charles bash wrote:
Thanx, johnny for what college students currently call the "heads up"
info.
First and most important is this. The Immigration Control groups, that
includes API have had a Major Effect on the timing of Floor Debates on
immigration (( and trade matters )) now Scheduled! Its incredible, but
there is No other explanation.
As Numbers has reported, and I had reported, <<< HR4437 will be
considered by the full House, Dec 15th.>>>
Suddenly that has been changed. My contacts this morning (( 3 sources on
Capitol Hill )) now tell me that the Floor Debate on HR4437 will be
"Sometime This Week!!"
They don't want the Telephones Ringin' off The Hook all day of the
scheduled floor activity.!!! Its incredible, as I said. So they plan to
keep it a mystery. From their constituents = the voting public!!
Too late for that!
Front page reporting from _the Washington Post_!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301706.html
<quote in-part>
Immigration Pushes Apart GOP, Chamber
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; Page A01
The House Republican leadership and the nation's business lobby, usually
close allies, are battling each other over the issue of immigration.
In a rare schism, employer groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
are pressing to kill a Republican-sponsored measure that would require
businesses to verify that all of their workers are in the United States
legally and would increase penalties for hiring illegal employees.
[ The Chamber of Commerce is going balls-to-the-wall to threaten and dun
Republicans who seem undecided about voting for significant and
substantial Immigration Reform. --klaatu]
Lobby groups including the chamber, the National Restaurant Association
and the Associated General Contractors of America are so vehement in
their opposition that they will consider lawmakers' votes on the bill a
key measure of whether they will support them in the future.
Still, acting House majority leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) appears to welcome
the chance to disagree with his normal confederates. "Congressman Blunt
sees no problem with being in a different place from the chamber on this
legislation," said Burson Taylor, a spokeswoman for Blunt.
The immigration debate comes as lawmakers are facing rising public
criticism for their cozy relationships with lobbyists. Recent scandals
have led to one lawmaker's resignation for taking bribes and to the
investigation of several others. The atmosphere has given a leg up in
the immigration fight to the faction of House Republicans that has long
been wary of its party's ties to business lobbyists. The vote is
scheduled for tomorrow.
[ Call your House Representative and hold their feet to the fire. Tell
them "I can see right through the lobbyists and their campaign ads and
their big money and no matter how much tripe they put on the airwaves,
you will never get my vote if you do not support H.R.4337. Remember, the
lobbyists and the Chamber of Commerce cannot vote in elections. I can,
and this is where I decide how I vote in the future. --klaatu]
Republican leaders assert that the measure is an overdue effort to
improve border security and to protect jobs by ensuring that only
workers with legitimate documentation are eligible to be employed. The
bill would phase in for all employers a program in which businesses
would be required to check names, Social Security numbers and dates of
birth against government records to verify that their workers can work
legally. Fines for knowingly hiring an undocumented worker would also be
increased. As for the workers, those in this country illegally could be
charged with a felony.
The business groups contend that the verification system, which has only
been tried in experimental form, is too mistake-prone to give employers
accurate results. They worry that, as a result, companies might be
subjected to steep and misapplied penalties because of faulty computer
readouts, and that individuals might have their working status
jeopardized and their private backgrounds scrutinized needlessly.
"There's a huge chasm between us and big business," said Will Adams, a
spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a leader of the 90 or so
House members who want a get-tough approach to illegal immigration.
"They're addicted to cheap labor, which illegal aliens provide. It's in
their interests to keep the border porous and to keep the labor flowing."
Business groups deny that they want illegal or free-flowing immigration.
Instead, they would accept some extra verification of new employees.
They also would like a broader measure that would give workers legal
status or at least allow them to stay and work in this country -- a
provision the House legislation now lacks.
[ In other words, they claim they don't want illegals; rather, they
demand Amnesty. They must have NEITHER illegals nor amnesty. --klaatu]
But lobbyists acknowledge that the Republican bill, which emerged from
committee last week, has been moving so quickly that they might not have
enough time to stop it. "This whole thing has been compressed," said
Randy Johnson, the chamber's vice president for labor and immigration.
"We're doing the best we can in a bad situation."
The situation is the reverse of typical practice. The chamber and
like-minded trade associations have for years been carefully clued in
early about a wide range of activities in Congress and the Bush
administration.
[ Why tell the Chamber of Commerce _anything_ about this bill? On this
issue, _they are the ENEMY of the American Voter_. You don't tell the
ENEMY your plans. --klaatu]
The information often came to them during regularly scheduled meetings
with lawmakers and their top aides. The closed-door sessions enabled
them to work closely with Republicans to help fund and provide foot
soldiers for a string of pro-business successes ranging from tax cuts to
free-trade agreements.
This time many of the same industry organizations are writing angry
letters, deploying lobbyists and ginning up e-mails, phone calls and
faxes from their members across the country to protest the Republican
immigration bill. Among the groups complaining about the House bill is
Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative association led by Grover G.
Norquist, who is one of the Republicans' most loyal advocates.
[ Screw 'em! And I say that with the utmost cheerfulness. Is the USA a
fascist dictatorship where corporations have the control of the elected
representative, or is the USA a Constitutional Republic where the
elected representatives are doing the will of We the People of the
United States? _This is the vote that will settle that issue once and
for all in the minds of the voters_. --klaatu]
In a letter to congressmen last week, Norquist criticized the
immigration measure because it "probably creates unworkable hardships on
the private sector, as well as raising significant privacy concerns for
all Americans." In a separate letter, R. Bruce Josten, executive vice
president of the chamber, expressed "disappointment" in the bill.
[ Trying to spread Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. For example, what's more
important, "privacy concerns" which protect illegal aliens and enable
terrorists, or a decent bill that at last mandates verification of a
right to work in the USA? --klaatu]
Business interests and congressional Republicans have sometimes differed
in recent years, but usually on relatively minor matters. The chamber
doesn't want every aspect of the USA Patriot Act to be extended for
example, and Republican leaders have been reluctant to extend terrorism
reinsurance legislation, which is a top priority of several corporate
groups.
But those disputes haven't produced the kind of showdown that is
threatening in the House this week. Lobbyists reached yesterday couldn't
remember the last time that prominent business groups listed a vote
against the Republican leadership as a "key vote" determining their
organizations' view of a lawmaker's record.
[ Well, the lawmakers can decide whether they work for their
constituents, or for big money political lobbyists and Political Action
Committees. We the People say "shaft the PACs"! --klaatu]
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), a former restaurateur and Chamber of
Commerce member, believes the business groups are out of sync with
public opinion. "There's a little disconnect here between some of the
[business] leaders in the Washington, D.C., area versus the folks out
here in the country who recognize we have a problem," he said.
"It's just one issue trumping another issue," agreed Rep. Michael N.
Castle (R-Del.) "The whole issue of reining in illegal immigration is
more significant than accommodating business concerns." He added that he
did not think the guilty plea of former representative Randy "Duke"
Cunningham (R-Calif.) or other lobbying-related scandals recently have
anything to do with the spat.
In the meantime, corporate organizations will be pushing to defeat the
basic Republican bill or to amend it in ways that add a guest worker
program or ease its verification and penalty requirements. They also
will be looking to the Senate for a comprehensive measure that is more
to their liking.
"It's not over till it's over," Josten said.
</quote>
Josten, unfortunately, is right. So get on the phones and fire up the
fax, ring the phones off of the hooks and run the fax machines out of
paper; utterly CRUSH the office staffers until there's no possibility
that the Representatives can fail to understand "you work for the
citizens and not for the corporations; pass this bill!"
There is no other explanation that I can see. I have been contacting
Congress ( and Senate) fairly frequently over the last 4 years = so I
recognize something new ( and sinister) when I come across it.
This is how we "lost" the Defeat of the CAFTA bill. The debate date and
time "kept shifting" (( my exact words to API )) and finally it was
passed at 1 o'clock in the morning,, one night. By a lousy 2 vote
majority, in the House.
This Bill, itself, is not really the Blockbuster that I had hoped. But
We have got to get the message to our Reps to vote YEA on HR 4437. It is
Better than no bill, and Should be supported. It gives strength to the
Patriots who are trying to Draw a Line in The Sand. by daring to vote
for what's right = on the out-of-control immigration monster!
Title of the Bill is :: HR4437 "Border Protection, Antiterroism, and
Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005"
As Numbers USA says
We would like to see added to the bill
provisions calling for state and local
involvement in immigration enforcement, a
border fence, a crackdown on immigration
related fraud, and the elimination of Rewards
for illegal immigration, like birthright citizenship,
among other things.
We might just as well start this afternoon as soon as you read this
message if you have time. Pick up the phone.
Call your Congressman at 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 in the Capitol. To
support HR 4437. Call Wednesday, Thursday and Friday too, until the
issue is on the Floor. The Capitol switchboard picks up instantly = just
ask for your congressman by name and state and you will be connected
immediately to "interns" in his office.
Charles Bash
--
The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may
often assume the appearance, and produce the effects,
of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy.
--Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
.
|
