Senate Gang of Eight Crafts Amnesty in Secret
“The eight senators meet in private several times a week, alternating between Sen. John McCain’s and Sen. Charles Schumer’s offices. They sit in arm chairs arranged in a circle and sip water or soft drinks as they debate temporary workers and border security. In a capital riven by partisanship and gridlock, they are determined to be the exception and actually get something done,” Fox News reports.
They meet for an hour or an hour-and-a-half at a time on days when the Senate is in session. No reporters stake out these meetings and aides stand or sit in the background, behind their bosses. They’re assiduous about avoiding leaks and tight-lipped on the details of how their talks are going.
Some Evangelical Groups on Board With Amnesty
“But while nationally, immigration reform may be a path for Republicans to regain a fraction of the Latino vote, immigration reform is not a key issue for all Republican member of congress back home; in fact, for some it may be a liability,” US News says.
“According to the Wall Street Journal, roughly 60 percent of GOP congressional districts have fewer than 10 percent Hispanic voters. That is where the religious right hopes to step in. The Faith and Freedom Coalition released a framework they say is consistent with biblical teaching in February outlining support for immigration legislation that includes earned legal status and family reunification.”
Senate Amnesty Push May Be in Early April
“The Senate’s Democratic leaders may try to rush a nation-changing, economy-shaping immigration law though the Senate as soon as the Easter recess ends April 8, before the public can even read the bill, say GOP insiders. The GOP’s concerns are fueled by the Senate judiciary committee’s failure to schedule any hearings so that senators, advocates and the public can analyze the draft bill, which is expected to be several hundred pages long,” the Daily Caller reports.
Dairies Say They Need Foreign Workers
“The Alpina Foods Inc. plant that just opened in Batavia, New York, to feed the nation’s growing appetite for Greek-style yogurt should have nearby dairy farmers such as Matt Lamb scrambling to expand their herds. It isn’t — and not because cows are in short supply. Lamb says he’s reluctant to add to his family’s 5,000-cow dairy operation for fear he won’t have enough workers to milk them every day. That’s partly due, he says, to U.S. immigration laws that were designed for seasonal farm laborers instead of the year-round, seven-days-a-week ones he needs,” Bloomberg News says.
“‘They can never adequately explain why they can’t raise wages,’ said Eric Ruark, research director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington. ‘If there’s a labor shortage, you raise wages. That’s classic supply-and- demand. Maximizing profits for the producer should not be the main goal of our food system.'”