Thread: Owens to give testimony at immigration hearing

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Owens to give testimony at immigration hearing
U.S. Senate panel gathering input on proposed reforms

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
August 23, 2006

WASHINGTON - Gov. Bill Owens will headline the list of scheduled witnesses for a U.S. Senate field hearing on immigration reform next week in Aurora, Sen. Wayne Allard's office announced Tuesday.

The Senate Budget Committee is meeting Aug. 30 at the Aurora Municipal Center to talk about the effects of current and proposed immigration policies on state, federal and local government finances.

The committee will hear from two panels of witnesses. Owens is expected to testify in the opening round, along with Paul Cullinan of the Congressional Budget Office and Robert Rector, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

The second panel includes Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer; El Paso County sheriff's Cmdr. Paula Presley; Mesa County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubenstein; Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director of the National Federation of Independent Business; and Helen Krieble, president of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation.

Krieble, a Colorado horse park owner, is the leading backer of an alternative reform package being billed as a way to break the gridlock between competing versions of immigration reform legislation in Congress.

Owens spokesman Dan Hopkins said the governor is likely to talk about the costs to the state of illegal immigration, including the hundreds of millions of dollars for public education.

"Obviously, the state is required to provide that service under federal law, but the impacts are enormous," Hopkins said. "That's one of the areas that should be discussed."

For now, the Senate and House of Representatives are far apart on immigration reform.

Late last year, the House passed legislation that would expand a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, make unlawful presence in the United States a felony, and crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants.

The Senate passed a version that includes enforcement provisions but also a guest-worker plan backed by President Bush and measures that would allow millions of people now in the country illegally to get on an eventual path to citizenship.

With no compromise in sight, congressional Republicans have scheduled a series of hearings around the country during the August recess.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Denver, has questioned the motivations for the hearings.

"This immigration hearing and others like it are stunts," Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz said Tuesday. "I don't know what they serve to accomplish.

"The Senate has passed comprehensive immigration reform. House leadership has refused to come to the table. All this said, Washington is where comprehensive immigration reform needs to be completed, and Washington hasn't done its job."

Allard chief of staff Sean Conway fired back on Tuesday, saying the hearing, which will be chaired by the senator, was particularly timely because a new report by the Congressional Budget Office found that the estimated cost of the Senate-passed legislation would be $126 billion over the next 10 years.

"The CBO is a nonpartisan entity and they're coming out and they're warning that the legislation the Senate passed is going to cost $126 billion." Conway said.

"So this hearing is becoming even more important in a sense this is focusing on the fiscal side of the issue," he added.

sprengelmeyerm@shns.com

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

Witnesses set for immigration hearing
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
August 22, 2006

Gov. Bill Owens will headline the list of scheduled witnesses for a U.S. Senate field hearing on immigration reform this month in Aurora, Sen. Wayne Allard’s office announced Tuesday.

The Senate Budget Committee is meeting Aug. 30 at the Aurora Municipal Center to talk about the effects of current and proposed immigration policies on state, federal and local government finances.

Owens is expected to testify in the opening panel, along with Paul Cullinan of the Congressional Budget Office and Robert Rector, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

The second panel includes: Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer; El Paso County Sheriff’s Commander Paula Presley; Mesa County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubenstein; Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business; and Helen Krieble, president of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation.

Krieble, a Colorado horse park owner, is the leading backer of an alternative reform package being billed as a way to break the gridlock between competing versions of immigration reform legislation in Congress.

For now, the Senate and House of Representatives are far apart on immigration reform. Late last year, the House passed legislation that would expand a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, make unlawful presence in the United States a felony, and crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants.

The Senate passed a version that includes enforcement provisions but also a guest-worker plan backed by President Bush and measures that would allow millions of people now in the country illegally to get on an eventual path to citizenship.

With no compromise in sight, congressional Republicans have scheduled a series of hearings around the country during the August recess.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Denver, has questioned the motivations.

"These hearings could be an opportunity to hear more information from the American people on immigration reform," Salazar said in a recent statement.. "But they are also a continuation of Republican stunts to derail any comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders and national security."

Allard chief of staff Sean Conway fired back on Tuesday, saying the hearing in Aurora was particularly timely because a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the cost of the Senate-passed legislation would be up to $126 billion more than expected over the next 10 years.

"The CBO is a non-partisan entity and they’re coming out and they’re warning that the legislation the Senate passed is going to cost $126 billion more than anticipated," Conway said. "So this hearing is becoming even more important in a sense this is focusing on the fiscal side of the issue."

http://cbs4denver.com/politics/local_st ... 95403.html

Aug 22, 2006 5:52 pm US/Mountain

Colorado Immigration Hearing Drawing Criticism
By Jennifer Talhelm, Associated Press Writer
(AP) WASHINGTON Critics on Tuesday said a Senate field hearing on immigration policy scheduled in suburban Denver next week is a political stunt that won't advance the debate in Congress.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said those testifying at the Aug. 30 hearing in Aurora are expected to include Gov. Bill Owens, Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer, local law enforcement officials and Helen Krieble, the owner of a Colorado equestrian park who authored a leading guest worker proposal.

Allard said the invitees have special insight on the cost of illegal immigration that will help Senate Budget Committee members as they consider how to break an impasse in Congress over federal immigration policy.

"Colorado is the perfect location for such a hearing on this topic," Allard wrote in a recent op-ed piece, explaining he wanted o hear from communities at the "front-lines" of the struggle with illegal immigration.

Critics, including Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., have blasted the hearing as "a continuation of Republican stunts to derail any comprehensive immigration reform." Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz said it doesn't seem likely that hearing from Coloradans would help Congress resolve the debate.

"Washington is where comprehensive reform needs to come from," Wertz said.

Salazar will be visiting his 84-year-old mother at home in the San Luis Valley on the day of the hearing, Wertz said.

Ricardo Martinez, who founded Padres Unidos in Denver to fight for immigrant rights, said his group had asked to testify at the hearing to talk about the need to respect immigrants' rights. As of Tuesday, he said had not heard from Allard's office.

"I think the senator already knows about immigration," Martinez said of Allard. "It's just politics. It has nothing to do with finding solutions to the real problems. It's a waste of people's time and money."

Allard spokeswoman Laura Condeluci said she didn't know about Padres Unidos' request. But she said Allard intended the hearing to focus on the effect of immigration on state and local budgets. Officials will collect comments and materials from people who wish to submit them, she added.

The hearing comes weeks after Owens signed a package of tough new state immigration laws passed during a special legislative session on illegal immigration. Colorado's new laws could force 1 million people receiving state and federal benefits to prove they are legal U.S. residents.

Tauer will talk about the costs of illegal immigration on law enforcement, Condeluci said.

And Krieble said in an interview that she will pitch her plan to create a privately run guest-worker program and save the government millions of dollars. Much of the plan has already been absorbed into bills sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

The House and Senate have held numerous immigration hearings across the country this summer. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., who is retiring his suburban Denver House seat to run for governor against former Denver district attorney Bill Ritter, attended a House immigration hearing earlier this month in Lakewood, Colo.

House lawmakers have called for a security fence along much of the U.S.-Mexico border and tough penalties for illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them.

In the Senate, Salazar backed a bill approved in May that would increase border security, create a guest worker program and give many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the country a path to citizenship.

Allard voted against the Senate bill.