Thread: Wording key in immigration bill

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Wording key in immigration bill
Proposal eyes idea of setting a 'trigger' to allow other provisions to kick in; plan launches debate

BY TOM BRUNE
Newsday Washington Bureau

July 7, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The success of ideas being floated to resolve the differences between the House and Senate immigration bills could come down to the nuance and definition of words such as "trigger" and "certification," say many in the debate over immigration.

Those words have come up often in recent weeks, and political aides and activists agree they are the epitome of the expression that the devil is in the details.

Though not a new concept, the idea of a "trigger," for example, took on a new life after the White House recently showed interest in a proposal aired a month ago on the Wall Street Journal's opinion pages by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).

Pence's proposal would take the House bill and add a guest worker program that would start only after a trigger, the certification that the new border security measures have been substantially completed.

The proposal started a round of speculation that triggers and certifications could be the key to breaking the deadlock between the House and the Senate.

A White House invitation to Pence to talk about his idea led some to speculate that President George W. Bush might even drop his long support for simultaneously implementing security measures as well as guest worker and citizenship provisions.

That has unnerved many in the coalition supporting the Senate bill, which includes guest worker and citizenship provisions, over the enforcement-only House bill.

The coalition felt it necessary to issue a statement yesterday, saying, "We note with dismay that some participants in the debate are calling for an approach that would focus first on enforcement, and 'trigger' other provisions afterward."

But, the coalition said, without the guest worker and citizenship provisions also going forward at the same time, the borders won't be secured and the system won't work.

Before his hearing in Philadelphia on the Senate immigration bill on Wednesday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) warned against getting caught up in language in response to a question about the Pence proposal.

Specter noted that in May the Senate rejected, 55-40, a proposed amendment for the Senate bill to create a trigger, requiring certification that the borders are secure before the guest worker and citizenship provisions took place.

But Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who also took part in that hearing and appeared at the briefing with Specter, sought to capitalize on the buzz about "triggers."

In response to the same question, Kennedy said, "Within the legislation that passed in the Senate there are already in existence a number of triggers."

The bill requires an 18-month delay after the passage of $400 million for an electronic employment verification system before a new temporary worker program can begin, he said.

It also delays other provisions until rules are written, staff hired and the bureaucracy brought up to speed, but, its supporters say, never uses the word "trigger."

Kennedy, in effect, acknowledged this.

"So if there are those who feel a greater sense of satisfaction that we're going to move toward the enforcement first, that effectively was in the Senate bill," he said.

"We don't want to get caught up in language. We are concerned about the substance," Kennedy added. "But if the language is going to be the pathway toward successful legislation, we're glad to go with it."
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"We don't want to get caught up in language. We are concerned about the substance," Kennedy added. "But if the language is going to be the pathway toward successful legislation, we're glad to go with it."

IN OTHER WORDS:

We'd rather just have open borders and amnesty, but if it takes a "trigger", well, by golly, we'll just go along, so we can get our way!

There are going to be some "triggers" pulled alright...In November on a lot of these traitors careers.