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Debate on immigration bill in Congress pleases Tancredo
After years of pushing the issue, Littleton Republican has ear of GOP leadership


By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
December 16, 2005
WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo bounced around his office Thursday with a smile that rarely turned to a scowl.
"You can't imagine how neat it is to stand here and listen to this," he said, gesturing toward a large TV screen where a parade of men in power suits alternately praised or ripped some of his pet provisions included in a pending immigration enforcement bill.

It was the first day of congressional debate on a bill by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., that would increase penalties on illegal immigrants and the people who employ them.

Tancredo didn't care that his name wasn't on the top. He didn't care what the speakers were saying. After seven years harping on the issue, he was just glad he finally had goaded his congressional colleagues into the debate.

"I have to look for another issue. This is far too mainstream," Tancredo, R-Littleton, joked. "The most gratifying thing is sitting in a conference today and hearing people say, 'I can't go home (for Christmas) without this.' So let 'em talk. Let everybody talk."

The House of Representatives debated the legislation for several hours Thursday, adding numerous amendments including one that calls for building a new fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and considering another on the border with Canada. The border fence amendment was approved late Thursday on a 260-159 vote.

More amendments and a final vote are scheduled for today on the bill, which some critics call xenophobic and some business leaders say will make it harder to find affordable labor.

Amid Thursday's preliminaries, the real action had little to do with the rhetoric flowing over the television airwaves. Behind the scenes, the bill almost fell apart at one point, and the firebrand Tancredo found himself in the unfamiliar role as peacemaker to keep his 92-member Immigration Reform Caucus from falling apart.

All afternoon, Tancredo's aides popped in and out of his office to give grim or happy updates. Some members of his caucus were upset because they didn't think the bill was tough enough or because their pet amendments would not be considered.

"I want this underlying bill. That's what I want," Tancredo blurted. "There are so many f------ egos involved in this already."

Early in the day, some members were upset because the debate rules would not allow a vote on a colleague's amendment to take away automatic citizenship for children born in the United States from parents who are illegal immigrants.

Playing the diplomat

Press secretary Will Adams warned that if Tancredo supported the bill without provisions like that, "You're going to have the radical guys saying you're a traitor."

Tancredo said he'd settle for incremental progress. For once, he wasn't playing the role of "the radical guy" on the issue. Instead, he played diplomat, trying to keep members of his moody coalition on board.

"It's kind of a new role for you, trying to hold s--- together instead of blowing it apart," legislative director Mac Zimmerman said matter-of-factly.

Tancredo burst into laughter. He sanitized the line and made it his mantra for the day, feeding it to a gaggle of reporters who stalked him through the U.S. Capitol.

Although he has flirted with a possible presidential contest in 2008, Tancredo often is written off as a loud-mouthed, back-bencher who wields little power. But on Thursday, he had a direct line to Republican leadership because without the support of his hard-line immigration caucus, it was unlikely they could pass anything to appease an increasingly vocal part of the Republican base.

At one point Thursday, immigration caucus member Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., threatened to block the bill, saying it was not tough enough.

Tancredo aide Andrew Good shouted to his boss: "You're not going to let them outflank the Tanc, are you?"

Tancredo said he'd be satisfied with the basic bill and a few amendments as a first step. Tancredo got on the phone to acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to check on confusing wording changes in the text of amendments.

"We've had more calls from leadership in the last two days than we've had in the last six years," Tancredo said.

Throughout the day, he checked in with attorney Rosemary Jenks, government relations director for the immigration reform organization NumbersUSA. He wanted updates on her outside lobbying and to talk about leadership's promises not to allow a controversial guest-worker plan to be attached to the bill.

Jenks told Tancredo: "You got leadership to blink. Now I think they're squinting."

The coalition's first test came at an afternoon rules vote. Hayworth and a handful of Republicans joined Democrats and tried to block the bill, but Tancredo's side prevailed, 220-206, and the debate went forward.

GOP leadership took one parliamentary jab at Tancredo when it allowed newly elected Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., to offer an amendment on one of Tancredo's pet issues - threatening to block federal funds to state and local agencies that do not enforce immigration laws. Tancredo has made similar proposals for years, but he also angered Republicans when he campaigned for Campbell's independent opponent in a recent special election.

If they meant to hurt Tancredo, it only made him laugh.

"This hurts me?" he said. "Hurt me like this all day long. Hurt me. Hurt me. That kind of s--- doesn't hurt me. My ability to get anything done is not based on the mechanisms of this place."