Immigration Legislation Battle Moves from CIR to DHS Appropriation Legislation
Congress has only little more than a week left before its scheduled recess and with the death of CIR, the Republican Congress has been busy to pass highly election politics charged border security only and enforcement only legislative bills before the recess. The House has already passed so-called Voter ID bill by 228:196 and the Senate voted the Border Fence bill by 94:0 which has already been passed by the House. This latter bill is expected to pass the Senate next Monday.
Republican strategists intend to add these bills to the DHS Appropriation Bill which must be passed by the Congress. There is also ongoing movement to add legal immigration bills to the Appropriation Bill. The Republican strategists has reportedly obtained the President's coimmitment to sign the bills once these bills are passed, but such strategies are strongly opposed by the immigration interest groups including AILA and there is a massive lobbying to block such legislation. The Republican strategists also face unexpected internal opposition to such strategy by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Mass) who reportedly stated that he would not add any legislaive language onto the spending bills that could slow their progress in the final days before the coming recess.
For the report, please read the following
Congress Resumes Immigration Efforts
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 21, 2006; Page A03
The House and the Senate moved yesterday toward a piecemeal crackdown on illegal immigration, pushing forward separate bills to require photo identification to vote, build vast fences on the U.S.-Mexico border and speed the deportation of undocumented workers. The measures would take the place of President Bush's far broader rewrite of the nation's immigration laws.
Voting almost completely along party lines, the House voted 228 to 196 for a bill that would require all who register to vote in federal elections to show photo identification that proves they are U.S. citizens. The Senate, meanwhile, voted 94 to 0 to take up a measure passed by the House last week to build 700 miles of double-layered fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border, with a final vote to come as early as Monday.
Today, the House will take up bills to speed the deportation of undocumented workers, ratchet up penalties for immigrant gang members and human smugglers, end an exemption for Salvadoran illegal immigrants from rapid deportation, criminalize tunneling under the border, and overtly deputize state and local police officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
In an interview on CNN, President Bush said he would sign the measures, even though they do not embrace a more comprehensive approach -- including a guest-worker program -- that he has backed.
"Yes, I'll sign it into law," Bush said. "I would view this as an interim step. I don't view this as a final product."
Passage of the measures would permit leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress to claim they have taken steps to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants. It is an issue that has rent the party, spawned huge demonstrations in many cities last spring, and called into question the Republicans' ability to face tough issues. GOP leaders also believe that the hardening of legislative lines on illegal immigration and border security will bolster the party's conservative political support ahead of the midterm elections.
"Border security is national security," declared House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.), with House GOP leaders by his side. "We're going to try our doggonedest to enact as many of these bills as we can."
With little more than a week left before the Sept. 29 start of Congress's scheduled recess, GOP leaders are considering appending some or all of the bills to must-pass spending measures before they leave town. But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) appeared to close off that avenue last night, saying he will not add any legislative language onto the spending bills that could slow their progress in the final days before the coming recess.
The sudden rush of activity startled immigrant and civil rights groups, which had largely thought a legislative response on immigration was dead for the year. The National Immigration Law Center sent out an "urgent" notice to allies to prod them into action, noting: "In recent days, there has been a serious deterioration of the position of pro-immigrant forces in Congress."
The lawmakers' embrace of a piecemeal approach came as members of a private task force on immigration reiterated their belief that a comprehensive solution is necessary to solve the nation's immigration problems. The task force's plan includes strong border enforcement and a program that allows undocumented workers currently in the country to remain by paying a stiff fine.
But it also proposes that the president and Congress establish two federal organizations that would regulate the flow of immigrants and help them assimilate into society. Former congressman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), who co-chaired the Migration Policy Institute task force with former senator Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), said the House's approach is draconian to immigrants, while a Senate bill approved in May is too complex.
Most of the provisions in the bills the lawmakers are now considering were plucked from the House's border security and anti-illegal-immigration bill that passed in December, then sparked protests this spring that brought millions of immigrants into the streets. But Republicans believe the politics of the immigration issue have shifted in favor of their get-tough approach. Even some Republicans who have backed Bush's approach, such as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), said yesterday that the shift among voters in favor of "enforcement first" is palpable.
"While I've made it clear that I prefer a comprehensive solution, I have always said we need an enforcement-first approach to immigration reform," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who surprised many immigration rights activists when he took up the House border-fencing bill.
Cecilia Muñoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, warned that Republicans "are politically playing with fire" with Latino voters, who gave 40 percent of their vote to Bush in 2004.
The rhetoric in the House yesterday was particularly heated, with a stream of African American and Latino Democrats taking to the floor to denounce a voter ID bill that they called a "modern-day poll tax" designed to disenfranchise minority, elderly and disabled voters who lean Democratic.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the bill "a tawdry attempt by Republicans to suppress the votes of millions of Americans."
Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), a soft-spoken moderate who helped craft the legislation, angrily called the charges nonsense, saying the bill authorizes funds to help state and local governments cover the costs of helping the poor obtain identification cards.
Under the bill, all states would be required to check photo identification by the November 2008 elections. By the 2010 elections, states could accept only identification that shows proof of citizenship, a passport or a new federal "Real ID" card authorized by Congress but not yet implemented.
The bill coming before the Senate would authorize the construction, on the southern border, of 700 miles of double-layered fencing -- at an estimated cost of at least $3 million a mile -- and a "virtual fence" of cameras, sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles. That is nearly double the size of the fence approved by the Senate in May as part of its comprehensive immigration bill.
Staff writer Darryl Fears contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/20/AR2006092001149.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email