Meet the Senate Judiciary Committee—Your Fate Is In Its Hands Right Now
When I sat down to write my column,
I planned to lead by saying that no United States
Senator is worse on immigration than the
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Pennsylvania`s
Arlen Specter (R).
Based on his tortured immigration
proposals this week, I thought that was a safe
statement.
Then I looked at the entire
committee roster.
Specter has a lot of competition among the
seventeen-man group.
Specter is touting what he calls “Comprehensive
Immigration Reform of 2006,” an as-yet unnamed bill
that is several of our worst nightmares rolled into one:
amnesty,
guest workers,
new worker visas and everything but official open
borders.
Specter`s proposal would
give amnesty to
15-20 million illegal residents and create 1.1
million new
green card holders among employment-based
immigrants. Amazingly, the provision for more than 1
million employment-based green cards would renew every
year in perpetuity.
And it would generate a brand-new
American job-killer: the no cap H-2C visa for those
soon-to-be omnipresent
guest workers.
Read NumbersUSA.com`s outstanding
analysis of the entire Specter disaster
here.
To accompany the NUSA analysis,
VDARE.COM readers might find it useful to have the
following armchair guide that I developed to refresh
your memory regarding the individual senators`
immigration leanings.
Meet, in all its ignominy, the
committee:
-
Orrin Hatch, (R-UT) - Charles E. Grassley, (R-IA)
-
John Kyl, (R-AZ) - Mike DeWine, (R-OH)
- Jeff Sessions, (R-AL)
- Lindsey Graham, (R-SC)
- John Cornyn, (R-TX)
- Sam Brownback, (R-KS)
- Tom Coburn, (R-OK)
-
Patrick J. Leahy, (D-VT) - Edward M. Kennedy, (D-MA)
- Joseph R.
Biden, Jr., (D-DE) - Herbert Kohl, (D-WI)
-
Dianne Feinstein, (D-CA) - Russ Feingold, (D-WI)
- Charles Schumer, (D-NY)
-
Richard J. Durbin, (D-IL)
A thumbnail profile of the
Republican bad guys:
The Worst of the Lot
-
Hatch and Brownback: Two holier
than thou dirtbags who are beyond reach since they
proclaim,
Brownback more loudly than
Hatch, that they take their direction from a higher
authority.Hatch,
Specter`s predecessor as Judiciary Chairman, voted for
S.1545, the
DREAM Act, which would grant illegal aliens in-state
tuition rates. And he cosponsored S. 1645 that protected
illegal aliens granted temporary resident status from
prosecution for Social Security fraud.Brownback
co-sponsored S. 644 to increase
asylum claims by creating a new special immigrant
visa category for an unlimited number of women and
children who are said to be at risk of harm because
of their gender and age.Both Hatch
and
Brownback have moved sharply toward a more
pro-immigration position in the last several years.Read
Rolling Stone`s recent, unflattering Brownback
profile here:
“God`s Senator.”
-
DeWine: No one in the
Senate—Republican or Democrat—has a worse immigration
record than
DeWine. Although DeWine represents
Ohio, a state that has been devastated by
job loss, he has backed every piece of legislation
that promotes more illegal immigration and worker visas.Among the
low points of DeWine`s recent record is that he voted to
invoke cloture, a procedural move requiring 60 votes to
limit debate and ensure a vote on the
AgJOBS amnesty amendment for up to 3 million illegal
aliens, introduced by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID).The
cloture motion failed, but DeWine`s attempt to force it
revealed his sympathy for amnesty.
-
Cornyn and Kyl: Co-authors of their
own bill,
S. 1438 that Juan Mann describes as “a slickly
packaged rehash” of bad old (and failed) amnesty
bills. The “Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration
Reform Act” as S.1438 is misleadingly labeled,
translates into amnesty and more guest workers.While Kyl
was once rumored to be sensible about immigration, he
has always promoted more foreign workers. In 2005, Kyl
voted against the Byrd Amendment to the Budget
Reconciliation bill, which would have stripped a
provision to increase permanent, employment-based
immigration by as many as 366,000 annually.Cornyn, a
first term Senator from
Texas who immediately began as a
La Raza bag man by talking about getting illegal
immigrants “out
of the shadows,” voted in 2005 with Hatch and
Brownback in favor of S.1545. He also co-sponsored S.
1387, a bill to create a temporary guest worker program
for illegal aliens with an amnesty-on-installment
program.
-
Graham: As Capitol Hill insiders
say about Graham, “Republican by day, Democrat by
night.” The
South Carolina Senator is another who has
abruptly changed teams to join the open borders
crowd.Graham is
now a champion of more
worker visas. During the current Congressional year,
Graham has cosponsored S. 1033, the McCain-Kennedy bill,
which would add an extra 150,000 employment-based visas
(mostly for unskilled workers) annually. Additionally,
it would create a brand new guest worker program that
would bring in 400,000 unskilled workers during its
first year.Many
Capitol Hill observers think that Graham is maneuvering
for a Vice Presidential spot on a possible McCain ticket
in 2008.
Republicans; the Moderates
-
Grassley: The
Iowa senator qualifies as a moderate by
comparison only. His voting record is a mixed bag of
supporting university
tuition breaks for aliens and amnesty for wives
and children of aliens legalized in 1986.But
Grassley also voted not to invoke cloture on the
Craig AgJOBS amnesty amendment. Grassley`s vote
helped keep the amnesty off the 2005 Iraq
supplemental spending bill.Interestingly,
Grassley`s immigration voting record has
improved over the last several years…unlike that of
his colleagues.
-
Coburn:
Another senator who runs hot and cold. No one has a
worse record of supporting foreign-worker visas. In
2005,
Oklahoma`s Coburn even voted against increasing L-1
visa fees that employers pay. Heaven forbid that
employers displacing Americans with foreign visa holders
might have to shell out a few extra bucks for the
Treasury coffers!On the other hand,
Coburn co-sponsored S. 2061 to
reduce illegal immigration through increased
border controls. The bill requires construction of a
border fence along the
U.S.-Mexico border; provides for additional Border
Patrol agents; and mandates the use of the
entry-exit system at all ports of entry.
Republicans; the one solid Senator
- Sessions: In addition to amassing a solid
pro-American worker and anti-illegal immigration
voting record, Sessions also co-sponsored S. 2061.
Since 2003, Sessions has voted against every
foreign-worker visa proposal considered by the
Judiciary Committee.
Unfortunately, predicting the way
the committee will vote is child`s play. Even before a
single vote is cast,
past history as outlined above tells us that the
deck is stacked against us.
Immigration reformers can count,
with 100 per cent certainty, on exactly one vote. Only
Alabama`s Sessions stands ready to thwart the
open borders,
Chamber of Commerce lobby.
Three other possible votes for our
side: Grassley, Colburn and, who knows, maybe even
Dianne Feinstein, the notorious Democratic
immigration waffler.
If the worst happens, lay the blame
where it belongs: on the
Republicans.
Whatever final scheme the Senate
Judiciary Committee may come up with, the Republicans
there are the heavies…they have aided and abetted the
Democrats on immigration policy.
If the G.O.P. hadn`t turned coat,
Specter`s crazy scheme would never have seen the light
of day. But, unhappily, the
Republicans of late are just as bad as the Democrats.
The good news is that even Specter
admits that the road ahead will be rocky. Since the
Senators are divided—each with his particular sell-out
angle—no immediate consensus is likely.
Said Specter:
“I have
seen virtually no agreement on anything. Emotions are at
an all-time high." [Immigrant
Bill Faces Tough Fight in Senate, Suzanne Gamboa,
Associated Press, March 2, 2006]
Thankfully, the committee`s
treasonous work is done for this week. The next
hearing is tentatively scheduled for March 8th
or 9th.
In the meantime, Specter remains
hopeful.
As
NumbersUSA.COM Executive Director
Roy Beck told me,
“You
can count on Specter, if he is given any chance, to do
the wrong thing.”
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English at the Lodi
Adult School, has been writing a weekly newspaper column
since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM.


