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    FAIR Legislative Update

    June 5, 2006
    In this update:
    Immigration Conference: House Enforcement vs. Senate Amnesty
    The Fair and Accurate Representation Act Introduced
    Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) Urges House Republicans to Stay Committed to Enforcement of the Nation's Immigration Laws
    New Cosponsors of Key Bills
    Recent Floor Statements
    Immigration Conference:
    House Enforcement vs. Senate Amnesty
    Both the House and the Senate are soon expected to formally announce conferees for the difficult conference over immigration reform. Given that H.R.4437 and S.2611 are starkly different bills, it is unclear whether House and Senate negotiators will even be able to agree on a starting point for discussion. Another difficulty members will face is the fact that this conference committee will be unusually large, including over 25% of the Senate and a large number of House members. People familiar with Capitol Hill agree that having this many members is to make sure each side is represented in force. If the conferees are able to produce a compromise bill, the result will then be gauged for public satisfaction when voters hit the polls in November.

    House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has made it clear that he does not intend the House enforcement-first bill to be overshadowed by the massive amnesty that passed the Senate two weeks ago. Chairman Sensenbrenner has again dismissed the amnesty provision as being unacceptable for the final version of the immigration reform legislation. The Chairman has also stated that he will "insist" on the House version for an employment verification system, which requires employers to confirm legal status of new and existing employees, while the Senate's system only requires employers to verify the status of new hires.

    Another promising signal is that Chairman Sensenbrenner hopes to have many of the conference negotiations open to the public and not behind closed doors. As the Chairman told Congressional Quarterly, "I would like to see as many public conferences as possible so that the American people can see what the Senate and the House negotiators are doing on this issue." FAIR will be watching closely and will keep you updated.

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    The Fair and Accurate Representation Act Introduced
    Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI) introduced the Fair and Accurate Representation Act of 2006 last month. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) also introduced the Senate companion of Miller's legislation last month. This legislation requires the Census Bureau to report to Congress on how illegal aliens impact the reapportionment process and how illegal aliens can be excluded from the population counts that determine the allocation of Congressional House seats.

    Senator Burns succeeded in attaching the Fair and Accurate Representation Act as an amendment to the Senate's amnesty bill. This amendment does not have any mandates for the Census Bureau as to when and how to carry out the next reapportionment, but it will educate Congress on the impact of illegal aliens that are counted in Census Bureau data. "If we get started on this now, the broken system can be fixed by 2010 when apportionment next occurs," Burns said in a recent press release.

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    Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) Urges House Republicans to Stay Committed to Enforcement of the Nation's Immigration Laws
    House Republicans vs. Senator Frist's Amnesty Plan.

    By Rep. Tom Tancredo

    The United States Congress stands at a historic crossroads on immigration policy. Two roads diverge. Will the nation get another amnesty program or will it get secure borders to halt illegal entry into our country? House Republicans must choose, because they can't have both.

    The recently passed Senate bill giving amnesty to 12-15 million illegal aliens presents a challenge to House Republicans, but it also presents an opportunity. The House should respond with a strong reaffirmation of the enforcement-first strategy for border control and immigration-law enforcement, an approach strongly favored by a large majority of the American people. If House Republicans abandon that path, they will invite the desertion of their conservative base and the certain loss of House seats in the November elections.

    Senate Democrats voted 38 to 4 for the amnesty bill, while a majority of Senate Republicans rejected it. The amnesty bill is clearly a Democrat bill that passed with Republican support, thanks to Sen. Frist's machinations. House Republicans must refuse to drink Bill Frist's Kool Aid concoction—not even a tiny spoonful labeled "amnesty lite."

    Last December, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4437, a bill that embodies the enforcement-first strategy for border control and immigration enforcement. The Senate bill takes the exact opposite approach. The two bills are polar opposites not only in text but also in spirit and in purpose. For this reason it is impractical and delusional to try to marry one to the other. Despite the advances of modern science, we do not yet have the capacity to marry a snake to a hawk and produce an eagle.

    The crux of the problem is that in the deceptively packaged Senate bill, border control is there as a promise but amnesty is guaranteed, immediate, and irreversible. That is the formula that failed in the 1986 amnesty program, and the House must not buy that pig-in-a-poke again. In such omnibus plans, enforcement can be delayed, diluted, and sabotaged in numerous ways. That is why "enforcement first" is not a slogan—it is an urgent necessity.

    The American people expect more from the "People's House" than joining the Senate's sellout to the cheap-labor lobby and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. If House Republicans do not answer that call to duty, we will deserve neither our citizens' respect nor their votes.

    There is one sure way to derail the Senate's amnesty bill: The House Republican leadership should tell the Senate we will not go to conference on the Senate bill. The House should simply challenge the Senate to act on H.R. 4437. Until the Senate sends the House an enforcement-only bill, we have nothing to conference about.

    A few Republicans in the House have called for compromise by suggesting clever plans that amount to "amnesty lite." Down that path lies disaster because "enforcement first" cannot be compromised: Either Congress secures the borders before considering new guest-worker plans or we create a guest-worker program on the mere promise of border security. Genuine enforcement cannot be a mere part of a "comprehensive bill," it must precede any other reform. House Republicans who break ranks with HR 4437 are choosing a path of certain catastrophe—for the nation in the long run and for our party in November.

    If House Republicans take the enforcement first platform to the American people in November, they can win. There is no advantage whatsoever for Republicans in agreeing to write a bad bill in conference on the premise that even a bad bill is better than no bill at all. That is the argument we hear from the White House and it is sheer nonsense. The President does not have to face the voters in November, we do. The President lost all credibility on immigration reform in March 2005 when he called the Minutemen "vigilantes" with Vicente Fox standing at his side. It is time for the President to put his attack dogs on a short leash and let House Republicans chart their own course.

    Fate has given the House of Representatives the task of rescuing our national sovereignty and our children's futures from the Senate's folly. There are signs we may be up to the challenge, but if we are not, neither history nor the voters will forgive us.

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    New Cosponsors of Key Bills

    New Cosponsors of Key Bills The following members signed on to good immigration legislation this past week. If your legislators are listed, please use the phone numbers provided to thank them for supporting good legislation. Follow the links below to learn more about these bills.

    Thank these members for supporting good reform legislation!

    H.J.RES.53 - Count Only American Citizens Amendment

    Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) (202) 225-8171
    H.R.698 - Citizenship Reform Act of 2005

    Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) (202) 225-3715
    Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) (202) 225-5541
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    Recent Floor Statements
    Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) commented on Passage of S.2611 (May 26, 2006)
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    Last edited by Jean; 09-28-2013 at 10:55 PM.
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