Thread: One More Amnesty on the Table

An email from FAIR

Three Down, One to Go!

Keep the Calls Coming!

Last night, Democratic Leadership partially capitulated and agreed to strip three of the four immigration amendments from the Iraq War Funding Bill that is on the Senate floor this week.

The move came when Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made a point of order under Senate Rule 16, which prohibits legislating policy on an appropriations bill. The parliamentarian agreed, and stripped the following amendments:

The AgJobs Amendment that would have granted amnesty to 1.35 million agricultural workers and their families;

The Murray-Gregg Amendment that would have made approximately 218,000 more green cards available for multinational executives and so-called "highly skilled workers" by "recapturing" visas from as far back as 1994; and

The Leahy Amendment that would have extended for 5-years a program that helps wealthy investors get green cards.

However, Senate sources tell us that the Mikulski H-2B amendment - an amendment that could lead to hundreds of thousands of new unskilled H-2B guest workers flooding the labor market in only a few years - is still in the Iraq War Funding Bill. This is because the Iraq War Funding Bill is being considered in two parts and point of order raised by Senator Menendez only applied to the first part. The H-2B provision is in the second.

Please keep calling your Senators until Democratic Leadership strips this final special-interest immigration amendment from the Iraq War Funding Bill! Tell them that you oppose importing tens of thousands of new unskilled (H-2B) guest workers to appease corporate interests—and especially when the economy is struggling.

We heard throughout the day that your calls put intense pressure on Senators across the country. One staffer told us that the phones were "lighting up like a Christmas tree." Please help us make sure Congress looks out for the American people and not special interests.

To find your Senators' phone numbers, click here.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
DC Office (202) 224-3542
District Office (702) 388-5020

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
DC Office (202) 224-2541
District Office (502) 582-6304

Great talking points.

Will be calling again in the morning...early!

The move came when Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made a point of order under Senate Rule 16, which prohibits legislating policy on an appropriations bill.

Why isn't Senate Rule 16 in effect all the time--why does it have to be made a point of order to be in effect?

Does this mean senators that added the amendments to the Iraq War Spending Bill violated Senate Rule 16?