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March 13, 2008
WASHINGTON — House Republicans are attempting a procedural move to force a vote on an immigration bill that could divide Democrats in an election year.
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., is among several House Republicans who have signed a discharge petition to bring the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement Act up for a vote. The petition would bypass the usual process of getting bills through congressional committees.
The bill, which many liberal Democrats oppose but moderates in the party support, would add 8,000 border patrol agents and increase deportations. It also would revamp a federally run electronic legal-verification program that employers use. U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., introduced the bill.
“I absolutely admire Heath Shuler’s courage,” Rep. Wamp said. “He’s got a good bill, a bipartisan bill, and it tests the mettle of (centrist Democrats). To move forward, they have to stand against the more liberal members of their party.”
Democrats accuse Republicans of playing political games with a serious issue.
U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., said he will not sign the petition, despite co-sponsoring the bill.
“The same Republicans who failed for years to secure our borders when they controlled the Congress are playing politics again with immigration,” he said. “Should the SAVE Act come to the floor for a real up or down vote, I will gladly vote for the bill.”
The petition must have 218 lawmaker signatures for the bill to be “discharged” for a vote by the full House, meaning Republicans will need signatures from some Democrats to succeed.
U.S. Reps. John Duncan, R-Tenn., and Nathan Deal and Phil Gingrey, both R-Ga., have signed on, and Republican leaders are courting more lawmakers. As of Wednesday evening, the petition had 163 signatures.
Rep. Shuler has signed the petition, though he said he would have preferred the legislation to come up through the normal process. Rep. Wamp defended the use of the petition.
“When you’re in the minority and the majority won’t bring (the bill) up, you only have one route, and that’s the discharge,” he said.
The last discharge petition to succeed was a campaign finance reform bill in 2002, brought up by the then-Democratic minority and passed over the objections of then-House Speaker Tom Delay, R-Texas.
Proponents of the bill favor the enforcement-first approach, saying the border needs to be secured before other immigration issues are addressed. measure
Opponents say the bill provides no safeguards against erroneous information in the verification database and will hurt the economy by stepping up the deportation of millions of workers.
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