http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... C0501.html

McCain: Immigration debate may hurt human rights efforts

May. 1, 2006 12:00 AM


Unites States efforts to promote human rights worldwide could be affected by the immigration- reform debate in Washington, D.C., asserted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in a speech Friday in Belgium.

"We must strive to uphold our values, even as we confront the very real threats that exist in our world today," McCain told the annual German Marshall Fund Brussels Conference, a gathering of European and American political, corporate and intellectual leaders.

McCain noted that the United States "took a step in this direction" last winter by passing legislation to clarify the terms under which suspected terrorists may be detained and interrogated, legislation McCain helped to shape.

He added, "We are currently in the midst of a debate in the U.S. about how best to deal with the flood of undocumented immigrants entering our country.

"Any real solution in the U.S. must start with a view of immigrants as individuals in possession of certain basic human rights, and as an economically and culturally revitalizing force," said McCain, sponsor of legislation to allow some immigrants working illegally in the United States to stay and earn citizenship.

McCain said that he hopes Europe also will move toward such a view of immigrants.

"In such questions of values, it is imperative that we hold ourselves to a standard at least as high, and surely higher, than we hold everyone else," McCain told his American and European audience.

The German Marshall Fund is a public-policy institution that bills itself as a promoter of greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and European countries.


Kyl speech


Arizona's other senator, Republican Jon Kyl, is to deliver an address Wednesday before a U.S. Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Washington.

Kyl is expected to speak on several issues, including his efforts to permanently repeal the federal tax on multimillion- dollar estates, according to an announcement sent out by the chamber.

That tax, dubbed the "death tax" by its critics, has fallen as a result of gradually escalating exemptions and decreasing rates since President Bush's tax cut in 2001. But the level of exemptions will return to pre-2001 levels in 2011 unless Congress takes action.

Those who say the estate tax should be kept argue that doing away with it would worsen the federal-budget deficit and give billions of dollars to the wealthy at the expense of others who might be helped through government programs. But some business and other organizations argue the tax can devastate enterprises that otherwise would be passed on to family members.

Most estates already are exempt from the tax. Slightly more than 2 percent of people who died in 2001 left estates subject to taxation.

Some lawmakers have said a possible compromise could involve a smaller estate-tax rate and exemptions for all but the largest estates.


New spokesman


GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth's new communications director, Matt Lambert, shares the congressman's background as a former sportscaster.

"Birds of a feather flock together, I guess," Lambert said.

Lambert, 36, started out working in TV sports and news for several Gulf Coast stations. From there, the son of former New Orleans City Councilman John Lambert Jr. moved into political jobs and media work. During the past year, Lambert has been a spokesman for Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla.

Lambert is married to Washington, D.C.-based CBS newswoman Claudia Coffey.


- Billy House


Reach the reporter at billy.house@arizonarepublic.com or at 1-(202)-906-8136.