Leahy to Ram 20 Witnesses Through One-Day Immigration Bill Marathon Hearing

As Senators race to read the immigration bill prior to Monday's hearing, Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) plans to bring a remarkable 20 witnesses to testify in a one-day marathon hearing - rather than spread out these experts and advocates across multiple hearings in order to involve and inform the public.

A typical hearing has less than a third as many witnesses as Monday's scheduled 20-count, a committee staffer told "The Right Views." Likewise, Monday's hearing will feature four panels, twice the typical number handled in a day.

Because of competing obligations, many member of the committee will have to miss portions of the marathon session, the staffer said.

April 19, 2013
By Craig Bannister
cns news

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, denounced the cramming of 20 witnesses into one day as an effort to pass the bill "before the American people know what's in it":

"To acquiesce to such a process would be to accept the Majority's plan to rush through this massive legislation before the American people know what's in it."

The 20 witnesses scheduled to be spread out over four separate panels in the one-day hearing are:

"The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744"



Monday, April 22, 2013

Hart Senate Office Building, Room 216

10:00 a.m.

Panel I



Arturo Rodriguez

President

United Farm Workers

Keene, CA



Charles Conner

President & CEO

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives

Washington, DC



Alyson Eastman

President

Book-Ends Associates

Orwell, VT



Panel II



Megan Smith

Commissioner

Vermont Dept. of Tourism & Marketing

Montpelier, VT



The Honorable Jim Kolbe

Former United States Representative (R-AZ-5)

Washington, DC



Brad Smith

General Counsel and Executive Vice President

Legal and Corporate Affairs

Microsoft

Seattle, WA



Tamar Jacoby

President & CEO

Immigration Works USA

Washington, DC



Professor Ron Hira

Associate Professor of Public Policy

Rochester Institute of Technology

Rochester, NY

Neeraj Gupta

Chief Executive Officer

Systems In Motion

Newark, CA



Grover Norquist

President

Americans for Tax Reform

Washington, DC



Fred Benjamin
Chief Operating Officer
Medicalodges, Inc.
Coffeyville, KS



Panel III



Gaby Pacheco

Immigrant Rights Leader

Director, Bridge Project

Miami, FL



Janet Murguía

President and CEO

National Council of La Raza

Washington, DC



Dr. David Fleming

Senior Pastor

Champion Forest Baptist Church

Houston, TX



Mark Krikorian

Executive Director

Center for Immigration Studies

Washington, DC



Laura L. Lichter, Esq.
President
American Immigration Lawyers Association

Denver, CO



Panel IV



Mark Shurtleff

Partner, Troutman Sanders LLP

Former Utah Attorney General

Washington, DC



The Honorable Bill Vidal

Former Mayor of Denver

President and CEO

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver

Denver, CO



Janice L. Kephart

Former Counsel, September 11 Commission

Principal, 911 Security Solutions

Washington, DC



Chris Crane

President

National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118

Of the American Federation of Government Employees

Washington, DC