Thread: Incoming GOP U.S. Senate chairman plans guest worker bill

Incoming U.S. Senate chairman plans border bill

Associated Press 11:45 a.m. MST November 10, 2014


(Photo: Associated Press)

The incoming chairman of the Senate's homeland security committee says he will aim to pass a border security bill once a new Republican-controlled Congress convenes in January.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says his legislation would include a guest worker program to reduce incentives for illegal immigration.

It would build on work already done by Congress, including a House of Representatives bill aimed at ensuring that 90 percent of would-be border crossers are stopped.

Johnson outlined his plans in an interview even as President Barack Obama prepares to take executive action to curb deportations for potentially millions of people now here illegally.

Obama's plans are emerging as a major point of conflict with congressional Republicans who made big gains in last week's midterm congressional elections. Johnson says Obama shouldn't act.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...bill/18805525/

Looks like we are going to need to turn the 2 out of 3 Americans that oppose any kind of guest worker bill amnesty for illegals loose on this amnesty supporter!

W

What particularly bothers me is that a phase-in of Universal E-Verify was included in the Senate's immigration bill. That one provision would do more to stop the flood of illegals than any other step that we could take. And it would cost pennies on the enforcement dollar.

Makes me wonder if the Repubs were for it only so long as they knew that they couldn't enact it into law. I hope I'm wrong on this one, but it looks like the sellouts are calling the shots.
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Fair trade, not free trade

9 hours ago • By Todd D. Milewski | The Capital Times



When he takes over as chair of the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee next year, Sen. Ron Johnson will be one of the major players in immigration reform.

A pathway to citizenship is a popular idea with Americans, but it isn't high on Johnson's priority list.

He said in an interview for the Sunday morning TV show "UpFront with Mike Gousha" that citizenship discussions would have to come after securing the border.

"I've yet to have an immigrant in Wisconsin — and this will probably change someday — ask me for citizenship," Johnson said. "What they're asking for is, please don't deport my mom and dad or my husband and wife."

President Obama is weighing a political bombshell: signing an executive order that would let up to 5 million undocumented immigrants avoid deportation.

Johnson called that possibility "unfortunate" in that it would increase the incentive for illegal immigration, he said.

It also threatens to bring any work on immigration reform to a screeching halt, and potentially could lead to a showdown between Obama and Republicans.

In his interview with Gousha, Johnson cast blame on Democrats for blocking immigration reform.

"Quite frankly, it's Democrats that are holding the security of our border hostage for some guarantee of citizenship," Johnson said. "They're trying to do that for some cynical political gain. But let's face it: If President Obama really wanted to solve the immigration problem as he promised he would do in his first year, he could have done it in his first two years when he had a filibuster-proof Senate, totally controlled Washington, controlled Congress. He didn't do that, which should speak volumes to the American public about how President Obama and his party are playing politics with immigration."

Johnson said Obama's action wouldn't disrupt what he called the top priority for his new committee: Securing the nation's borders, which he described as "an imperative for public health and safety and an imperative for national security."

A focal point, he said, is a guest worker program to reduce or eliminate incentives for undocumented immigrants.

"Let's make that a legal process," Johnson said. "Let's give states the capability to set their own quotas, to set their prevailing wages. If you do that, you'll dramatically reduce the number of people coming into this country illegally, and it's going to be a whole lot easier to secure the border. So I just think that's part and parcel of a root-cause analysis of why we don't have a secure border."

Looking toward 2016, Johnson has been described by The Washington Post as the most vulnerable senator in the election cycle, and Politico called him an underdog to retain his seat.

Gousha asked Johnson about those characterizations of his political future.

"I'm probably the most targeted race, so I agree with that," Johnson said. "Let's hope that Wisconsin voters actually value somebody like myself who's not afraid of telling the truth, who's not afraid of being the messenger sometimes when the news isn't particularly pleasant, and has promised never to vote my re-election mind."

Johnson beat Russ Feingold in 2010, and a rematch could be in the works. In another interview broadcast Sunday, Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Mike Tate said Feingold or Rep. Ron Kind of La Crosse would have a great shot of beating Johnson in 2016.

"I think that the votes he's taken and the stands that he's really laid down a marker on are not what Wisconsin families are looking for," Tate said of Johnson. "I'm really optimistic, and I think we're going to beat him. And whether it's someone like Russ Feingold again running for his old seat, someone like Ron Kind ... I'm very confident that Ron Johnson will no longer be our senator in January of 2017."

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