As Sensenbrenner Goes, So Goes Immigration Legislation
Weekly Standard
What next? House and Senate leaders will each appoint a set of conferees who will, over the next several months, attempt to work out a compromise satisfactory to both chambers. If that works, Bush will be able to claim victory on one of his top domestic priorities. The hurdles that such a compromise will have to surmount, however, are formidable.
The first hurdle to any compromise is James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who will head the House negotiating team, and who brings to the task certain unique talents. Sensenbrenner, who has represented Wisconsin’s Fifth District since 1979, last stepped into public view this past winter, when he, along with Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter, shepherded the Patriot Act to reauthorization over the objections of several senators.
Sensenbrenner’s colleagues typically use a single word to describe him. “He’s tough,” Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia told reporters at a breakfast last week. “He really takes an unusual delight in these conferences,” Rep. Peter King of New York said of Sensenbrenner. “He relishes that type of combat.” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, whose district borders Sensenbrenner’s, told me, “He’s a tough guy to reckon with, a tough negotiator, and he’s taking a tougher stance as this thing progresses.”
Though moderate on some issues, Sensenbrenner, who declined an interview for this article, has moved steadily to the right on immigration. The Senate’s advocates have no reason to be encouraged by his recent public statements. On May 21, in an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation, he said that, contrary to the denials of President Bush, the Senate’s approach “unfortunately is amnesty, because it gives a lawbreaker a way to become a citizen by paying a $2,000 fine. We shouldn’t be selling American citizenship.”
Sensenbrenner added, however, “I don’t think anything is a deal-breaker, but one of the things we’ve got to do is prevent the country from repeating the failed 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli law.” Later, he said: “I am afraid that the Senate is going down the same road of the mistake that was made 20 years ago.” Later still, he said, “I can just see 1986 repeating itself.” On May 26, Sensenbrenner said the Senate bill was a “nonstarter.”
I’m a little worried about Sensenbrenner.
He’s against a “path to citizenship” but he might allow a “guest worker” scheme if there is no citizenship included.
We need to keep the pressure on him and let him know that we do not want ANY “guest worker” program with or without citizenship because these “guests” will never leave!
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http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=1263


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