Asked whether Rubio is "100 percent" behind the bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he thinks his Florida colleague is simply making an effort to garner more support from Republicans.
"I think he's committed to immigration reform, he's looking for ways to make it better and grow the vote, absolutely," Graham told reporters. "And enhancing border security is the way to do that on the Republican side."
Rubio has been one of the top conservative spokesmen for the bill, which was authored by four Republicans and four Democrats and will likely be taken up by the full Senate next week. While Graham and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) have been vocal in support of their legislation, Rubio has been the one really touting the need for reform on television and radio, which in turn has attracted ire from those who consider the bill "amnesty."
He has argued that the bill could be strengthened by adding more border security measures. "There will have to be improvements," Rubio said Monday in a video message to constituents, pointing specifically to enforcement mechanisms and the guest worker program.
"I think even the Democrats would concede that," he said. "One of the things we've learned over the last few weeks -- through the open process that happened through the committee process and all the public input that we've gotten -- is how little confidence people have that the federal government will enforce the law."
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who supports the bill, said he doesn't expect it to be difficult to get to 60 votes. Graham seemed more in agreement with him than with Rubio.
"Yeah, we've got 60, I'm sure," Graham told reporters Tuesday. "My goal is to get half the [Senate Republican] conference. From our party's point of view, if this thing falls apart and we get blamed because we're not practical, we created border security mechanisms that were unachievable, we tried to change the structure in a dramatic way and we get the blame, we're toast in 2016."
The South Carolina senator made a similar warning about the structure of the bill when discussing potential changes to the border security triggers, which Rubio has discussed making. Currently, the bill would allow some undocumented immigrants to move toward citizenship once certain advancements have been made in border enforcement plans and implementation, but Rubio and other senators have floated the idea of altering exactly how that process would work. Graham said there could be changes, but the triggers need to stay consistent.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), another member of the gang of eight, said the Democrats are willing to be flexible, but they have "some bottom lines on the triggers," which were already negotiated by the gang of eight and within the Judiciary Committee (Rubio is not a member of that panel). The Democrats insist that the border triggers be achievable and mandated to go into effect even under a new president who opposes a path to citizenship.
Apparently unaware they were being filmed on live TV, Egyptian politicians meeting with Egypt’s president on Monday proposed to sabotage Ethiopia’s plans to build a massive dam on the Nile River upstream.
Some politicians suggested backing rebels to carry out sabotage. But Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi did not directly react to the suggestions, but said in concluding remarks that Egypt respects Ethiopia and its people and will not engage in any aggressive acts against the East African nation.
Mursi called the meeting to review the impact of Ethiopia’s $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam, which would be Africa’s largest. Egypt in the past has threatened to go to war over its “historic rights” to Nile River water.
Meanwhile, an aide to Mursi has apologized after she failed to inform politicians holding talks with the president that they were live on air.
“Due to the importance of the topic it was decided at the last minute to air the meeting live. I forgot to inform the participants about the changes,” presidential aide for political affairs Pakinam el-Sharkawi said.
Mursi’s office later said he had directed his foreign and irrigation ministers to maintain contact with the Ethiopian government to obtain more information on the dam and its likely impact on Egypt’s share of the Nile water.
His office’s statement included a note, saying: “Egypt will never surrender its right to Nile water and all options (to safeguard it) are being considered.”
According to The Associated Press, in the meeting, Younis Makhyoun, leader of an ultraconservative Islamist party, said Egypt should back rebels in Ethiopia or, as a last resort, destroy the dam. He said Egypt made a “strategic error” when it did not object to the dam’s construction.
Makhyoun said Ethiopia is “fragile” because of rebel movements inside the country. “We can communicate with them and use them as a bargaining chip against the Ethiopian government,” he said.
“If all this fails, then there is no choice left for Egypt but to play the final card, which is using the intelligence service to destroy the dam,” said Makhyoun, whose Nour party won about 25 percent of parliament’s seats in elections in late 2011 and early 2012.
Another politician, liberal Ayman Nour, proposed spreading rumors about Egypt obtaining refueling aircraft to create the impression that it plans an airstrike to destroy the dam.Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
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