Baca hopes budget, immigration come up before GOP takeover
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/06/2010 04:32:09 PM PDT


Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, says he wants Congress to vote on comprehensive immigration reform before Republicans take over the House of Representatives in January.

Once the switch takes place and Democrats are in the minority, Baca said the chances of immigration reform passing will be much slimmer.

"We'd have more people contributing to our society if we dealt with comprehensive immigration reform," Baca said. "It's time we address it. But the party of no and of no solutions has no answer. They're going to use this as a political wedge issue."

Baca said he'd also like to see Congress pass a new federal budget before Republicans take over.

He said the bills being put together by the Democratic-controlled Congress includes more than $700,000 for projects at Cal State San Bernardino and $40million for the SBX transportation project in San Bernardino.

Baca easily won re-election on Tuesday, but Democrats in other parts of the country didn't fare so well.

That means Baca will lose his position as chairman of the a subcommittee that oversees, among other things, the federal food stamp program. But it also means Republicans may try to undo some of what the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama did over the past two years.

Many Republicans have said they want to repeal the health care bill approved this year, but Baca said that won't happen.

"There isn't going to be any repeal of health care," he said.

"There's no way in the world that can be done. ... To repeal anything it would have to pass out of the House and the Senate, and there's no way it's going to pass out of the Senate."
Baca said Democrats didn't do enough to tell Americans how the health care bill will help them, which is why Republicans were able to run successful campaigns by railing against the legislation.

"We should have done a better job explaining the health bill," Baca said. "That's why there's misconceptions. It's going to be a savings, and it's going to help the 32million who didn't have health (insurance)."

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