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Citing constituent outcry, House Immigration Reform Caucus sees increase in membership |
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By Jackie Kucinich
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Posted: 06/26/07 07:07 PM [ET] |
When debate on the Senate immigration bill heated up earlier this month, the phones in the office of freshman Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) began to ring continuously.
In one day, says Altmire, “I had 200 phone calls … all in opposition to the Senate bill.”
Altmire said immigration is the No. 1 issue in his Pennsylvania district, and his constituents are outspokenly “anti-amnesty.”
“Joining the caucus was an easy call for me. [It’s] where I have to be on that issue,” he said.
The House Immigration Reform Caucus, chaired by Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), has seen a steady increase in membership since the Senate legislation was introduced with White House backing. Fifteen members have since joined the group, bringing its membership to a total of 108 members. The caucus fiercely opposes the Senate bill, which in principle would allow the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country to become legal citizens.
The growing membership in the caucus on both sides of the aisle could suggest major problems for any House immigration bill that includes the amnesty provision. Polling results from a recent Democratic survey also underscore that trend.
According to a Democracy Corps poll of 1,600 likely voters in swing districts, conducted June 10-14, 47 percent oppose the Senate bill. Only 29 percent of respondents favored it.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said recently she would need nearly 70 Republicans to join Democrats on a vote for any immigration legislation to pass the House.
“We’ll watch it very carefully to see what it is and see what we can do to improve upon it or possibly reject it,” Pelosi told the liberal blog MyDD.com. She listed border security, workplace enforcement, worker protection and a path to legalization as critical components for her.
“Central to all of that is family unification, which has always been one of our principles,” she added.
Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Bilbray and the Immigration Reform Caucus, said that constituent outcry has been one of the reasons the group has seen the increase in membership. While most of the members are conservative Republicans, seven Democrats have joined the group. Three of those are freshmen from districts that will be heavily targeted by Republicans in 2008.
“The American people have embarked on a very effective, grass roots-driven effort to phone, fax and e-mail their members of Congress to let them know that an ‘aye’ vote for amnesty is a ‘no’ vote in November,” Bardella said. “This swell of activity has resulted in a newfound interest from members of both parties to join and participate in the Immigration Reform Caucus.”
Freshman Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda (Kan.) said she joined the group because of her strong views against the bill being pushed by President Bush and the Senate. She has also received numerous calls from constituents and indicated that the issue monopolizes most town-hall meetings in her right-leaning district.
“I think we are heading down a very misguided path,” Boyda said. She argues that the current Senate language resembles the last major action on immigration in 1986, which many believe failed to stop illegal immigration.
“The more I hear about this, the more it smells like 1986, and it is not going to do anything to alter immigration,” she said.
Boyda, like others in the caucus, argues that current immigration laws need to be enforced before new ones are created.
“It’s not easy … we don’t want any excuses,” Boyda said. “We need to do the hard part first.”
In addition to Boyda and Altmire, Democratic Reps. Heath Shuler (N.C.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Lincoln Davis (Tenn.), Gene Taylor (Miss.) and Bart Gordon (Tenn.) are also part of the reform caucus.
The Senate will vote today on whether to proceed to the bill. A vote to end debate on the bill could occur as early as Thursday. The bill was pulled from the floor on June 7 after a compromise between lawmakers crumbled in the days leading up to its consideration.
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