SIERRA VISTA (Arizona) HERALD

May 13, 2006

Kolbe sees hope in immigration debate

BY JONATHAN CLARK

Herald/Review

TUCSON — Congressman Jim Kolbe on Friday called the Senate’s revival of the immigration debate a “very major step in the right direction,” but said differences with the House of Representatives could still derail the passage of a new law.

“The fact that the Senate decided to again pick up the debate is the good news,” Kolbe told the Border Trade Alliance at the group’s regional meeting in Tucson. “The bad news is that the House passed an absolutely dreadful immigration bill last December.”

Kolbe said that even if the Senate can get a bill passed before a Memorial Day target date, it was still a 1-in-100 shot that it could be reconciled with the House prior to November mid-term elections. He said odds were 1-in-10 it could be done by years end.

Still, he was encouraged that there was any chance a bill would be passed.

“Those odds are remarkably good compared to what they looked like three to five months ago,” he said.

On Thursday, Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist and Democrat Minority Leader Harry Reid announced they had revived a broad immigration reform bill after a weeks-long political stalemate.

Kolbe, along with fellow Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake and Illinois Rep. Luis Gonzalez, introduced an immigration bill to the House of Representatives in May 2005 that included a guest-worker program and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the country. It was later sponsored in the Senate by John McCain and Ted Kennedy.

A House bill that passed last December, however, included only provisions for enforcing or tightening current immigration law. The bill called for 700 miles of fences along the U.S.-Mexico border and would make it a felony to reside in the United States illegally.

The revived Senate compromise proposal is closer to Kolbe’s plan.

The measure will now be picked up for debate on May 15, at which time Senators can begin proposing amendments. Kolbe predicted that there would be “scores and scores” of amendments presented until leadership has to seek unanimous consent to limit the debate. If that is not possible, Kolbe said the bill may never make it out of the Senate.

“If it goes beyond Memorial Day, I think Majority Leader Frist is going to throw his hands up and say … ‘We’re not going to go any further,’” he said.

“But I do think there is a momentum and a desire to get this legislation passed.”

If the bill passes the Senate, he said there were members of the House who would “fall on their swords” to keep it from reaching the House floor. Whether Republican leadership would work to bypass or roll over such an opposition remains to be seen, he said.

Kolbe urged citizens to stay tuned to the discussion.

“This is probably the most exciting and most interesting debate we’ve ever had,” he said.