Gingrey speaks, hears public about immigration

10/22/06
By LOWELL VICKERS
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U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, left, speaks with local resident Ben Hudson while in Cedartown on Oct. 18.
Concerns over the nation’s immigration policies took center stage at Tuesday's town hall meeting in Cedartown hosted by U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey.

Gingrey (R-Marietta) is on the campaign trail, but opened his comments with a promise to avoid campaign rhetoric. He did not mention his Democratic opponent (Patrick Pillion, of Carrollton) nor discuss their differing policy stances.

Gingrey spoke briefly at Cedartown City Hall On Oct. 17. He talked about some of the changes in immigration policy he endorsed and about some of the bills pending before the House. Afterward, he took questions from the audience. A numbe of those questions also were about immigration issues.

Gingrey stressed that he agrees the system is broken and is being abused by illegal aliens. Immigration policy is one of the few issues on which he disagrees with the nation’s president, he said.

“People accuse me of being a rubber stamp for President Bush,” Gingrey said. “I’ll rubber stamp him all day on those issues that the people of my district support.

“But on immigration, his plan sounds a lot like amnesty to me.”

The Bush Administration has proposed an extended “guest worker program” that would allow illegal immigrants and foreign workers to stay in the U.S. to work for up to six years.

Gingrey, in contrast, has a voting record that generally has called for less immigration and increased penalties for violations of immigration law.

Gingrey commented that the nation “has been hemorrhaging at the border” ever since President Reagan signed the first amnesty in November 1986.

Among his more recent actions, Gingrey is a cosponsor of the Nuclear Family Priority Act, H.R. 6283. This bill, still pending before the House, would effectively end the system of "chain migration." As it now stands, current im-migrants can bring in their adult relatives and then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives. If passed, the law would be changed so only spouses or children of a lawful permanent resident (LPR) alien could obtain such visas.

Gingrey also is a cosponsor of H.R. 4317, the Truth in Immigration (TRIM) Act. The TRIM Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to annually report to Congress on the number of illegal aliens in the United States, listed by country of residence. As well, TRIM would reduce the total per-country level of legal immigration. The number of immigrants allowed in from a particular country – Mexico, for example – would be reduced according to the estimated number of illegals from that country residing in the U.S. as of Aug. 31 in the preceding year.

Gingrey noted that “immigration reform is the hot-button topic this year.”

In response to other questions from the audience, Gingrey clarified that he supports the planned construction of 700 miles of fencing along the U.S./Mexico border; increased staffing of the Border Patrol agency to improve security; and supports the temporary use of National Guard troops on the border to augment security.

Gingrey also said that he believes the country needs a guest worker program, in order to employ sufficient num-bers of workers in such industries as “carpet and hotels.”

Other issues covered in his speech included:

- Continued support for the War in Iraq. Gingrey said despite what people may read in newspapers or see on television, “we are winning” in Iraq. Gingrey cited “classified information” that has convinced him the country is suc-ceeding in its mission there. He said we should commit to staying in Iraq “until the democracy is better established.”

- Bush’s tax cuts were a good idea, as indicated by our continuing healthy economy. The DOW hit 12,000 for the first time in recent weeks, he noted. “The tax cuts have not cost this country money – it kept us out of what could have been a deep recession,” Gingrey said.

- Healthcare. Gingrey said we have the best health care system in the world, but there is clearly a problem when some 45 million out of a population of 300 million does not have health insurance.

- Gingrey pledged continued work on some kind of plan by which the government would help to provide some coverage for the uninsured. In contract to the failed Clinton proposal for universal health coverage, Gingrey said he supports a proposal for “health savings accounts” and tax credit refunds to the poor to help fund those.

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11th district ENDORSED Phil Gingrey for Congress, Republican, Incumbent ABI Score A+

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