From Newsday:

BY TOM BRUNE
NEWSDAY WASHINGTON BUREAU; COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

May 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - As far as Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) is concerned, President George W. Bush's gambit of announcing that he will send the National Guard to the border to win support for a citizenship plan for illegal immigrants simply failed.

Asked if Bush's prime-time speech convinced him to change his adamant stand against what he calls "amnesty" for undocumented workers, King said, "Absolutely not."

King said after the president's address that he likes the idea of using the National Guard to stiffen enforcement but - in potentially bad news for the president - wants to wait to see how it works before going ahead with other parts of the proposal.

"I think it's a crisis of confidence, and the American people want to see what's being done before they will support any kind of legalization," King said. "Let's see what happens, and in several years, we can come back and look at this."

King's cool reaction to the president's speech could portend trouble for the comprehensive immigration legislation that the Senate took up again yesterday in an attempt to approve a bill by Memorial Day.

An author of the House immigration bill focused solely on boosting security and an opponent of legalization schemes, King said, "I would still say a solid majority of House Republicans will not support any legislation that allows for legalization of illegals." He predicted that the likely result is that no bill will pass.

The core Senate bill is a compromise that includes tougher security and enforcement measures but also a guest worker program and path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented workers already in the United States.

Starting today, the Senate will take up for consideration and vote on several amendments to that bill, many aimed at toughening security and enforcement and some intending to curtail guest-worker provisions or legalization schemes.

If the legislation survives the amendment process - both the right and the left say the compromise could topple if pushed too far one way or the other - the Senate legislation then will face what most call its biggest hurdle: a conference to reconcile the Senate and House bills.

King said he is all for sending the National Guard to the border - he'd like Bush to make that permanent, along with the hiring of more border guards.