Judiciary chairman holds key to immigration bills
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3860896.html
May 14, 2006, 2:28AM
Judiciary chairman holds key to immigration bills
Congressman's bullying style stirs fears in the Senate
By GEBE MARTINEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - It's fair to say that House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner is not the most popular man on Capitol Hill.
Colleagues consider him smart, stubborn and ornery. His bullying style in final bill negotiations between the House and Senate has made some senators cringe and forced the White House to tread carefully.
But if President Bush wants an immigration reform bill out of Congress this year, he will have to deal with Sensenbrenner, author of the most punitive illegal immigration control bill in recent House history.
Sensenbrenner, 62, a Republican from Wisconsin, is a significant reason why the Senate has had trouble finishing its version of the immigration bill.
Before debating the finer details of a measure that would combine tough border security with a legalization program, senators argued over how to make their bill strong enough to withstand Sensenbrenner's expected opposition.
Conference makeup
Republican and Democratic leaders agreed last week to return to the immigration bill after announcing a 26-member negotiating team to the final House-Senate conference that includes 15 senators who support creating a citizenship path for illegal immigrants.
The White House, which leans toward the Senate bill, had been keeping its powder dry but announced late last week that Bush planned a nationwide address Monday on immigration.
The Senate and the White House are throwing a lot of firepower at Sensenbrenner, and for good reason.
"He has very strong views, and he knows the parliamentary system forwards and backwards," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. "He's a tough cookie."
Sensenbrenner chuckled recently after Democrats heaped praise on him for guiding to the House floor a 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act. The landmark 1965 civil rights legislation requires that citizens be given equal access to ballots regardless of race, national origin or language proficiency — a right that seems at odds with his hard line on immigration.
"Everybody is all sweetness and light," he joked, in a rare chat with reporters. "Maybe it does show I am able to negotiate bipartisan compromise."
Perhaps he can, but will he? Senators can only wonder.
Intelligence overhaul
"I have watched bills pass the Senate with overwhelming majorities, and they end up in a conference with Chairman Sensenbrenner, where they are chewed to pieces," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who previously compared Senate negotiators to "cocker spaniels in a room full of pit bulls."
A case in point, Durbin said, was the 2004 intelligence overhaul law recommended by the 9/11 Commission.
Sensenbrenner rallied conservative House Republicans to block the bill because the final version deleted his immigration provisions, including one making it harder for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.
After telephone calls from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Sensenbrenner relented on the condition that his provisions would be part of the first "must-pass" bill in 2005. The immigration provisions became law right on schedule.
Sensenbrenner came to Congress in 1979 and has headed the Judiciary panel since 2001.
Though he previously has engaged in high-profile battles, it is immigration that has brought him to prominence.
"Sensenbrenner" has appeared on signs at massive rallies staged across the nation in opposition to his bill that would jail people for "unlawful presence" in the United States. The bill also would raise fines on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Sensenbrenner is outspoken about being annoyed by Mexico's criticisms of his bill, as often voiced by Mexico Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez.
"If you Google me in the Mexican press, my name appears practically every time (Derbez) issues a press release. Now, if I did the same in Mexico City, under Article 33 of the Mexican Constitution, I could be summarily jailed," he said, referring to Mexican law that prohibits foreigners from participating in the political affairs of the country.
Border security
In recent weeks, as most senators have come to support an immigration bill that would eventually grant citizenship to most of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States and also create temporary worker visas, the chairman said nothing was "off the table."
But he has held to the view that the highest priority is strengthening U.S. borders.
"It is important to do the border security and the employer sanctions first. And if we stopped encouraging the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, then we can figure out what to do with the 11 million who are already here," he said.
With Congress facing election-year demands to fix immigration laws, some senators said party leaders, including Bush, will force the Senate and House, including Sensenbrenner, to compromise.
"I think there's enormous pressures now to try to get something done in a comprehensive fashion," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a lead sponsor of the broad immigration bill. "And the (House) Speaker has been saying some good things about the guest worker program. So I hope we can work together."
gebe.martinez@chron.com
