5/18/07- We spoke with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., by phone earlier today. She discussed the Senate’s proposed immigration bill.
I truly believe this is the one and only time we will have to do an immigration bill. We are going into a presidential year…it will not come up…[during the presidential year. We’ll] have to wait for the new president, and we don’t know how involved they’ll be…
[The bill provides for:]
-safe and secure borders
-stronger employer sanctions
-a path to legalization for the 10-12 million people here undocumented…
What were the compromises?
The only way we got Republican support for the legalization program was [through] some reform of process…After the existing list of green cards…given out in about 8 years…the methodology for green cards [will go] on a point system more based toward those who bring work experience.
And [there will be a] stop to what they call “chain migration”. This piece is 8-13 years away...Under the present system there is no limit as to how many people the green card holder can bring in as their extended family. After the 8 years…the green card [holder] would only be able to bring in their spouse and children. That was the tradeoff that was key to getting this bill put together.
The question was could we get a bill any other way. There is no other way to get a bill at this time. This bill is subject to modifications on the floor. The key is to get 60 votes to close off the bay...The house may have a different bill...So those will have to be reconciled - So we are still a long way away…
[Will this take away jobs from the workforce?]
…We all know there is [another] workforce in this country, and many people have assumed jobs Americans no longer want. It’s a hidden economy. And they live in fear…The question comes is America better served bringing these people out of the basements into the living rooms, where they can become a upwardly mobile part of our society.
[How likely do you think this will pass?]
…If we pass the cloture vote we will get the votes to pass this bill.
Because it’s a compromise, everybody has something they don’t like…Everybody knows we need to do certain things…The key thing is should there be a path to legalization for that huge body of people who live in the shadows. How do you get it? And how do you get the votes to get it?
Note: Our thanks to New American Media.