Bush says 'leadership' is needed to pass immigration bill

President Bush on Tuesday sharpened his political rhetoric against critics of the administration-backed Senate immigration legislation, blasting them for seeking to scare people about the bill and encouraging the political courage needed to pass it.

"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 -- you can use it to frighten people," Bush said at a federal law enforcement training center in Glynco, Ga. "Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all, so the people who wear the uniform in this crowd can do the job we expect them to do."

Bush said it was "empty political rhetoric" to say the legislation amounts to amnesty, as many critics have done. And he sought to rebut "skeptics" who believe the bill is lax on enforcement and border security.

"Oh, I'm sure you've heard some of the talk out there about people defining the bill -- it's clear they haven't read the bill," Bush said. "They're speculating about what the bill says and they're trying to rile up people's emotions."

Bush characterized the legislation as a boost to the economy, saying it would provide workers willing to perform jobs U.S. citizens will not do. "If you're serious about keeping our economy strong, it makes sense to support legislation that gives foreign workers a legal path to jobs in America," he said.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was upbeat about the chances of persuading senators about the merits of the legislation, suggesting, as Bush did, that some lawmakers had weighed in against it without having read it.

"I think the one thing we're discovering is that when people do get walked through the details, in fact the explanation is convincing to a lot of folks," Snow said. "You've got to take a look at the details, and you've got to take a look at the way it's put together and how it meets people's concerns about security, how it meets people's concerns about restoring respect for the rule of law, how it reestablishes the notion of citizenship as something that one earns."

Critics contend that the legislation provides amnesty because it places the bar too low for illegal immigrants to remain in the country. Bush spoke Tuesday following a tour of the training center where he viewed a mock port of entry and witnessed simulations of the screening and processing procedures for individuals entering the country.