Bush slams immigration deal opponents

President Bush Tuesday strongly criticized lawmakers who oppose the comprehensive immigration compromise that is making its way through the Senate.

{mosads}“If you want to kill the bill, if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it,” Bush said in Georgia. “You can use it to frighten people.”

The president’s remarks were directed at conservatives in his own party who have decried the bill as “amnesty,” as well as liberal lawmakers who think the compromise is not doing enough for illegal immigrant families.

“It’s not an amnesty bill,” Bush said. “That’s empty political rhetoric trying to frighten our fellow citizens.”

The president is a strong backer of the compromise bill that the Senate will continue to debate next week. Bush said that it does not give anybody exactly what they want, but that the language is a compromise that fixes a broken system.

The fragile coalition that wrote the bill, which includes conservatives and liberals, guided its legislation through a series of votes last week and remains intact.

“I believe the bill before Congress learns from the mistakes of the past,” Bush said. “It is the best hope for lasting reform. If people are interested in fixing a system that’s broken, this bill is the best hope to do so.”