Thread: FYI- SENATE JUDICIARY ACTIONS SO FAR

Below is a list of the actions that took place in the Judiciary
Committee Thursday:

* Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) offered the amendment that had been set aside yesterday to
build fencing in urban areas along the Mexico-U.S. border in Arizona. Senator
Kennedy (D-MA) argued against the amendment, preferring a study. Chairman
Specter indicated his willingness to expand the study and shorten the deadline
for its submission, but expressed support for the amendment. Senator Sessions
(R-AL) argued that a study would only delay border enforcement.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) offered an amendment to require a study of the border
fence. Sen. Kyl objected to creating a guest worker program that would go into
effect before any fencing is built, arguing the two should be done
simultaneously. Kennedy replied that the guest worker program would ease
pressure on the border.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) offered an amendment to affirm the 10,000 increase in
the number of border patrol agents provided by the Intelligence Reform Act of
2004.

* Sen. Sessions (R-AL) offered an amendment to the Feinstein border patrol
amendment to further increase the border patrol by 2,000 agents over a five year
period.
-- The Feinstein amendment, as modified by Sessions, was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Graham (R-SC) offered an amendment to establish a Department of Defense
(DoD) liaison to the border patrol.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Coburn (R-OK) offered an amendment to reduce the time from 5 to 2 years
in which new border patrol agents must be added under the above
Sessions/Feinstein amendment.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Sessions offered an amendment to create a new crime for evading border
inspection. Chairman Specter argued that this was already covered under the
language of his bill.
-- The amendment was set aside.

* Sen. Sessions offered an amendment to prevent state and local governments from
requiring private businesses to fund day labor centers in order to obtain, renew
or expand business permits. Senator Feinstein expressed support for the
amendment while Senator Kennedy voiced his opposition on grounds that this would
interfere with state and local decision-making.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Grassley (R-IA) offered an amendment requiring oversight of border
security contracts greater than $20 million and further requiring the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) to report all contracts given to foreign companies.
Grassley argued the amendment was made necessary by the growing practice of
outsourcing national security.
-- Without debate or discussion, the amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Sessions offered an amendment requiring detention of illegal aliens who
are other than Mexicans and a $5,000 bond for release. This amendment aims to
end current "catch and release" policies. Senator Kyl argued that the amendment
represents the current policy of the White House and therefore should be
adopted. Others argued that the amendment would never work as long as there are
too few detention beds.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Grassley offered an amendment to increase the number of immigration
agents allocated to each state.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Grassley offered an amendment to add drunk driving to the list of
aggravated felonies, making this infraction a deportable offense.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Durbin (D-IL) offered an amendment that had been set aside yesterday to
delete the provision making illegal presence in the United States a crime.
Referring to illegal aliens, Durbin stated that "I don't believe they are
criminals." Others on the committee suggested that instead of criminalizing
illegal presence, overstaying a visa should be made a crime (currently a civil
infraction). Chairman Specter and others supporting a guest worker program
argued that illegal aliens currently present should not be criminalized.
-- The amendment was set aside until discussion of the amnesty guest worker
provisions of the bill are considered.

* Sen. Durbin offered an amendment to expand the church group exemption from the
alien smuggling provisions in the bill to include other groups. Senator Kyl
objected to the broadness of the amendment. Chairman Specter indicated his
willingness to consider the change, but needed more specific language.
-- The amendment was set aside.

* Sen. Feingold (D-WI) offered an amendment to strike the provision regarding
the naturalization process and revert back to current law.
-- Amid much confusion over the effect of the language, the amendment was set
aside.

* Sen. Brownback (R-KS) offered an amendment that had been set aside yesterday
to reauthorize the J-1 visa program for doctors.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Brownback offered an amendment that had been set aside yesterday to
remove nurses and physical therapists from the annual employment-based and
country caps.
-- The amendment was set aside until discussion of legal immigration and work
visa provisions of the bill are considered.

* Sen. Coburn offered an amendment that had been set aside yesterday to mandate
use of expedited removal for illegal aliens (other than Mexicans) captured
within 100 miles of the southern border and within 14 days of entry.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) offered an amendment that had been set aside yesterday to
prevent convicted felons from sponsoring immigrants.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.

* Sen. Kennedy offered an amendment to delete all provisions in the bill that
apply retroactively, such as the sections relating to aggravated felonies and
passport fraud. Senator Kyl disagreed that all of the language covered by
Senator Kennedy's amendment was in fact retroactive and Senator Sessions voiced
strong opposition to the amendment.
-- The amendment was set aside.

* Sen. Feinstein offered an amendment to exempt asylees and refugees from the
crime of document fraud where DHS determines there is a credible threat of
persecution.
-- The amendment was approved by voice vote.


Keep Those Calls Coming

They will continue to stall until the American people fall asleep and then they will pass this crap through the back door at the 11th hour as usual through some secret meeting that nobody knows about.

The only reason why the OBL and their sheep in the Senate are arguing about the fence will not work is because they know it will work just like it worked in Israel and every other country. They will do everything in their power to water this bill down to be invader friendly. Contact these creeps and tell them that anything less than passing HR 4437 as is (no amendments) will result in your ouster from office in 2006. Tell them to stop stalling and pass this bill as is NOW. We could have HR 4437 as is become law tomorrow without all of this nonsense.

o, you're right Dman...jaw and jaw and jaw and postpone and disagree and etc till the cows come home. And then try to keep from doing ANYTHING till after the election...'this is just too involved and too difficult and tooooooo' for us to even contemplate enforcing laws already on the books.

If they do that...there is NO saving any of their rotten hides.

RR

I dunno. Looks like some good things were adopted along with the bad to me. So far, other than Kennedy wanting to study the fence more, it doesn't look too horrible to me. Did I miss something?

I'm not keen on more foreign doctors but I know we don't have any doctors here so maybe they do need them.

I still have hopes, actually.

But then, I have to be optimistic about something because I live in a city where more than half of the people are illegal!

03/13/06 12 MIDNITE

The new ACTIVISM week has begun. LET'S TELL THEM WHAT WE REALLY THINK OF ALL THIS!! GRrrr.........