For those holding out hope that healthcare reform and climate change legislation would not squeeze out efforts to overhaul the broken U.S. immigration system this year, think again.

At the “Three Amigos Summit” in Guadalajara, Mexico, President Barack Obama all but ruled out legislation passing this year, particularly since his top initiative — healthcare — has been put off until September and there still remains work to be done on climate change. And, oh yes, fixing the U.S. financial regulatory system too.

“That’s a pretty big stack of bills,” Obama told reporters alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “I would anticipate that before the year is out, we will have draft (immigration) legislation, along with sponsors potentially in the House and the Senate who are ready to move this forward.”

“And when we come back next year, that we should be in a position to start acting,” he said, adding that it would require bipartisan cooperation — of which there has been little lately in Congress.

Obama repeated his desire for reforming the immigration system in a way that bolsters border security, creates a system to permit people into the United States and gives the 12 million illegal immigrants a way to eventually become citizens.

New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, who chairs the Senate immigration subcommittee, has said he would like to try to get immigration legislation done this year but has previously acknowledged it would be a tough slog to do that given everything else on the agenda.

The ranking Republican, Texas Senator John Cornyn, has pressed the administration to offer specifics about its plan for reform before Congress acts.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Tomas Bravo (A U.S.-Mexico border crossing)

Al Franken, a big-time comic turned Washington politician, received plenty of applause but no laughs on Tuesday when he finally took his seat as a member of the U.S. Senate.

In fact, one of the few jokes publicly told on Capitol Hill about Franken had the former writer/performer on the popular TV show “Saturday Night Live” as the punchline.

“Senator Franken gave me a few jokes he thought I should share with you, but I didn’t like them, so I’m not going to do it,” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid told reporters.

Republican and Democratic senators shook Franken’s hand and gave him a standing ovation after he was sworn in as a member of their chamber — eight months after last November’s election.

Franken took office a week after the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld his razor-thin victory over Republican Norm Coleman.

Reid delivered a preemptive strike against any perception that the new senator will be back on stage as a congressional comic.

“Al Franken is very smart,” Reid, who named the new senator to the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters. ”He’s Harvard-educated. He has written volumes, books.”

One of Franken’s best known books was a 1996 denunciation of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh titled “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot.”

Senator Charles Schumer said a subdued Franken received thunderous applause at a weekly luncheon for Senate Democrats. ”He didn’t make jokes. He talked about how he had worked so hard to get here to serve to make people’s lives better.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Franken sworn-in as senator by Vice President Biden)

Watch out Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, New York and California would love those dollars you turn down from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
 
A few governors, namely Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, South Carolina’s Mark Sanford and Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, have all said that they may turn down some of the stimulus money for their states, particularly aid aimed at bolstering unemployment benefit programs.
 
“We can’t pay for the benefits already in the program, but to get the stimulus money, we’ve got to increase the program’s size and scale,” Sanford said on “Fox News Sunday”.
 
That has some other states hard hit by the deepening recession calling for the money to be sent their way, especially New York where Wall Street has been laying off workers by the thousands.
 
“If any governor — Democrat or Republican — leaves stimulus money on the table, then we respectfully request that funds be distributed to New York,” the state’s two Democratic senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, said in a letter to President Barack Obama on Monday.
 
Another New York lawmaker, Representative Anthony Weiner, plans to offer legislation that would redirect rejected stimulus funds to other states. 
 
“If some governors decide to reject the money, 45 other states should be able to use it to create thousands of jobs. We have plenty of projects across the country that will put people to work and help achieve long term economic growth and stability,” Weiner said in a statement.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Wall Street in New York City.)

WASHINGTON - Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, previously a Democrat now an independent, bucked his colleagues a lot this year including in what some considered the ultimate betrayal — backing the Republican presidential hopeful, John McCain, and for the less than kind words he had for Democrat Barack Obama.

But after Obama’s victory, Lieberman issued a statement congratulating him on his “historic and impressive” victory.

There have been some questions about whether Lieberman might no longer be welcome in the Democratic caucus, but Sen. Charles Schumer said last month that that issue would be dealt with after the election.

“Now that the election is over, it is time to put partisan considerations aside and come together as a nation to solve the difficult challenges we face and make our blessed land stronger and safer,” Lieberman said in the statement. ”I pledge to work with President-elect Obama and his incoming Administration in their efforts to reinvigorate our economy and keep our nation secure and free.”

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain and Lieberman at a rally in Colorado.)

WASHINGTON - Democrats seem well positioned to increase their control of the U.S. Congress and win the White House in the November elections. But with such success will come pressure.  

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York says his victorious party would have to quickly resolve concerns of the American people — ranging from bringing down record gas prices and expanding health care to resolving the housing crisis and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

“If we get in 2009 and we don’t solve people’s problems, they will kick us out as quickly as they put us in,” Schumer, head of the Senate Democratic campaign committee, told reporters on Wednesday.

“So the big challenge, bigger than the election, is actually getting things done,” Schumer said.

Schumer quickly added, however, with Barack Obama in the White House and “an increase in Democratic seats in the House and Senate, I’m optimistic we can do it.”

“People are demanding change, and I think you will see one of the most productive sessions (of Congress ever) if we pick up a good number of seats in the House and Senate,” Schumer said.

When Democrats won control of the White House in 1992, they already had control of the House of Representatives and Senate but soon lost both chambers in the 1994 mid-term election.

Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who heads the House Democratic campaign committee, cited public opinion polls and advantages in fundraising in predicting Democrats would increase their majorities in the House and Senate.

They declined to predict by how much, however. Democrats, who won control of Congress from Republicans in the 2006 elections, now hold the House, 236-199, and the Senate, 51-49. 

Republicans have 23 seats in the Senate to defend versus 12 for Democrats. In the House, more than two dozen Republicans have decided to retire or seek other office and Democrats have already picked up three seats in special elections this year in Republican districts.

“We expect to pickup a significant number of seats,” said Schumer. Van Hollen added, “Things are very positive.”

Both said they expect Obama, who polls show with a slight lead over White House rival Republican John McCain, to help congressional Democrats on Election Day.  

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- Photo credit: Larry Downing (Schumer grabs a break to exercise)