amnesty and H-2B amendments die on the vine
amnesty and H-2B amendments die on the vine
Date: Friday, May 23, 2008 1:39 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1870 -- 5/22/2008 >>>>>
Double good news!
On 5/21 the AgJOBS amnesty and the employment-based green card worker
increases were stripped from the Iraq Supplemental bill. That's not all the
good news though -- a day later on 5/22 the H-2B increase was deep-sixed.
The failure of the amnesty and H-2B amendments is a huge slap in the face of
the two perpetrators -- Senators Feinstein and Craig. You can bet the Hispanic
Caucus is going to be steaming mad that yet another attempt at sneaking
amnesty through Congress failed.
If the Hispanic Caucus and Nancy Pelosi stick to their threat not to pass an
H-1B increase until they get amnesty, then further increases in H-1B might not
happen anytime soon. Bill Gates might even have to visit Washington DC again.
Sad, huh?
I searched the web looking for commentary from the cheap labor lobby but so
far there is mostly silence. Apparently they haven't recovered from their
temper tantrums enough to send out press releases. One blurb by the
landscaping industry is included as the last article below.
Be sure to read this one on Vdare because it will put you in the mood to
celebrate. Nothing could be more satisfying that to rub those sobbing Senators
noses in their own slimy snot!
http://www.vdare.com/guzzardi/080521_amnesty.htm
Feinstein's Failed Backdoor Amnesty Effort Had A Bodyguard Of Lies By Joe
Guzzardi Feinstein sank to lower than pond scum levels on her latest effort to
pass a completely unnecessary agricultural worker bill. She s worse than
Barack Obama or John McCain.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9346270
Feinstein ag worker plan dies
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/22/2008 09:09:25 AM PDT
WASHINGTON An attempt by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to
attach an agriculture guest worker program to a must-pass Iraq war spending
bill has failed.
The Senate Appropriations Committee that Feinstein sits on agreed to the plan
last week, but it was scuttled this week amid Senate negotiations on the
multibillion-dollar bill to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There have been various disputes about attempts to add domestic programs to
the bill.
Feinstein long has sought to create a guest-worker program to meet shortages
of farm workers in California and elsewhere. Her latest plan would not have
guaranteed permanent residency to the workers, but still met resistance from
opponents who viewed it as amnesty.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer
Final Immigration Amendment Removed From Iraq War Funding Bill (May 22) FAIR
has received confirmation from Senate Republican Leadership that the Mikulski
H-2B Amendment was removed from the Iraq War Funding Bill on the Senate floor
this afternoon.
The H-2B amendment was added to the War Funding Bill last week by Senator
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) as the bill traveled through the Senate
Appropriations Committee. The amendment reinstated for three years the
returning worker exemption to the H-2B unskilled guest worker program which
expired last year. Under the exemption, an alien who worked in the U.S.
during the past three years under the H-2B program can return to the U.S.
to work without counting towards the 66,000 cap. This exemption would have led
to ever-growing numbers of unskilled H-2B guest workers entering the U.S. each
year -- increasing the number by hundreds of thousands.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64963
Friday, May 23, 2008
INVASION USA
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Stripping amnesty from Iraq plan 'right thing'
'I am pleased Democratic leaders realized there would be opposition'
Posted: May 21, 2008
11:55 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
WorldNetDaily
Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate have stripped 100 pages of controversial
immigration provisions added as amendments to the supplemental Iraq war
funding bill after a flood of e-mails and phone calls organized by amnesty
opponents.
"The American people have been clear that they want us to restore the rule of
law to our immigration system before legalization programs are considered, but
I guess this Congress didn't get the message," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.,
said yesterday.
"I am pleased Democratic leaders realized there would be significant
opposition to these controversial provisions," Sessions continued.
"Stripping it was the right thing to do."
Among the provisions removed from the war funding bill was a special path to
citizenship for four subgroups of immigrant agriculture workers: goat herders,
sheep herders, dairy workers and horse herders. It is unclear why the groups
were selected for special treatment.
"It is unjustifiable to arbitrarily single out four groups of workers and
create a special path to citizenship for an unknown number of goat herders,
sheep herders, dairy workers and horse workers," Sessions said.
One immigration proposal remains in the second part of the Iraq supplemental
funding bill which has not yet come up on the Senate floor for discussion.
That amendment, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., would create an
extension of three years for a worker returning under an H-2B visa, which
Mikulski claims is necessary to save seasonal businesses such as seafood
companies.
Opponents charged the immigration amendments attached to the Iraq war
supplemental funding bill were a back door to amnesty.
"We must be realistic about what will happen at the end of the five-year
period," Sessions said about the visa extensions proposed for immigrant
agricultural workers. "Pro-amnesty forces know that if they can get a
temporary legalization for workers, the federal government won't have the will
five years from now to do what it won't do today enforce the law.
Congress will likely turn a blind eye and a path to citizenship will result."
Border security proponents were concerned pro-illegal immigration forces were
trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform piece-by-piece, after having
twice failed to pass omnibus immigration reform laws co-sponsored by Sens. Ted
Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz.
Groups such as Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum organized telephone and e-mail
campaigns objecting to the tactic of sneaking amnesty provisions into an Iraq
war supplemental funding bill needed to support U.S. military forces in the
field.
Yesterday, William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, or
ALIPAC, sent out an e-mail thanking members for getting "the phone lines and
talk radio shows white hot."
The Democratic leadership in the Senate abandoned the immigration amendments
utilizing a rarely used Senate rule.
The Senate Appropriations Committee had voted 17-12 to add to the Iraq funding
bill as a domestic spending program the Ag-Jobs amendment offered by Sens.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho. That would have provided
1.35 million immigrant agricultural workers and an additional
1.65 million family members with 5-year visas to live and work in the United
States.
The same day, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to add the Mikulski
amendment as a provision to the second part of the Iraq war supplemental
funding bill.
Then later, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., in an unusual move, invoked Senate
Rule 16 on the floor of the Senate, a rule that requires provisions in
amendments to appropriations bills to be relevant to the underlying
legislation.
As reported by Congressional Quarterly, Menendez's maneuver allowed Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., subsequently to replace the amendments added to the
first part of the Iraq supplemental funding bill by the Appropriations
Committee with a new version written by the Democratic leadership, excluding a
variety of measures aimed at expanding visas for immigrant agricultural
workers.
"Republicans were going to raise a point of order regarding germaneness anyway
and had been stalling the bill all day," Afsin Mohamadi, press secretary to
Menendez told WND in an e-mail. "The Majority Leader was supportive of a
Democrat raising a point of order to end the stalling and move the bill
along."
"Sen. Reid does not support an approach to immigration reform that does
everything for businesses and nothing for families," Mohamadi added. "His
point is that the sooner relief for business as well as families is on the
table, the sooner there can be success in reforming the broken immigration
system."
When the second part of the Iraq supplemental funding bill comes to the Senate
floor for discussion, most likely on Thursday, the Mikulski provision would be
subject to the same Rule 16 treatment, if the issue of germaneness gets raised
once again at that time.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.lawnandlandscape.com/news/news.asp?ID=6305
H-2B Provision Progress Erased
By Heather Wood
5/22/2008
Just as H-2B advocates thought the program was making progress-albeit small-
getting through Congress, a setback came this morning to the returning-worker
program.
A provision that would have extended the H-2B returning worker exemption three
years was removed from an emergency spending package on the Senate floor. The
action came a week after the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the
package, sending it to the Senate floor. The dismissal disappointed Senator
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee,
who co-sponsored the amendment with Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
"My amendment was a very simple amendment," she said in a floor speech today.
"There was no new law. We broke no new ground. We created no new rights or
privileges. All we did was extend current law. This is a program with a proven
track record. Yet Congress' failure to extend this provision is forcing small
businesses to deal with devastating cuts to their workforce."
The provision, originally called the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses
Act, expired Sept. 30, 2007. It exempts returning foreign workers to count
against the program s cap of 66,000.
This leaves industry advocates wondering what will happen next. There are no
steps in the foreseeable future that won t be rejected, says Tom Delaney,
director of government affairs for the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET).
There also is no sign of an immigration bill soon, he adds.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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