Tancredo, 70 lawmakers strike out at guest-worker plan

Washington - Colorado's Rep. Tom Tancredo and 70 other U.S. representatives sent a letter today to a Senate committee, warning that legislation it's considering allowing illegal immigrants to work legally in the country will hit a roadblock if it comes back to the House.

The Senate's Judiciary Committee for the last two weeks has been debating an immigration reform bill that includes what's being called a “guest worker” program, something President Bush said he wants.

“We are concerned that some of these proposals are fundamentally incompatible with the desire of the American public for real immigration reform and their clear opposition to reform proposals that amount to little more than thinly disguised attempts to provide amnesty," the House members said in the letter.

“If the Senate were to pass such a proposal, we believe it would doom any chance of a real reform bill reaching the president's desk this year.

Tancredo, R-Littleton, and the other 70 lawmakers were part of a group that led the passage of a bill in the House that imposes new border security measures, including increasing penalties for being in the country illegally.

The House bill does not include a guest-worker provision. The group considers allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country legally a form of amnesty.

“Rewarding persons who have broken the law with an advantage that they would not otherwise have had encourages more illegal behavior and is unjust to immigrants who came to the U.S. legally,'' the letter says.

Reps. Bob Beauprez, R-Arvada, and Joel Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, are among those who signed the letter.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is not expected to finish work on the bill this week, which was the deadline given by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. He is expected to introduce his own bill possibly today that includes border security measures and does not have a guest worker provision.

From FAIR -- March 16, 2006 - 3:51 pm PST

Sad, But True-Cornyn and Kennedy Team Up On Guest Worker Amnesty, Sell Out American Workers

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee met to again consider the guest worker amnesty proposal put forward by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA). No amendments were offered, only discussion of how the committee should proceed. What follows is a summary of today's proceedings.

Maybe We Should Outsource the Senate Judiciary Committee!

The session began 10 minutes late, but was well attended with most members present for most of the time.

Sen. Specter (R-PA) opened the discussion by complaining about news coverage disparaging the slow progress of the committee and the fact that in four sessions the committee was unable to agree on even the least controversial provisions of the bill.
Sen. Specter (R-PA) then suggested the committee meet again tomorrow or Monday 27th with the hope of reaching agreement on major issues and changing the majority leader's mind about bringing up an enforcement-only bill on the floor.
The members agreed that on such short notice, it was unlikely they could get a quorum tomorrow and decided to meet on March 27th.
Sen. Kyl (R-AZ), while approving of a deadline to pressure the committee to act in a timely fashion, he complained that Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) had gone a bit too far.
Sen. Kyl asked Sen. Grassley (R-IA) if the social security and tax amendments offered earlier could be moved forward in the Finance Committee expeditiously. The Senate Finance Committee claims jurisdiction over these matters and Grassley is the committee chairman.
Sen. Grassley offered that he had directed his Finance Committee staff and his Judiciary Committee staff to work with members on these matters.
Sen. Specter asked Grassley if these matters, once resolved, could be taken up in the Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Grassley responded that he had not yet decided, but that with the agreement of 11 members of the Finance Committee, he would consent to a floor amendment on these matters which would be managed by the Finance Committee.
McCain-Kennedy/Cornyn-Kyl-Who is the Fairest Guest Worker Amnesty of Them All?

Sen. Specter (R-PA), as he has during previous sessions, voiced his view that it would be unfair to allow those who are currently present in the U.S. illegally to jump in line in front of those who were patiently applying for their green cards through legal channels.
Sen. Durbin (R-IL) asked that there be a vote on the McCain-Kennedy amnesty guest worker program as a substitute amendment for the Specter amnesty guest worker program.
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) replied that the good work of the committee should not be effectively rejected by taking up McCain-Kennedy and that the committee should focus on the guest worker program, but not the amnesty.
Sens. Schumer (D-NY) and Durbin argued that the committee needed to decide where it stood regarding "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens-amnesty.
Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) was recognized by Chairman Specter to make a statement on a possible compromise. He gave an impassioned speech on the need for amnesty to bring illegal aliens out of the shadows. He asserted that the McCain-Kennedy bill would not let illegal aliens jump the line, because it required them to wait 6 years for green card status.
Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) rebutted the Kennedy argument by pointing out that allowing illegal aliens to stay and work in the U.S. for 6 years while awaiting their green cards was tantamount to giving them a green card at the outset.
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) agreed with Sen. Kyl and argued that the Cornyn-Kyl amnesty guest worker bill is superior to McCain-Kennedy amnesty guest worker program and is not an amnesty.
Sen. Durbin (D-IL) asserted that McCain-Kennedy did not let people jump the line and called it "tough, but fair."
Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) asked Kennedy about the background checks required by his bill and indicated she did not believe DHS could complete all the background checks under his bill.
Sen. Brownback (R-KS) commented that deferred mandatory departure in the Cornyn-Kyl bill also allowed aliens to remain in the country.
Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) replied by saying that while this is true, illegal aliens were not given the same legal status as under the McCain-Kennedy bill.
Sen. Specter (R-PA) announced that the committee would meet again on March 27 at 10:00 a.m. for another session to try and reach agreement on an amnesty guest worker bill.
Sen. Specter announced that there would be votes on a McCain-Kennedy amnesty guest worker program substitute amendment and a Cornyn-Kyl amnesty guest worker program substitute amendment to the Specter amnesty guest worker program proposal.
But We Forgot Amnesty for Agricultural Workers!

Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) inquired of Sen. Kennedy why the definition of guest worker in his bill didn't include agricultural workers.
Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) replied by saying Sen. Larry Craig's AgJobs amnesty guest worker bill covered these workers and suggested that the bill would be offered as a floor amendment.
Saving the Worst For Last-A Cornyn-Kennedy Compromise Guest Worker Amnesty

Sen. Specter (R-PA) announced just before ending the session that Sens. Cornyn and Kennedy had reached a tentative agreement on a guest worker program that would allow workers to stay for 2 years, go home for 1 year, and then return for 6 years. The annual number would be capped at 400,000. Specter asserted that this agreement had 9 firm votes of the 18 members of the committee.
Keep Those Calls Coming

Be sure to contact the members of the Committee if you haven't already done so. Their contact information is listed below.

Main Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

American Patrol Note: Toll Free Number is (888) 355-3588

Senate Judiciary Committee:
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) - 202-224-4254
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) - 202-224-5251
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) - 202-224-3744
Sen. Jon L. Kyl (R-AZ) - 202-224-4521
Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) - 202-224-2315
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) - 202-224-4124
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC) - 202-224-5972
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) - 202-224-2934
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) - 202-224-6521
Sen. Thomas A. Coburn (R-OK) - 202-224-5754
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) - 202-224-4242
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) - 202-224-4543
Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-DE) - 202-224-5042
Sen. Herbert H. Kohl (D-WI) - 202-224-5653
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) - 202-224-3841
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) - 202-224-5323
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) - 202-224-6542
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) - 202-224-2152

..... “If the Senate were to pass such a proposal, we believe it would doom any chance of a real reform bill reaching the president's desk this year. .....

Sounds as if the Senate, in collaboration with the Bush White House is deliberately using the "poison pill" tactic to kill any chance for real immigration reform in this election year. They'll claim, "hey, we tried but (those pesky politicians that are trying to look out for the people/voters interests in) the House scuttled this only chance at real immigration reform this year and big business interests maintain their status-quo, the Senators and Bush's real constituents, win-win and the big (corrupting) campaign dough keeps pouring in and the citizens continue footing everybody's bill gets to lose-lose.

The Senators (in cahoots with Bush and Rove and their big business partners) have no interest in changing things and will continue to thwart efforts to reform the immigration laws or to enforce existing immigration laws. I have quit trying to ask and plead and make nice with my two corrupted RINO Senators, Cornyn and Hutchinson, and I now spell it out in my correspondence to them that if they continue with their efforts to gain amnesty for the 12 to 20 million invading criminals and fail to close our borders that I will not only not vote for them anymore but that I will actively work against them by contributing my donations and time to ANY candidate that pledges to clean up this corruption of our immigration laws in Washington and I do mean anybody. Fair warning has been given to them.

Thank you, VU4G10, for that report illustrating Senator Specter wringing arms as if his life depended upon this proposed amnesty. A few months back he mouthed a few platitudes about looking out for the citizens and I was thoroughly squashed for saying he was a snake unworthy of his constituents trust. Well here's the proof. Great job posting those phone numbers, too.

Ron H., you are correct that the tools of the cheap labor lobby are doing their best/worst to achieve an amnesty while simultaneously saving their seats of power. The Poison Pill tactic worked well for the previous administration for it's ends and for we Republicans/Conservatives to find this being attempted on us, during a time when the R's hold the majority, proves that those pushing amnesty KNOW it's wrong. The really disturbing thing is that they fear the wrath of their primary contributors over that of the constituents who put and keep them in office.

And there's the nub: the elected who succumb to greed and threats know that incumbent reelection has become more the rule than the exception when fewer citizens than ever bother to vote at all. But hey, if the Administration can run us into the ground (the record deficit, the sovereignty-sacrificing treaties, the allowance of binding dependencies, etc.) for it's buddies during a second term why can't they get a piece of the action?

We need a new leadership that puts the nation's interests above party and high-dollar contributors. If we, the citizens, don't address that soon all that has made America the icon of the last two centuries will be sold and given up piecemeal - like we have already become compromised on a production basis and continue to drop in native degree holders. Perhaps the worst thing is that most of our citizens have been raised as sheeple with a fear to "make waves" or disagree with the status quo...even while they see their property values dropping from the immivasion and their children forced to comply with Lowest Common Denominator levels of educational quality because too many of their ESL fellow students shouldn't even be here. Who wants their children sharing supplies with kids who have never been health-screened nor have ever had a basic inoculation?

The way I see it is that our representatives are risking our kids futures for the sake of their own convenience and careers. I'm offended to the point of turning purple when thinking about it, and I don't even have children of my own. Why aren't the people that do have kids doing more than sending checks to the people who are setting up a ruinous Third World future for their children? When will our citizens realize that there is a far higher bill to pay if one goes through life cowering at the possibility of being labeled a racist?

Please hit these links if you can't do anything else:

FAIR's Oppose Amnesty Page

NumbersUSA's Contact Congress Page

they're free services that the politicos do pay attention to. I'd rather do SOMETHING and lose than do nothing and have to say I never lifted a finger to change the outcome.

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