Breaking the Logjam
The Senate Republicans are at odds over how to word a possible bill on immigration. The Democrats are jumping with glee that they are united, though with a bill that would prove so unpopular that most of congress would get kicked out in the fall elections.
Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post has a 3 point plan which is about 1/3 right, and wouldn't fly in congress, or on the street. His major point that would work is tougher employment and border enforcement. That needs to be a point of any bill that is going to go anywhere and get public support.
But then he gets into the part that will tick a lot of folks off, amnesty. He says just give the 11 million or so folks here illegally a free pass. It's the easy solution, that's for sure, instead of using the tougher enforcement of employment laws to root out illegals, just give them a green card and pretend they came here legally, that'll solve everything.
The Democratic amendments to the Senate bill claim to have a guest worker program in them, but what it really does is grant amensty to current illegals, and calls them the guest workers. But instead of saying, like a house guest you have to leave, it would give them a green card, too.
There's been amnesty programs in the past, and, as Samuelson conveniently ignores, they've been wrougth with problems. The major one being the huge influx of folks who come across the borders days or weeks before the deadline date.
The third part of Samuelson's plan is to scrap any guest worker program, and hope parts one and two fix any problem with illegals coming into the country, and mysteriously make all low wage jobs get filled. It's wishful thinking, but it does appeal to a certain segment.
Any program that includes amnesty is not going to "sell in Peoria", or anywhere else. States on the border aren't going to like it, as it will legitimize the strain on their already overworked social programs. Folks in none border states are going to see it as legitimizing illegal behavior, and wonder why they can't break the law and just get a pat on the back and some kind of reward.
Personally, I'd like to see the Senate and House pass stripped down enforcement and border security bills to start with, and then start working on the harder stuff individually. At least get a start on the problem. Right now they are going to argue themselves into doing nothing, which is worse than any of the solutions being offered.
Technorati Tags: Visa, jobs and labor, amnesty, congress, immigration, mexico, guest workers, illegal aliens, undocumented immigrants
Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post has a 3 point plan which is about 1/3 right, and wouldn't fly in congress, or on the street. His major point that would work is tougher employment and border enforcement. That needs to be a point of any bill that is going to go anywhere and get public support.
But then he gets into the part that will tick a lot of folks off, amnesty. He says just give the 11 million or so folks here illegally a free pass. It's the easy solution, that's for sure, instead of using the tougher enforcement of employment laws to root out illegals, just give them a green card and pretend they came here legally, that'll solve everything.
The Democratic amendments to the Senate bill claim to have a guest worker program in them, but what it really does is grant amensty to current illegals, and calls them the guest workers. But instead of saying, like a house guest you have to leave, it would give them a green card, too.
There's been amnesty programs in the past, and, as Samuelson conveniently ignores, they've been wrougth with problems. The major one being the huge influx of folks who come across the borders days or weeks before the deadline date.
The third part of Samuelson's plan is to scrap any guest worker program, and hope parts one and two fix any problem with illegals coming into the country, and mysteriously make all low wage jobs get filled. It's wishful thinking, but it does appeal to a certain segment.
Any program that includes amnesty is not going to "sell in Peoria", or anywhere else. States on the border aren't going to like it, as it will legitimize the strain on their already overworked social programs. Folks in none border states are going to see it as legitimizing illegal behavior, and wonder why they can't break the law and just get a pat on the back and some kind of reward.
Personally, I'd like to see the Senate and House pass stripped down enforcement and border security bills to start with, and then start working on the harder stuff individually. At least get a start on the problem. Right now they are going to argue themselves into doing nothing, which is worse than any of the solutions being offered.
Technorati Tags: Visa, jobs and labor, amnesty, congress, immigration, mexico, guest workers, illegal aliens, undocumented immigrants
posted by Crazy Politico at 4:05 AM
4Comments:
I have been banging this very issue on my blog. The basic scam comes down to two parties with the same vision and different routes. We have the slow scenic route offered by the Rep's and the fast get it over with route offered by the Dem's.
So, at what rate do you want to lose America?
All either party is doing is jockeying for position in 06. If they really cared about this they would have been dealing with it a while ago. While I consider the GOP to be the far lesser of two evils, I am not pleased with how either party is handling this.
Ablur, you are probably right on that. Both parties are basically going to give away citizenship to a millions, just at what rate.
Shoprat, I'm not happy with either party on it either. I prefer the GOP's "criminalizing of illegal immigration", which is oxymoronic, but think that they are being a little too easy on the guest worker idea.
The Dems are just wanting to give away green cards to those who came here illegally.
Great question: "At what rate do you want to lose America?"
Apparently the proper rate is that set in the minds of US Chamber of Commerce members, who appear to be some weird adjunct of the United Nations these days. Whatever happened to the sort of corporate citizenship that put America's interests first?
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