Immigration CPR: Breathing Life Back into a Half-Dead Bill?

Congress has been hammering away on a bill to secure the border and establish a guest-worker program, to no avail.

Both Congress and President Bush are passionate about the issue, and determined to create a workable compromise.

They came close, but the deal fell apart in early June 2007 when Republicans refused to end the debate and vote on the bill, or invoke cloture, because Democratic leaders limited their amendments.

Ah, the story is an age-old one; the majority party limiting the minority party’s influence on a contentious bill, and the minority binding together to stop its progress.

But neither side wants a flop on a hot-button issue like immigration, especially with elections coming up and intense pressure from constituents on all sides of the debate. Long story short: the immigration problem issue isn’t going away, and both sides have agreed to give the bill another go.

Parties, personalities, & policies

But this story has an added twist: the President from one party happens to agree with the opposition party (the one that has a too small majority). Immigration shows both how important it is to vote for a party (they have an advantage in passing contentious legislation), and that it is important to look at the individual candidate's views on the issues –not just their personality-- because legislators don't always toe the party line.

WomenMatter is about knowing what works in your personal experience – and making an informed choice among potential policies by weighing their facts and trade-offs, regardless of who proposes them.

Recasting the debate

Both Democrats and Republicans are trying to recast the debate as a security issue, deemphasizing the controversial guest-worker portion of the bill in their (discussions) public statements.

The House passed the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security spending bill including Republican amendments adding funds for border fencing. The Senate has to decide whether to go along with the House version or request a supplemental spending bill that would pay for border security measures that have already been signed into law.

Proponents believe that paying for border security with supplemental funds could get the debate up and running again by allowing legislators to deal with contentious issues like the path to legalization and a guest worker program separately.

Legislators say that this would help to restore Americans’ faith in government’s ability to secure the U.S.-Mexican border – faith that is waning.

More specifically, the money would go to:

• The large border fence authorized by 2006 law
• An electronic employer verification system which would require companies to check employees against a national database
• 43,000 detention beds, 10,000 border patrol agents, and 4,000 customs investigators

Amendments

Republicans want to offer several amendments that they claim would make the legislation better, including an amendment focused on enforcement, sponsored by Jon Kyl of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The amendment would remove a provision of the bill that allows probationary work permits to be granted just one day after illegal immigrants file an application for legal status.

Critics of the current provision say law enforcement agencies can’t possibly run background checks in one day and that these “probationary benefits” should be removed.

Another amendment, by Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, would require undocumented workers to return home before applying for permanent-residence visas and green cards.

Critics of the amendment argue that it’s unrealistic and unworkable, but Mrs. Hutchison argues that it removes the sticky issue of amnesty from the bill.

For more on the debate over amnesty, click here.

What do you think?

Neither side on the immigration issue has the popular support to get exactly what it wants, but as they work towards a compromise our representatives are listening to their constituents to determine how flexible they can be without losing credibility with voters.

Do you support one, none, some, or all of these proposals? What would you include in an immigration bill?

There’s time to tell your Senators what you think!

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Article Posted on: 8/5/2006