Thread: Immigration proposal could be delayed

Immigration proposal could be delayed

By David Nakamura,
Sunday, April 7, 4:51 PM

A bipartisan Senate group on immigration legislation is attempting to craft an agreement so secure that the eight members will oppose amendments to its core provisions, an arrangement that could delay the introduction of a bill, people familiar with the negotiations said.

The senators had said they hoped to present their proposals this week, but Republican members expressed skepticism about that timetable Sunday. The group continues to negotiate issues related to new visa programs for agricultural and high-tech workers and has not reached agreement on a guest-worker program for low-skilled foreign laborers, said the individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he hopes a deal can be reached “in the next couple of weeks.” A GOP Senate aide involved in the negotiations said a deal is unlikely this week because writing the bill, which is expected to be up to 1,500 pages, is going slowly.

The timetable is important because President Obama has called for a comprehensive immigration reform measure that could be approved by the Senate and House in time for him to sign it into law by the end of the year. Under the timetable eyed by the Senate group, whose proposal is expected to be the template for a potential deal, the legislation would be introduced in the Judiciary Committee this month for the amendment process.

The goal is to get the measure to the Senate floor after Memorial Day. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), the lead Democrat in the bipartisan working group, remained optimistic about the time frame.

“Thus far, we are on track,” he said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “All of us have said that there will be no agreement until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill. But hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week.”

Obama has supported the Senate group’s effort, but the president has vowed to step forward with his own legislative proposal if the senators are unable to deliver a plan in the spring.

The senators are mindful of the pitfalls of previous immigration reform efforts, when amendments by supporters and opponents in 2007 helped doom a bill in the Senate. In an attempt to head off such threats, the Senate group is trying to strike a deal in which all the members agree to oppose any amendments to the core provisions.even if they might agree with the amendments, people familiar with the talks said.

The group is concerned that if one provision is amended, the entire bill will fall apart because the deal is predicated on a comprehensive plan composed of carefully negotiated pieces.

The core provisions are likely to include a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, new visa programs for low- and high-skilled workers and for agricultural workers, a reduction in some family visa categories, and increased border control and workplace security.

But ironing out the specific language at a time that the senators are still negotiating portions of it has made the drafting process laborious, said one member of the business community who has talked with the senators.

“My sense is this week is pretty unlikely,” this person said. “Just the mere writing is enough to delay past this week, but that’s not the problem. There are still substantial disagreements on almost all the major parts.”

Another labor community individual was more optimistic about the progress, but agreed that the bill would probably not be ready this week. This individual said that the senators are trying to determine which areas of the bill would be considered “core provisions” on which they will agree not to support amendments.

“No one wants there to be errors,” the individual said. “It’s a contentious process.”

Immigration advocates have begun to grow impatient, and thousands are expected to attend a rally Wednesday at the Capitol. Republicans, however, have cautioned against excessive haste.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the group who has emphasized that a deal has not been reached, received permission from the group to brief the GOP Senate caucus on the progress of the negotiations, something he probably will do Tuesday, aides said.

“He’s talking to a lot of people,” the business community individual said. “Partially, it’s over how to resolve some of these issues, but it’s also to find out how toxic this thing could be.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...f35_story.html

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/immigration...rs-say-275574/

First article added to the Homepage
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=1...uld-be-delayed

by Matthew Boyle 8 Apr 2013, 2:15 PM PDT
breitbart.com



All the members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” pushing immigration reform in the U.S. Senate will band together to block any efforts by other senators to offer amendments to their legislation once it is introduced, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

“A bipartisan Senate group on immigration legislation is attempting to craft an agreement so secure that the eight members will oppose amendments to its core provisions, an arrangement that could delay the introduction of a bill, people familiar with the negotiations said,” the Post’s David Nakamura wrote.

In response to Nakamura’s article on Monday, Gang of Eight member Sen. Marco Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant told Breitbart News that his description of the process being worked on is not correct. “The legislation that the eight senators are working on is only the start of the process; we expect several committee hearings, a full debate, and an open process for other senators to offer amendments,” Conant said. “It’s premature to speculate about what sort of amendments might be offered, but if another senator offers an amendment that improves the legislation consistent with the principles Senator Rubio has outlined, then I would expect members of the group of eight to support it.”

But Rubio’s words are unlikely to do much to assuage the concerns of conservative Republicans in Congress, especially as fellow Gang of Eight member New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Pat Leahy, and other Democrats appear poised to rush whatever bill the bipartisan group comes up with through as fast as they can once the legislative text is presented.

Nakamura notes the bill is expected to be around 1,500 pages long, and that the Gang of Eight “is trying to strike a deal in which all the members agree to oppose any amendments to the core provisions, even if they might agree with the amendments, people familiar with the talks said.”

“The group is concerned that if one provision is amended, the entire bill will fall apart because the deal is predicated on a comprehensive plan composed of carefully negotiated pieces,” Nakamura wrote.

This apparent effort by Gang of Eight members to force a deal through with no amendments and without a transparent process complete with public hearings examining the different facets of a forthcoming bill has worried conservatives on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee’s ranking GOP member, Sen. Chuck Grassley, and his colleagues Sens. Jeff Sessions, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee recently wrote to all the Republicans in the Gang of Eight asking them to fight for a transparent process and hearings to examine each part of the coming bill, which still has not been written.

Sens. Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, and John McCain have not backed the efforts for transparency in this process. Rubio says he does back the efforts for a transparent process, and wrote back to those conservatives on the Senate Judiciary Committee to say that he views the Gang of Eight’s forthcoming legislative text as nothing more than a “starting point” from which other senators will be allowed to offer their input via amendments and hearings and other processes. But Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has only said he will “consider” having just one hearing on the massive legislative package, and would not commit to a transparent process.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...-no-amendments