Immigration Bill Hits Constitutional Obstacle

"As if the overhaul of the nation's immigration system isn't a monumental enough task. Now it looks as if the Senate bill may have run afoul of the United States Constitution. No kidding," says the Orange County Register. "Well, it seems the Senate's 700-plus-page immigration bill raises taxes. That would be the clause that says illegal immigrants have to pay back taxes as one of the requirements for getting on the citizenship track . . . Frist wants to take the Senate-passed immigration bill and attach it to a completely unrelated bill that the House passed and sent over to the Senate . . . If the immigration bill were attached, the new merged document would have a House number. Numbers here are important. House bills start with HR and Senate bills with S. The letters refer to where the bill started. Remember, tax-related bills have to start in the House. That would make the immigration bill constitutional - procedurally, that is," reporter Dena Bunis says.

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