Below is a transcript from the December 8th Lou Dobbs show:


LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner's immigration enforcement bill was approved by a committee vote 23-15 along party lines.

REP. JIM SENSENBRENNER (R), WISCONSIN: Border and security in lax enforcement of our nation's immigration laws poses a security threat to the American people and rewards those who violate the law.

SYLVESTER: The Sensenbrenner bill expands an employment verification system called SAVE that screens job applicants using federal records to make sure they are in the country legally. It increases penalties for alien smuggling, establishes mandatory minimum penalties for aliens caught using the border as a revolving door, and makes it easier to deport illegal alien gang members.

The bill, most strikingly, does not include a guest worker program. It didn't pass committee without a fight. One Democrat called it heinous. Another predicting industry would shut down.

REP. HOWARD BERMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: Perishable fruits and vegetables in the United States disappear. The tourism and hospitality industries, massive disruptions.

SYLVESTER: But Representative Louie Gohmert, a former judge, embraced the provisions, telling a story of an illegal alien who he sent to prison with multiple DWI convictions.

REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R), TEXAS: And they deported him, but they didn't wait long enough at the border to watch him come back across and come to our county so that he could hit other citizen while intoxicated.

SYLVESTER: The real fight lies in the full House. Democrats will try as they did in committee to carve out conceptions. On the other hand, the House Immigration Caucus held a news conference seeking to add even tougher provisions.

Congressman Tom Tancredo called it a good bill, but far from a great bill.

REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: Among other things, we need a fence. It is a low tech but highly effective way of stemming the flow of illegal immigrants into this country.

SYLVESTER: The Immigration Caucus also wants to authorize local officers to detain illegal aliens and add hundreds of agents for work site enforcement.

SYLVESTER: The full House is expected to take up the bill next Thursday, and the word is that some of the Republican leadership may push for an even stronger bill. In the words of one on Capitol Hill, they're looking for red meat amendments, concrete enforcement measures to take back to the conservative base over the holiday recess -- Lou.

DOBBS: Is there a sense that this is real political progress, that the U.S. Congress has found a backbone and means to work in the interests of this country's legal citizens?

SYLVESTER: I think we're definitely going to see some type of enforcement coming out of here. The question is whether on the Senate side, if they're going to try sneak in and get that guest worker bill in.

DOBBS: You don't that, do you? It would be a remote possibility, our fine friends in the Senate. Thank you very much, Lisa Sylvester