Posted on 08/05/2005 1:04:32 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
The president, in a wide-ranging talk, gives a hint at how he'll pitch reform measures
GRAPEVINE - President Bush told a crowd of state legislators Wednesday that he will push immigration reform as beneficial for U.S. employers as well as foreigners looking for work.
He also made an impassioned pitch for Americans to stay behind the war in Iraq.
"Immigration reform is going to be an interesting subject when we get back to Washington" in September, said Bush, who plans to spend this month at his Crawford ranch.
He argued that his proposal for a "guest worker" program is good for employers and illegal immigrants who want a mutually beneficial relationship.
"If you are a willing employer (and) you have somebody looking for work and you can't find an American, there ought to be a legal way for you to employ that person," he said. "We'd rather have people coming in with a card that said, 'I'm a legal worker,' than trying to sneak across the border."
The president has proposed a system under which immigrants would be granted worker temporary worker status, after which they would have to leave the United States. Critics have called it a thinly veiled amnesty program. Immigration reform plans have stalled in Congress so far this year, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist recently suggested a GOP push on the issue was more likely to happen next year.
Talking hours after the first reports that 14 U.S. Marines were killed in Iraq, Bush said, "The violence in recent days in Iraq is a grim reminder of the enemies we face. These terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics because they're trying to shake the will of the United States of America."
With polls showing that public support for continued military involvement in Iraq is eroding in the face of steady casualties, Bush relied on a familiar linkage of the war with the larger struggle against terrorism. He said Americans who died in Iraq and Afghanistan "lost their lives in a noble cause."
Speaking to 1,800 people at the American Legislative Exchange Council conference, Bush basked in recent legislative victories delivered by a GOP majority in Congress, including the Central American Free Trade Agreement and energy and highways legislation.
Bush said his priorities when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day will be immigration reform, making his tax cuts permanent, getting Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts confirmed and resurrecting his Social Security reform initiative.
Bush drew loud cheers by saying he strongly believed in private retirement accounts for workers under 55. "Now is the time to permanently fix Social Security," he said.
The event was held at a mammoth convention center where visiting legislators were introduced to Texas pride, including a large replica of the Alamo, a 10-foot-long space shuttle model and other state symbols.
Right now, when illegal aliens sneak across the border, the press calls them "immigrants".
With a guest worker program, they would be foreigners with permission to temporarilly work in the U.S.
The solution is to have a regulated guest worker program for contracted foreign workers and then have severe sanctions for employers that violate the rules.
Right now, the Government has a Catch 22 because some of the illegal immigrant laborers are need and there are no legal replacements.
How about a bill that rolls back Teddy Kennedy's monstrous immigration act of the 1960's, and just enforces the law?
How about putting "employers" in jail when they hire illegal workers.
Evidently not.
Oh it's going to get worse, he isn't listening. I am glad he doesn't exercise his office by watching the polls but he really needs to get out and listen to his base.
Well, hang on because that's exactly what they have planned.
I see stone cold reality has hit you. I realized this right after re-election while we still savored in victory and GWB started with this nonsense again.
Bush bashers are out in full force today.
how about just go home and stay there?
the employers who hire illegals now - want to hire illegals, pay in cash, no taxes or records, etc. they aren't going to change and hire those same people as legally minted guest workers.
what this is all about is legitimate companies who would not hire an illegal (false docsuments aside) - they want access to a cheap labor pool. if this passes, Home Depot and Walmart will be sending caravans of buses to the border to pick up these newly minted guest workers as their employees, and they will fire their US based workers and/or depress their wages.
and the people who hire illegals currently - will continue to do so.
They are not going home period. If we do not kick them out now, what makes anyone believe we will kick them out then?????????????????????
As I pointed out in class (and most of the class agreed once I said it but the cowards were to scared to say the unPC thing themselves) when you hire a CEO for Ford you hire him to take care of Ford not IBM or HP or Exxon. When we elect a president, we are hiring a CEO and we are hiring him to take care of America first and to hell with the rest of the world.
Maybe it is a ploy. Maybe he is saying this for now and will totally reverse right before the mid-term election so the Dems wil be caught focusing on other stuff.
Well, one can dream can't they?
If an idea is horrible, why not bash it??
It might work out well, since we're sending all our jobs across the boarder.
Wow, Bush just doesn't get it. It is this kind of myopic viewpoint that will lose elections for Republicans. American law should protect ALL Americans, not just those with money.
Apparently Bush thinks that jobs Americans won't do include
loitering in front of hardware stores and equipment rental buisnesses or gangbanging and dealing drugs.
I guess we need even MORE unemployeed illegals in California..as if we don't have enough.
It used to be you could make a living in construction but illegals have depressed wages. Plumbing and auto mechanincs too....
McDonalds USED to be a highschooler kid's job, not job for a head of household with 8 kids.
"Bush bashers are out in full force today."
When it comes to saving my country, nobody better stand in my way.
"If you are a willing employer (and) you have somebody looking for work and you can't find an American ...."
This is a cop-out, Mr. President. You know full well employers who can get away with paying illegals $2.00 an hour under the table or some such thing are going to do it. Furthermore, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT GAINING CONTROL OF OUR BORDERS??? Our soldiers are fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and getting killed and hurt doing it, yet those lunatics can just stroll right in here from Mexico at will if they so desire.
GWB has been so very disappointing on these issues.
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