Lawmakers set agenda with new bills

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Lawmakers set agenda with new bills
BY LISA FRIEDMAN, Washington Bureau
Article Last Updated: 01/03/2007 09:33:55 PM PST




WASHINGTON - Southland lawmakers are racing out of the gate today, introducing scores of bills in the opening hours of the 110th Congress.

From immigration to Social Security to covert wiretapping, the legislation underscores the priorities of local politicians for the coming year.

"It's about political advertising," said Brookings Institution congressional scholar Thomas Mann. "It's a way of demonstrating an interest in or concern about an issue."

Many of the lawmakers are taking up issues they were unsuccessful in passing last year.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, for instance, will reintroduce legislation he has with Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., that would limit warrantless wiretapping. Specifically, the bill codifies wiretapping powers in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and makes that the exclusive means for conducting such surveillance.

"This was an issue the Congress failed to resolve before we recessed," Schiff said. Introducing it early this year is key, he said, because "there is some time sensitivity."

Schiff said he believes that with Democrats now in control of Congress, the bill stands a good chance.

"I think we need to clarify that Congress intends
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to oversee this area," he said. "These issues will now get aired."

Other bills by newly empowered Democrats include a measure by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, to repeal a set of obscure laws that experts say drain retirement benefits from thousands of California public employees.

Currently the Social Security Act includes a provision that eliminates or reduces benefits if a worker's spouse has a government pension based on work not covered by Social Security. That, along with a measure called the Windfall Elimination Provision that reduces worker benefits, would be abolished under Berman's bill

"Our nation's dedicated teachers, firefighters, and peace officers have a great need for this reform to further secure their retirement," he wrote in a letter to other lawmakers urging their support.

Last year Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, led the bill's charge.

Among Southland Republicans, Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, is poised to introduce legislation making cockfighting a felony punishable by up to two years in jail.

"Animal fighting is a brutal, inhuman practice," Gallegly said in a statement, noting that the practice also has been linked as a contributor to the spread of avian flu. The bill mirrors one he worked on in the 109th Congress but was unable to pass into law.

Gallegly also is putting together a package of bills aimed at curbing illegal immigration, said his spokesman, Thomas Pfeifer.

The legislation, still being worked on, includes measures to track Social Security numbers; a bill making it a felony for deportable illegal immigrants to fail to attend removal proceedings; and one taking aim at so-called "anchor babies" by requiring that at least one parent be a citizen or legal resident before a child born in the U.S. can be a citizen.

Other Southland lawmakers said they intend to introduce bills addressing transportation, funding for the incarceration of criminal illegal immigrants and mental health issues over the first few weeks of the congressional session.

lisa.friedman@langnews.com

(212) 662-8731

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Gallegly Introduces Illegal Immigration Package
Congressional Desk


The Congressional Desk provides information, news releases, and announcements obtained from governmental or political communication and public relations offices.



Congressional Desk
January 5, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties) today introduced six bills to fight illegal immigration in the United States.

"A top priority for this new Congress and any Congress, for that matter, should be to reduce the high levels of illegal immigrants entering this nation," Gallegly said when introducing the bills. "This is a problem that goes directly to our responsibilities as a sovereign nation to secure our borders and enforce our laws."

Gallegly's bills are designed to remove incentives for immigrants to enter the United States illegally, bring fairness to federal immigration laws, and close loopholes illegal immigrants use to flout U.S. laws.

Two of Gallegly's bills address the crux of the illegal immigration problem: jobs.

To get a job, a person must provide his employer with a Social Security number. Illegal immigrants often provide fictitious Social Security numbers, many times adopting the identity of a hardworking American who is unaware his identity has been stolen until he is refused a loan or contacted by an irate creditor. In fact, Social Security sent 8 million notices to workers whose names and Social Security numbers didn't match in 2002 and 9.6 million notices to workers in 2005. But other than sending the notices, the Social Security Administration has failed to act.

Gallegly's Identity Theft Notification Act of 2007 would require the Social Security Administration to investigate if it receives W-2 forms with the same Social Security number but different addresses. If the Social Security Administration finds evidence of fraudulent activity, it is required to notify not only the Department of Homeland Security, but also the legal possessor of the Social Security number. This will enable innocent people to take steps to protect their credit, identity and good name.

In addition, Gallegly's Employment Eligibility Verification and Anti-Identity Theft Act would require workers to resolve discrepancies if their names and Social Security numbers do not match. Employers would have to terminate workers who do not resolve discrepancies. The Social Security Administration also would be required to notify the Department of Homeland Security so it can investigate whether a crime has been committed.

Gallegly's third bill also removes a major incentive for people to come to this country illegally.

Gallegly's Citizenship Reform Act of 2007 would bring U.S. laws into line with virtually every other nation by requiring that at least one parent be a citizen or permanent resident for a child to automatically become a citizen.

Additionally, Gallegly introduced a bill that will make current U.S. immigration law fairer. Under current law, an illegal immigrant who leaves the country faces a bar of up to three years if he has been in the country illegally for more than six months, and a 10-year bar if he has been here illegally for more than a year. However, if an illegal immigrant never leaves the country but applies to adjust his status, he faces no re-entry prohibitions. This is fundamentally unfair. Gallegly's legislation provides that all illegal immigrants face the same penalty - even if they are eligible for a change in status.

Finally, Gallegly introduced two bills that would criminalize actions common among illegal immigrants.

Many illegal immigrants who are apprehended and agree to voluntarily depart either fail to leave or leave only to return. Gallegly's bill would make it a felony, with a mandatory one-year jail sentence, for illegal immigrants to agree to leave and then either fail to leave or return illegally.

The sixth bill would make it a felony, with a mandatory one-year jail sentence, when illegal immigrants ignore the law and refuse to appear in court when ordered. This bill would eliminate the "get out of jail free card" illegal immigrants receive when they are given a notice to appear and then disappear into society.