The details remain difficult to resolve, but negotiators expressed optimism. | AP Photos
The Senate’s “Gang of Eight” is preparing to leave town with a deal on immigration reform in limbo, stalled by a fight between Big Labor and Big Business.
On Thursday morning, it had appeared that a deal was in hand over the major remaining sticking point: the outlines of a broad new visa program aimed at balancing the need for foreign workers in low-skilled jobs with the desires of American workers competing for those same jobs.
So much for optimism.
In a closed-door session that stretched late into Thursday night, things got heated. Sources said negotiations grew extremely tense after business groups balked. There were more talks on Friday — but no more progress, even though negotiations continued in a rare Friday night session of the Senate.
By ANNA PALMER and MANU RAJU | 3/22/13 10:28 AM EDT Updated: 3/23/13 3:14 PM EDT
POLITICO
Now, the Gang of Eight faces a quandary. If senators can’t win the endorsement of labor and business, they must soon decide whether to go their own way — absent the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO — and hope the powerful interest groups stay neutral when a bill eventually emerges.
The senators said they would continue to negotiate with the interest groups during their two-week recess, with the goal of narrowing their differences, winning their backing and rolling out a proposal in the second week of April. That would set up a Senate Judiciary Committee vote before the end of the month, with floor votes by early summer.
“People have a lot at stake here,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “This is a huge deal. Talking about the lives of 11 million people just to start with, so I understand why passions are high, and sentiments are high."
Late Friday night, tensions were still at a boil. Labor officials accused Republicans and business groups of proposing “congressionally sanctioned poverty” for low-skilled workers. And Chamber officials attacked labor groups for preventing a deal from taking shape.
“The unions have jeopardized the entire immigration reform effort, which would provide a pathway to legalization and citizenship for the 10-11 million undocumented workers, because of their refusal to take a responsible stance on a small temporary worker program,” Randy Johnson, the Chamber’s senior vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, said in a late Friday night statement. “These types of programs have always been considered a key part of comprehensive immigration reform.”
Johnson added that his group was still “hopeful” a deal can be reached and an immigration law can be signed by President Barack Obama.
The Senate group has ironed out most of its differences, including over the highly contentious pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants. Under the draft agreement, illegal immigrants could apply for citizenship after 13 years, under a range of conditions, including new enforcement measures at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Under the bipartisan outline of a deal the Gang of Eight reached in January, businesses would be able to hire lower-skilled immigrant workers when Americans were not available or willing to fill jobs. The outline calls for a program for immigrants to fill farm worker positions when Americans are unavailable. It would create a sliding scale based on the economy’s strength, allowing for more lower-skilled immigrants to enter the country in periods of job growth and for fewer foreign low-skilled workers when the economy is sagging.
The two sides have reached consensus on the scope, size and timing of the program — but worker pay has been the biggest sticking point in the guest worker program.
Business groups balked at one union proposal that would allow 10,000 people in per year, a commission to determine when visas would be awarded and a tiered pay plan that would request some businesses pay 60 percent above the prevailing wage.
On Friday evening, AFL-CIO officials said Senate Republicans had rejected their latest language on wages. The language is similar to that of other visa programs like the H2B visas that already in law. The language said “visas will be issued only when the employment of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly situated workers in the United States.”
AFL-CIO’s immigration director Ana Avendaño likened the Republican proposal that included three bands where two-thirds of new workers would be paid below the median wage as “congressionally sanctioned poverty.”
“The Republicans have been pressured by business to get workers to bleed a nickel or more,” she said. “We’ve just reached a point where business has gotten too greedy and they’ve gone over the edge. They are trying to hold up comprehensive immigration reform for $2.50 for waiters in Florida.”
Indeed, a Republican aide said Friday that the latest offer actually had the backing of the four Republicans and four Democrats in the group, and he accused labor of rejecting it.
Despite the back-and-forth attacks, members of the Gang of Eight maintained that they were optimistic about getting a deal despite heading into late afternoon without noticeable progress on the contentious issue.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that some of the delay was caused by getting data for the guest worker program.
“I’m confident about the progress we’re making,” Rubio said, but he added the challenge was finalizing various elements of a comprehensive plan.
“If we’re going to do comprehensive reform which is what everyone says they want — that’s why I always argue for piece-by-piece because it allowed us to deal with each of those issues in their own domain — but if you’re going to do a comprehensive approach, you’re going to need all these things in there,” he said. “Otherwise, it doesn’t work.”
“I think people want an agreement,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Friday evening. “We all know we need one. That usually leads to one. But sometimes you fail even though you know you need one and you want one.”
But, he said, negotiations wouldn’t stop until the bill is unveiled.
“We’ll be talking up to the day of the press conference — if there is one,” Graham said.
The issue over low-skilled workers was a major hangup in 2007, the last time immigration reform was seriously debated, and has been a point of contention since the group started meeting. This time around, senators tasked the Chamber and AFL-CIO in December to come to an agreement on visas for low-skilled workers. But after weeks of meetings, the sides decided to work directly with negotiators because they couldn’t come to a compromise.
Staff continued to work on the issue throughout the day, following a meeting Friday morning with the senators in the Capitol. Sources familiar with the talks said Friday that labor officials with the AFL-CIO had proposed a plan to attract lower-skilled foreign workers into the U.S., and Republicans in the group appeared to be largely on board. But then business officials — led by the Chamber — objected, forcing the negotiators to reopen the talks.
“The talks were never closed,” said Randy Johnson, senior vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits at the Chamber. “Nothing is agreed to until the whole thing is agreed to.”
Business sources say the guest worker proposal in its current form is too unwieldy. They argue that if enacted, industries like construction — which often are run by small-business owners — won’t use the program and continue to employ illegal immigrants.
Both sides say they are in near constant contact with staffers keeping them abreast of the discussions and tweaks to the program, which has become the last stumbling block for lawmakers to come to a deal.
While K Street is increasingly frustrated by what it views as labor’s moving target on low-skilled worker visas, they acknowledge they are in a tough position.
“It is increasingly hard to see a way out of here,” one business lobbyist familiar with the negotiations said.
“Republicans and the business community can’t really afford to walk away from this. They have put us in a very tough negotiating position,” the lobbyist said. “They aren’t going to walk away with nothing.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday said that the immigration bill would be in the “short queue” of bills to bring to the floor, following action on gun control and water resources development.
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