Posted on 06/26/2007 12:10:25 PM PDT by wilco200
WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Judd Gregg today joined 63 of his colleagues in supporting a motion to proceed to debate on S.1639, a comprehensive immigration reform package.
Senator Gregg stated, “Today I voted in support of debating immigration reform, one of the biggest issues facing our country. The bill in its present form needs to be fixed, but so does our immigration system. There is no way to improve this bill if we refuse to take it up and debate it.
“It is a known fact that our current immigration laws and procedures are not working. Our borders are porous and we have not done enough to ensure that we know who is coming into our country on a daily basis. We must establish control over our borders, especially our border with Mexico, before we make sweeping changes in our immigration laws and issue visas to millions of undocumented immigrants.
“We need to address the fact that our current immigration laws undermine our nation’s future competitiveness in the global economy. Instead of encouraging the best and brightest to come here and create economic opportunities for all, we slam the door in their faces through arbitrary restrictions and an overemphasis on family relations over individual merit. While this bill makes some improvements in this area, it also takes some significant steps backwards by undermining important visa programs – namely, the H-1B visa program – that are critical for recruiting highly skilled individuals. It is quite possible that over the next few days, proposed amendments may make the bill’s flaws only worse with respect to the H-1B program, and this is unacceptable when our nation is facing a growing shortage of workers with the skills and education necessary for today’s growth industries. I will not support a debate that does not follow regular process and give individual members, including myself, a fair opportunity to address this issue and make sure that our immigration laws are aligned with our nation’s priorities.
“Any plausible immigration reform must also increase the number of available guest workers so that employers have legal alternatives if U.S. workers are unavailable. A workable guest worker system, which has wage protections and other measures to ensure that U.S. workers are not adversely affected, is critical to help ensure that employers and immigrants play by the rules, as well as take pressure off our Southwest border. This bill, however, fails to create a practical guest worker program for all employers, and I find it hard to believe that any comprehensive immigration reform will work unless we fix this problem. Unfortunately, the Senate will not even be allowed to consider an amendment that addresses this issue.
“So I have voted to allow debate on this important measure, but do so with serious reservations about the present form of the legislation. I am hopeful that substantive improvements can be made to this bill; however, if they are not, this bill will fail and I will vote against it.”
It's full of Amnesty talking points, like "immigrants who play by the rules," etc., but does offer a glimmer of hope "I am hopeful that substantive improvements can be made to this bill; however, if they are not, this bill will fail and I will vote against it.”
This could just be a CYA press release designed to silence his phones, but we must continue to fight and to remind him that any bill passed before our existing laws are enforced will destroy America - and that any amendment that passes will be killed in committee (see Lott).
Pick a fence-sitter an hammer them over then next few days.
Hope.
He used an awful lot of words to convey the thought: I weaseled.
Cough...hack....choke...
That he did. Mr. Gregg used to be reliable.
He's clearly now in the pocket of the globalists.
Note that his big problem with the bill is that he doesn't get more of their favorite kind of foreigners to live here.
Oh, what am I saying? He doesn't mean any of it. It's all just a dance. He's a Bush family buddy, he's just down the line for them.
“Pick a fence-sitter an hammer them over then next few days.”
YES...
Mark Krikorian:
“The second, and final, cloture vote is coming Thursday (that will be to end debate and proceed to a final vote on the bill itself), and only five votes need to shift from Yes to No to stop it. That seems like a good bet, with good candidates for switching including Brownback, Bond, Ben Nelson, Ensign, Burr, and Gregg. If they thought they’d gotten a lot of calls and faxes before, ...”
THE FENCE-SITTER LIST - the list of anti-cloture (early June) to pro-cloture (today) switchers:
Bennett (R-UT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brownback (R-KS) [didn’t vote last time]
Burr (R-NC)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Craig (R-ID)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Gregg (R-NH)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Pryor (D-AR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Stevens (R-AK)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
TEH GOP AMNESTY HALL OF SHAME:
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Burr (R-NC)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Craig (R-ID)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
We need to demand that they ALL tell us if they were promised anything by the White House or the Republican leadership in exchange for their vote for cloture, and what they were promised, and see what they say. It will all eventually come out in the wash because no one there an keep a secret.
Democrats Yes
Akaka, Hawaii; Biden, Del.; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif.; Brown, Ohio; Cantwell, Wash.; Cardin, Md.; Carper, Del.; Casey, Pa.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Dodd, Conn.; Durbin, Ill.; Feingold, Wis.; Feinstein, Calif.; Harkin, Iowa; Inouye, Hawaii; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Klobuchar, Minn.; Kohl, Wis.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Lincoln, Ark.; Menendez, N.J.; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Nelson, Fla.; Nelson, Neb.; Obama, Ill.; Pryor, Ark.; Reed, R.I.; Reid, Nev.; Salazar, Colo.; Schumer, N.Y.; Webb, Va.; Whitehouse, R.I.; Wyden, Ore.
Democrats No
Baucus, Mont.; Bayh, Ind.; Byrd, W.Va.; Dorgan, N.D.; Landrieu, La.; McCaskill, Mo.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Stabenow, Mich.; Tester, Mont.
Democrats Not Voting
Johnson, S.D.
Republicans Yes
Bennett, Utah; Bond, Mo.; Brownback, Kan.; Burr, N.C.; Coleman, Minn.; Collins, Maine; Craig, Idaho; Domenici, N.M.; Ensign, Nev.; Graham, S.C.; Gregg, N.H.; Hagel, Neb.; Kyl, Ariz.; Lott, Miss.; Lugar, Ind.; Martinez, Fla.; McCain, Ariz.; McConnell, Ky.; Murkowski, Alaska; Snowe, Maine; Specter, Pa.; Stevens, Alaska; Voinovich, Ohio; Warner, Va.
Republicans No
Alexander, Tenn.; Allard, Colo.; Barrasso, Wy.; Bunning, Ky.; Chambliss, Ga.; Coburn, Okla.; Cochran, Miss.; Corker, Tenn.; Cornyn, Texas; Crapo, Idaho; DeMint, S.C.; Dole, N.C.; Enzi, Wyo.; Grassley, Iowa; Hatch, Utah; Hutchison, Texas; Inhofe, Okla.; Isakson, Ga.; Roberts, Kan.; Sessions, Ala.; Shelby, Ala.; Smith, Ore.; Sununu, N.H.; Thune, S.D.; Vitter, La.
Others Yes
Lieberman, Conn.
Others No
Sanders, Vt.
I met Judd many years ago, pre Senator days. He was Governor back then. I know now why my Dad referred to him as “Dud Gregg.” This isn’t the first time he’s screwed over the citizens of NH. NH has some of the highest electric rates in the USA. It was Gregg as Governor and Steve Merrill as AG that sold a bankrupt Seabrook Power Plant to CT Power and Gas and left NH residents continuing to foot the bill and people wonder why the Republican party is no longer in power in NH..
Gregg is a big time wage depression supporter. In the pocket of the few, not the many.
Senate is mostly corrupt, globalist, anti-American. Better count on the House.
“I am hopeful that substantive improvements can be made to this bill; however, if they are not, this bill will fail and I will vote against it.””
There are no substantive improvements to this bill that will help the H1-B situation. The massive Z1 visa program will cause a breakdown in processing of legal immigrants, will unleash 6 million family-chain-migration ‘backlog’ cases, and will hamper employer-based immigration for more than a decade.
Thus the right solution for Senator Gregg is to vote “NO” on cloture.
Note to Gregg, I grew up on the farm, I known what bull---- is.
You mean FORMER senator Gregg ?
Improved version!
If the current system doesn’t work then how is it they’re deporting all the illegals that they’ve been rounding up?
Liars.
Gregg thinks his tough talk on borders distracts from the fact he is more open borders than possibly even Bush.
Each word about enforcement is a word of guile. Just cover. He wants more wage depression so he can get bigger kickbacks “campain contributions” from those who profit in the short term.
Kyl wins for being flat out liar. Gregg wins for p[hony outrage. His outrage about Bush and the borders is COMPLETELY phony since he supports laws that make enforcement otherwise near meaningless. America will change into a stratified society like Mexico, people like Gregg will profit and talk of it as “progress.”
That is about as logical as staying home in an election and allowing for an opposition victory to occur as a way of "sending a message" to your party.
Gregg clearly cares more for illegals than US citizens.
“if they were promised anything”
Won’t make a bit of difference what they were promised. Bush is a liar(in taking an oath to protect this country from invasion) and I seriously doubt that there will be many of these Republicans left in office to collect on those promises. And, if teddy did any of the promising, they better be wearing water wings .
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