GOP uneasy over immigration hearings
The announcement from Republican House leaders earlier this week that there will be public hearings around the nation this summer on immigration reform had its roots in GOP fears over the midterm elections. The hearings are expected to delay negotiations on reconciling the enforcement-only House immigration bill with the Senate version that has rankled many conservatives because it includes provisions for millions of illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
But now many Republicans are nervous that the hearings plan, by threatening to stymie Congress in passing any immigration reform, will backfire. And some Democrats are welcoming the chance to chide Republicans for kicking the can down the road.
"Anything that gets interpreted as a stalling action on one of the most important issues facing the country does not help the governing party," says Whit Ayres, a top Republican pollster. "Most Americans, including most Republicans, want something done on illegal immigration. And they want it done soon."
Democrats hope the immigration debate will now shift from whether they support "amnesty" for illegal immigrants to focus instead on what they expect will be a failure among Republicans to pass any immigration reform.
"Republicans are hanging themselves," says a top Democratic Party source. "Democrats are pushing for action on security and enforcement."
A Republican strategist close to the House says the hearings gambit was born largely of meetings between Tom Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and dozens of Republican congressmen locked in competitive races this fall. Over a series of monthly meetings, the vulnerable members told Reynolds that they "could not swallow" the immigration bill that had passed the Senate because anything less than the House's enforcement-only measure "would be considered weakness."
The House immigration bill, passed by Republicans last December, calls for stepped-up law enforcement and border security to crack down on illegal immigration. The Senate bill, which passed earlier this year largely on the backs of Democrats, provides a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
The Republican strategist says that Reynolds met with House Republican leaders to help devise the hearings plan, which would allow House Republicans to "stand up for principle and fight the Democrats in the Senate." The NRCC chairman's case was bolstered earlier this month by a Republican victory in the special election to replace jailed Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in California's 50th Congressional District. The Republican candidate, Brian Bilbray, made opposition to citizenship for illegal immigrants a cornerstone of his campaign.
But the Democrats also took an important lesson from the California special election: that promoting a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants was tantamount to "amnesty" in the eyes of many voters. A Democratic source said that polling for the Democratic candidate in the election, Francine Busby, revealed that voters' positions on border security and enforcement of immigration laws were a much bigger factor in casting their ballots than was their stance on proposals that would grant citizenship to some illegal immigrants.
After losing the race, the Democratic source said, many Democrats were looking for an opportunity to distance themselves from the Senate's comprehensive immigration bill.
Tuesday's announcement from the House GOP leadership provided just the chance. When Sen. Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday morning about immigration reform, they talked almost exclusively about the importance of securing the border. And when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee responded to the immigration hearings plan Wednesday morning, it included no mention of comprehensive immigration reform. "Americans are looking for tough laws," said DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel. "And a Congress with the will to enforce them."
With Danielle Knight