back an overhaul of immigration laws along the lines of the Senate compromise. Senators worked through yesterday night and into the wee hours of this morning. Tempers flared at times over a move to sunset the bill's guest worker program after five years.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who trades on the ethos of bipartisanship, pushed hard for the sunsetting language, drawing the ire of South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham.
GRAHAM: [video clip] When you are out there on the campaign trail, you are trying to bring us all together. You're trying to make America better. Why can't we work together? This is why we can't work together because some people, when it comes to the tough decisions, back away.
GARRETT: Obama, carrying the torch for organized labor against the temporary worker program, fired back.
OBAMA: [video clip] The notion that somehow that guts the bill or destroys the bill is simply disingenuous, and it's engaging in the sort of histrionics that is entirely inappropriate for this debate.
GARRETT: The Senate narrowly approved sunsetting the temporary worker program, aggravating big business and jeopardizing current Republican support for the entire bill. Today, silent hours of inaction meandered as senators tried to negotiate a path toward final passage, amid the time-wasting drone of the call of the roll.
Obama is magical
So is my iron-y bone.
Hume: "...and, monkeys may fly out of my hind-quarter... But, we'll see!"
Show of hands: Who thinks these "reporters" and "pundits" should have a competence test PRIOR to being hired as on-air "talent" ... a simple test to show that they have the least friggin' idea how to observe what is going on and report it accurately.
These guys could be mailing in their "impressions" and "guesses" from the Bahamas, for all the similarity their reporting has to do with what actually transpired.
"We report absolute nonsense, you decide (if you're stupid enough to keep watching)."
i'm still trying to figure out the "reform" aspect of this. what exactly needs reforming? nor do i get why securing the border is dependent on this or any other bill.
Mefirst,
Very well said, one has nothing to do with the other - these comprehensive-ers act as if we can't control our borders without all this other crap included.
And we need reform nothing, just enforce the laws on the books now and enforce the border.
They won't close the border because the people that fund their campaigns and have all the good lobbying jobs won't let them.
october 17, 2006: the census bureau estimates u.s. population of 300,000,000. this mornings bureau estimate: 302,052,164. less than eight months to add over 2 million people. we are the third most populous nation behind china and india. most of our population growth is coming from immigration and the higher birth rates of immigrants. when you're sitting in gridlock traffic ten years from now in many major cities, there will be no need to wonder why. and this amnesty is only going to take things worse because we're hearing the pleas for "family reunification". the new york times ran an editorial that talked about "families split apart". well, that was a choice made by those who came here illegally. we hear about how "tough" the requirements are in this bill. sounds like the payoff is a big reward, citizenship and your family gets to come here. and to emphasize my earlier point, why is the security of our border being used as a bargaining chip? this is the continual game that has been played on this issue for decades. make a big show of voting for more agents and more enforcement, and then the funds are not provided. you can be sure that all the groups like la raza will do the same thing that was done after the "one-time" 86 amnesty. they will immediately set about to strip the enforcement measures of this or any other bill.
Will Fox ever know how to be reporters? News should be based on truth.
Obama is a great man.