Thread: Carper, Ting spar over immigration.

Carper, Ting spar over immigration, Iraq on live Webcast
By MIKE BILLINGTON, The News Journal


Jan Ting (left) and Sen. Tom Carper debate today. (Buy photo)

The News Journal/MATTHEW JONAS
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Republican candidate Jan Ting squared off in a live debate on The News Journal's Web site today on topics ranging from illegal immigration to global warming.

Both men agreed that the flow of people streaming into the country without proper documentation must be slowed and that something must be done to reduce harmful emissions from automobiles and industrial plants.

While the candidates did not break any new ground in the debate, Ting ratcheted up the intensity level of the debates by attacking Carper by name in response to almost every question posed to him.

Carper, by contrast, did not raise his voice during the debate, which can be seen in its entirety at www.delawareonline.com through the Nov. 7 election.

Ting focused on illegal immigration during the debate, at one point blaming “undocumented aliens” for the poor state of the nation’s public schools and the country’s broken health care system.

Illegal immigrants make up about 4 percent of the nation’s population, according to official federal estimates.

Carper acknowledged that illegal immigration is a problem and said he voted for a bipartisan Senate bill that allows the estimated 12 million men, women, and children in this country illegally to gradually become citizens if they stay employed, stay out of trouble, learn English and agree to pay a fine. That bill is locked in a joint House-Senate committee as Senators and Representatives attempt to reconcile it with a more punitive lower house bill. Once an agreement is reached, probably not before next year, a compromise bill will go back to both chambers for approval. If it passes both houses it will be sent to President Bush for his signature or veto.

Ting blasted that bill, calling it an “amnesty” for people who broke the law by entering the country without proper documentation.

Carper said the United States must start forcing utilities and other polluters to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they release into the air to curb what many scientists now say is a looming global warming crisis. He also advocated using alternative fuels, wind power, and clean coal-fire plants.

Ting said the U.S. must start removing tariffs on foreign ethanol, such as that produced from sugar cane in Brazil. He said that any proposed solutions to the air emissions problems must be cost effective.

Both men also agreed that a change in strategy in Iraq is overdue.

Go Ting!