Bush pleads with Republicans for immigration support

WASHINGTON – His party divided and his polls sagging, President Bush prodded rebellious Senate Republicans on Tuesday to help resurrect legislation that could provide eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.\n“It’s a highly emotional issue,” said Bush after a session in which several lawmakers bluntly told him their constituents do not trust the government to secure the nation’s borders or weed out illegal workers at job sites.\nTo alleviate the concerns, the president said he was receptive to an emergency spending bill as a way to emphasize his administration’s commitment to accelerated enforcement. One congressional official put the price tag at up to $15 billion.W\n“I don’t think he changed any minds,” conceded Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., a supporter of the legislation. But Martinez added that the president’s appearance had helped nudge “people on the fence” to be more favorably inclined.\nOne Republican widely viewed as a potential convert, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said he was not yet persuaded. \n“At the end of the day, I’ve got to be able to sit down and know myself that we are going to secure our border,” he said. “Today, I do not feel that way.”\nBush’s trip to the Capitol marked only the second time since he became president that he attended the weekly closed-door senators lunch, a gesture that underscored the importance he places on passage of comprehensive immigration legislation.\nDespite the president’s commitment, many conservatives in his own party have criticized the measure, calling it an amnesty for millions of lawbreakers. Additionally, job approval ratings in the 30-percent range make it difficult for the president to bend even Republican lawmakers to his will.\nCompounding the challenge is a stream of statements from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., which say it is up to Bush and the Republicans to produce enough votes to revive a measure that was sidetracked on the Senate floor last week. “We’ll move on to immigration when they have their own act together,” he told reporters during the day.\n“Fourteen percent of the Republicans supporting the president’s bill won’t do the trick,” he said, referring to the fact that only seven GOP senators supported a move to free the bill from limbo last week.\nSeveral participants in the Republican meeting described the session as friendly and rancor-free and said Bush had even made a joke at one point when addressing Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is one of the bill’s fiercest critics.\nOne senator quoted Bush as telling Sessions, “Don’t worry, I’ll still go to your fundraiser. We disagree about this, but we are friends.”\nSessions was among the senators to question the president, pointing to polls showing widespread opposition to the legislation. Bush responded that other polls show support, according to participants. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing confidentiality rules covering the closed-door meeting.\nThese officials said numerous senators told Bush the public lacks confidence that the government would carry out the enforcement measures in the bill.