May 12, 2006 9:02 am US/Central
Bush Seeks Primetime To Air Immigration Update
WASHINGTON (CBS News) ―
President Bush will address the nation from the Oval Office Monday night to discuss immigration reform as the White House enters "crunch time" on the issue.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow contacted television networks' Washington bureau chiefs Friday to request a start time for the address. It will likely begin at 8pm EST.
"The president wants to weigh in on what he considers a major issue, at a time when the Senate is about to take up immigration reform," Snow said.
On Thursday, Senate leaders reached a deal to revive a broad immigration bill that had appeared doomed just several weeks ago.
Acknowledging that the networks are playing the season finales of their biggest shows next week, Snow emphasized that the president feels strongly about engaging in the immigration debate, calling it a critical issue for the nation right now.
At an informal meeting with reporters, Snow said that it is "crunch time" on immigration, and Mr. Bush's speech will advance what he has said before.
But the biggest news out of Washington this week has been what the White House is not talking about: revelations in USA Today about more domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency.
Lawmakers have been demanding information from the Bush administration about the NSA's efforts to collect records on millions of Americans' phone calls. The data includes the phone numbers at both ends, and the time and date of the connections, but the NSA does not listen to the calls or record them, and does not pick up names or addresses, CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante reports.
The immigration push comes as the White House has been battered by falling poll numbers and a growing threat to the Republican majority in Congress in the coming mid-term elections. President Bush and the Republicans show nearly record low ratings while Democrats are viewed much more favorably in their performance on the issues that matter most to Americans, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released this week.
Only 31 percent of those polled approve of Mr. Bush's job performance and 68 percent believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Mr. Bush became president.
Immigration reform, however, has not dropped completely off the agenda in Washington.
The Bush administration has asked the Pentagon to come up with ideas to help solve security problems along the U.S. border with Mexico, while the House voted on Thursday to allow the Homeland Security Department in limited cases to use soldiers in that region.
In the Senate, the key to the agreement is who will be negotiating a compromise with the House, which last December passed an enforcement-only bill that would subject the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States to felony charges as well as deportation.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will send 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats to negotiate with the House, with seven of the Republicans and five Democrats coming from the Judiciary Committee. The remaining seven Republicans will be chosen by Frist and remaining seven Democrats chosen by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
