Obama Readies Immigration Push
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By LAURA MECKLER and JON HILSENRATH
The White House is planning a big push in the weeks ahead for a comprehensive immigration-law overhaul that would include a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants.The Obama administration sees overhauling immigration laws as a priority for 2013—one that President Barack Obama is expected to tout in his State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 12. The White House is also planning a full-fledged public push for an immigration package, complete with presidential events early in the year, administration officials said.
The administration supports legislation that would include a process for granting citizenship to undocumented workers who pay back taxes and fines, as well as a better system to help employers verify whether an applicant is eligible to work, a guest-worker program, and additional visas for high-tech workers and others to relieve a backlog.
The White House has been looking to a bipartisan group in the Senate, where legislation is expected to move first. Senators including Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and John McCain (R., Ariz.) have been meeting in recent weeks to hammer out a compromise, with the goal of advancing legislation this spring.
A senior administration official said Sunday that no decision has been made as to whether the administration will give lawmakers legislative language to guide their efforts or provide more general legislative principles as lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, search for bipartisan agreement.
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said in a televised interview this weekend an immigration overhaul was his top priority. "It's going to be the first thing on the agenda," he said on Nevada Week in Review, a public broadcasting program. Mr. Reid said he saw a chance for agreement between Republicans and Democrats on the issue.
One complication: While the White House wants a comprehensive package, many Republicans want to move in small steps.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a GOP rising star, has advocated a piecemeal approach, with three or four pieces of legislation that would give some undocumented immigrants visas, require them to pay taxes and penalties, and eventually open the path to citizenship.
Angela Kelley, an immigration expert at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, described support for guest-worker programs as a potential "poke in the eye" of labor unions. "It is going to be a tough balancing act to keep labor happy, given their wariness of temporary worker programs," she said.
Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com and Jon Hilsenrath at jon.hilsenrath@wsj.com
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Starting at the end of
2012 with the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, it seems clear that America
will jump from one fiscal crisis to another so long as Washington
refuses to acknowledge its addiction to government spending. Like all
addicts, they need to get beyond the denial stage before they (we all)
hit rock bottom.
Republicans in the U.S. Senate at least seem to understand with their leader Mitch McConnell saying on ABC News, “The tax issue is behind us. Now, the question is what are we going to do about the real problem… Now it’s time to pivot and turn to the real issue, which is our spending addiction.”
Having had some success at increasing income tax rates for all U.S. taxpayers whose individual taxable income is above $400,000 ($450,000 for families), Democrats are now looking to go back to the well for multiple installments on other tax increases—totaling more than $1 trillion in additional revenue by closing loopholes. “Loopholes” somehow sound like something citizens should be ashamed to admit to getting. In reality, the provisions in the tax code that “cost” the federal government the most revenue are “loopholes” like deductions for mortgage interest, state taxes, and charitable giving. But don’t worry—it will only impact the rich. Right.
Like it or not, the tax code often picks winners and losers. Let’s look at domestic energy production. Our government has made it clear that energy winners will be those companies who qualify for huge government loans and tax subsidies to produce wind and solar energy (at a much higher cost to us per kw/hr). This while bashing the domestic companies (Big Oil) which we actually need to produce more, so we can afford to fill our tanks and get to work.
This is simple. In the coming months as we face other cliffs and debt limits and government shutdowns, we must urge good, conservative Senators like our own Dean Heller to shift the debate away from who gets the next tax hike to how are we as a nation going to kick the spending habit that is ruining our lives and the lives of those we love—not to mention bankrupting our beloved country.
Please contact Senator Dean Heller at his Reno office:
Republicans in the U.S. Senate at least seem to understand with their leader Mitch McConnell saying on ABC News, “The tax issue is behind us. Now, the question is what are we going to do about the real problem… Now it’s time to pivot and turn to the real issue, which is our spending addiction.”
Having had some success at increasing income tax rates for all U.S. taxpayers whose individual taxable income is above $400,000 ($450,000 for families), Democrats are now looking to go back to the well for multiple installments on other tax increases—totaling more than $1 trillion in additional revenue by closing loopholes. “Loopholes” somehow sound like something citizens should be ashamed to admit to getting. In reality, the provisions in the tax code that “cost” the federal government the most revenue are “loopholes” like deductions for mortgage interest, state taxes, and charitable giving. But don’t worry—it will only impact the rich. Right.
Like it or not, the tax code often picks winners and losers. Let’s look at domestic energy production. Our government has made it clear that energy winners will be those companies who qualify for huge government loans and tax subsidies to produce wind and solar energy (at a much higher cost to us per kw/hr). This while bashing the domestic companies (Big Oil) which we actually need to produce more, so we can afford to fill our tanks and get to work.
This is simple. In the coming months as we face other cliffs and debt limits and government shutdowns, we must urge good, conservative Senators like our own Dean Heller to shift the debate away from who gets the next tax hike to how are we as a nation going to kick the spending habit that is ruining our lives and the lives of those we love—not to mention bankrupting our beloved country.
Please contact Senator Dean Heller at his Reno office:
Phone:
Fax: |
775-686-5770
775-686-5729 |
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