Bill Frist in The Associated Press

On Immigration: Crafted bipartisan compromise immigration bill

Senate leaders reached a deal on reviving a broad immigration bill that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens. The agreement brokered by the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, and the minority leader, Harry Reid broke a political stalemate that had lingered for weeks while immigrants and their supporters held protests and boycotts to push for action.

Reid acknowledged on the Senate floor that he “didn’t get everything” he wanted, but he said that Frist didn’t either. Reaching the agreement was “not easy with the political atmosphere,” Reid said. The Republicans also have had to contend with fallout from opposition to the House bill, which set off nationwide protests that drew hundreds of thousands.

Presidential and midyear politics have been a subtext to the immigration debate. Frist is prominent in speculation about who may receive the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Source: 2008 speculation: Associated Press in Int’l Herald Tribune May 12, 2006

The above quotations are from Columns and news articles distributed by the Associated Press. Click here for other excerpts from Columns and news articles distributed by the Associated Press. Click here for other excerpts by Bill Frist. Click here for a profile of Bill Frist.
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Page last updated: Feb 15, 2019