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A Failure of U.S. Senate Leadership on Immigration Reform

Congress flounders on immigration reform, prompting an angry outcry from business and workers

 

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Senator Edward M. Kennedy

WASHINGTON (By Peter Elstrom, U.S. News) — Well, there appears to be one thing that everyone involved in the debate over immigration can agree on: It looks like Washington may let the country down once again.

On June 8, in the wake of the Senate's failure to push forward an immigration reform bill, union groups, high-tech companies, restaurant owners, and contractors all raised their voices in protest. "A clear failure of leadership," says Eliseo Medina, executive vice-president for the Service Employees International Union. "A black eye for Congress and a setback for America," adds Cecilia Martinez, executive director of the nonprofit Reform Institute.

Senate Leaders Promise Progress

The tech industry trade group Compete America urged the Senate to continue working on its reform effort. "Fixing a broken immigration system is essential to U.S. economic and security interests, and the Senate should continue to move forward as soon as possible," said Robert Hoffman, vice-president for government and public affairs at software giant Oracle and co-chair of the group. Other members of Compete America include Intel, Motorola, Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft.

The reform effort isn't dead just yet. But what happened? The Senate failed late on June 7 to generate enough votes to close discussion of the immigration bill so that a vote on the actual legislation could be taken. It is still possible that after further discussion the Senate could come up with enough votes to push the bill forward. On June 8, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said he has hopes for progress in the weeks ahead. "We are not giving up, we are not giving in," he told reporters.

At least some Republicans in the Senate voiced support for the effort. John Kyl (R-Ariz.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) all joined Kennedy in vowing to continue pushing for reform. "We're going to get this done," said Graham.

Proponents of immigration reform say they believe the Senate could yet pass a proposal this summer. "Last night, we suffered quite a blow," said Frank Sharry, head of the National Immigration Forum. But "we have a realistic chance of resurrecting the bill." Asked how long it would take for the senators to return to the immigration issue, Sharry said, "I think we're talking the next three weeks."

Bush to Lobby Capitol Hill

In the next few days, Kyl, one of the Republicans most involved in the Senate bill, and other senators will work to pare down the number of proposed amendments to the bill, estimated at between 80 and 300. On June 12, President George W. Bush intends to make a rare visit to the Capitol, where he will lay out his sales pitch for the legislation to Senate Republicans. The goal is to push Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to bring the bill up for a floor vote before lawmakers break for the July 4 recess.

But even with a personal Capitol Hill lobbying visit from Bush, the chances of immigration reform this year are certainly on the decline. That has business leaders and workers very concerned, because they believe that no action from Congress is worse than what many think is an imperfect bill. Without legislation, business people believe they are likely to get squeezed. "No one should be under the illusion that if we don't get federal legislation the status quo will continue," says John Gay, senior vice-president at the National Restaurant Assn. "[The situation] will get worse."

Mark Gould can provide firsthand testimony. He runs Gould Construction, a heavy construction and highway contractor founded by his father and based in Glenwood Springs, Colo. In an effort to block the employment of illegal immigrants, the state of Colorado has passed legislation tightening the criteria for hiring workers. At the same time, Gould hasn't been able to get temporary workers from abroad because all the visas available under that federal program have been used up. The result is that Gould is struggling to fill his physically taxing jobs in the western part of the state. "My labor pool has shrunk," he says, "and I can't hire anyone [from abroad]."

Gould blames the federal government for creating the problem that it now refuses to fix. He says Congress should have created a larger temporary worker program back in 1986, the last time it rewrote the immigration laws. Instead, it ignored the needs of the economy, resulting in the influx of an estimated 12 million undocumented workers. "We would have had 12 million guest workers and we would know who they are," he says.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Gould is furious that Congress may now walk away from the issue. He says companies like his will be squeezed between tighter state regulations and stricter enforcement—and the lack of any federal programs for more workers. "They have decided not to fix this problem," he says. "And if they wait two more years or three more years, it's just going to get worse."

Worker groups sound just as concerned. Medina, from the SEIU, says that "politicians focused on politics instead of public policy." He says that if Congress doesn't take action, it will result in "more raids in the workplace, more deaths on the border, and more frustration."

Those who had heard at least a little about it were split on the Senate measure. Of that group, 33 percent favor the bill, 41 percent oppose and 26 percent gave no response or said they didn't know. Republicans opposed it by 43 percent to 36 percent, Democrats by 37 percent to 33 percent, and independents by 46 percent to 31 percent.

 

Alphabetical by senator name      Voting against immigration reform in yellow

 

Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Allard (R-CO), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Coburn (R-OK), Not Voting
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Coleman (R-MN), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Craig (R-ID), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dole (R-NC), Nay

Domenici (R-NM), Nay
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Not Voting
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Nay
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Nay
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea

McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Smith (R-OR), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Nay
Sununu (R-NH), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Nay
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Yea

 
 

 

Jon Garrido, President, The Blue Dogs of the National Democratic Party

 

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