Bush Vows to Get Immigration Bill Passed

ny times
SOFIA, Bulgaria, June 11 — As he heads home from an eight-day European swing to face a hostile Congress, President Bush today lashed out at Democrats for holding a vote of no confidence on his attorney general, and vowed to get his stalled immigration legislation passed, saying, “I’ll see you at the bill signing.”

Addressing reporters at a news conference, Mr. Bush said the vote on Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales — which he called “a political statement on a meaningless resolution” — would have no bearing on Mr. Gonzales’ future, no matter how it turns out.

“They can try to have their votes of no confidence, but it’s not going to determine — make the determination who serves in my government,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “This process has been drug out a long time, which says to me it’s political.”

Mr. Bush’s eight-day, six-country tour through Europe has been a welcome escape from his political woes at home. The president was mobbed with well-wishers on Sunday in Albania, and received a warm welcome today here in Bulgaria, where President George Purvanov hailed Mr. Bush’s arrival as “very cogent proof of the fact that our two countries’ relations are in their best state now in more than a hundred years of their establishment.”

But while the president has been gone, his already diminished clout on Capitol hill has seemed to deteriorate further. The immigration bill was put on hold when Republicans revolted. He was forced to withdraw his nomination of General Peter Pace to be chairman of the military’s joint chiefs of staff to avoid a bruising nomination fight. Mr. Bush put the blame on Congress.

And now Democrats, seeking to revive the controversy over Mr. Gonzales’ role in the dismissal of federal prosecutors, have scheduled the no-confidence vote.

“It’s an interesting comment about Congress, isn’t it, that, on the one hand, they say that a good general shouldn’t be reconfirmed, and on the other hand, they say that my Attorney General shouldn’t stay,” he said Monday. “And I find it interesting. I guess it reflects the political atmosphere of Washington.”

On immigration, Mr. Bush is facing a backlash in his party’s conservative wing, whose members decry the bill as amnesty. On Tuesday, he plans to attend the Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill — a rare step for a president who typically has lawmakers come to him at the White House — in an effort to revive the measure.

“I’m under no illusions about how hard this is,” he said, adding that he was disappointed that the measure had been “temporarily derailed.”

Mr. Bush did not do much lobbying from afar. While on Air Force One Friday evening, on the way from Poland to Rome, he telephoned three top Republicans: Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the party leader; Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the whip, and Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, an architect of the bill.

“The political process sometimes isn’t pretty to look at,” Mr. Bush said. “There’s two steps forward and one step back. We made two steps forward on immigration, we took a step back, and now I’m going to work with those who are focused on getting an immigration bill done and start taking some steps forward again. I believe we can get it done. I’ll see you at the bill signing.”