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House Republicans vow to take the offensive on immigration |
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By Jackie Kucinich
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Posted: 07/03/07 07:23 PM [ET] |
House Republicans are planning to use the ashes of the Senate immigration bill to resurrect the debate on border security.
The GOP leadership move to go on offense on immigration is politically tricky. While polls show that most Americans back stronger border-security measures, some House Republicans — such as then-Rep. J.D. Hayworth (Ariz.) — faced strong criticism last year for their so-called “hard-line” approach. Hayworth subsequently lost to Rep. Harry Mitchell (D) in last year’s midterm elections.
Immigration reform was not high on the Democratic agenda last election cycle, and some political observers questioned the motivation of Democratic leaders to pass the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently called the legislation “Bush’s bill” but noted that more Republicans than Democrats voted against cloture.
House Democratic leaders have suggested that they will not act on a broad immigration reform bill unless the Senate acts, a remote possibility following last week’s failed cloture vote
House Republican leaders are calling out their Democratic counterparts for failing to tackle immigration matters, but have made it clear they do not want the lower chamber to act on President Bush’s proposed guest-worker program.
Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Immigration Reform Caucus, said the demise of the Senate bill was a positive development for border security and the debate forced Congress to “come to grips with the reality that the illegal immigration issue is an issue of national importance.”
“The defeat of the Senate bill is not an excuse for Congress to do nothing when we have within reach a broad consensus on the need to address employer verification, interior enforcement and border security … we should instead renew our commitment to getting something done immediately.”
Homeland Security Committee ranking member Pete King (R-N.Y.), a cosponsor of border security legislation that will be introduced later this month, said through a spokesman that the Senate bill has “reinvigorated the border-security debate.”
During a press conference on Thursday, Republican leaders joined the chief House critics of the Senate immigration bill in applauding its defeat and touting the importance of border security legislation.
“Until we’re able — the government’s able — to demonstrate to the American people that we can in fact secure the borders and enforce the laws, the American people aren’t willing to take those next steps in this process,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said.
Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said he expected many of his members to line up behind a bill crafted by King and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), ranking member on the Judiciary Committee.
“I think many of us will be supporting the Lamar Smith/Peter King bill,” Blunt said. “I actually think it carves out a special spot for temporary workers for agriculture. The concern that House Republicans have and have had for some time now is the order in which these things are accomplished.”
A draft of the Smith-King legislation includes an increase in the size of the Border Patrol and would boost the number of Customs and Border Protection Officers at U.S. ports by 1,000 people over four years. It would also expedite the removal of individuals in the country illegally, make English the national language and refine the system that verifies the identities of those applying for employment in the United States.
Some House Democrats, meanwhile, want to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.
Following the Senate vote last week, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, said in a release that Democratic leaders need to “improve the current unsatisfactory system.”
A spokeswoman for Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the House has already begun to address border security through the passage of the homeland security appropriations bill by providing the funding for 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents in fiscal 2008 — a nearly 20 percent increase that will bring the number of Border Patrol agents to 17,819 by the end of the fiscal year.
“For the 148 Republicans who voted against this bill, any stated commitment to border security rings hollow,” the spokeswoman said. |
