"So Close But Oh So Far": Immigration Reform and the Government Shutdown

It doesn't have to be this hard. It really doesn't.

There is so much that (just about) everybody agrees on:

1. Don't use a government shutdown as a crude club for negotiation, hurting people and the end objective by doing so.

2. Don't allow political symbolism to get in the way of a "good deal" which advances the Nation's interest.

3. We are not going to come up with a "forever" answer to what are the right immigration, path to citizenship and border security policies today, partly because the issues and "right answer" will change over time just as has been the case in the past. BUT we can come up with a comprehensive set of policies which bring us to a much better position than we are today and it is our responsibility to do so.

So--what to do?

1. Vote to re-open the government.

2. With the proviso that a bi-partisan group of leaders from the Senate and House will meet non-stop to craft legislation including funding to send to the President which includes provisions covering:

a. Enhanced border security including all means (e.g. personnel; technology; extended barriers) to accomplish it as justified by data and experience.
b. Giving "Dreamers" a clear path to citizenship.
c. Providing other undocumented workers who meet specific criteria (e.g. absence of criminal records) a path to securely staying in the U.S. if not to full citizenship.
d. Other enhancements to our visa and green card policies as presented in the "Border Security. Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act" which passed the Senate in April 2013 by a vote of 68-32, but was never taken up by the House. (See below).
e. Consideration of action to properly address asylum seekers who, usually as families,  constitute a much greater percentage of people seeking entry today than was the case 10 years ago. (Legislation on this portion of the agreement might require more study)

Implicit in this proposal is the belief that we are not far from reading agreement on key elements thencomprehensive immigration reform we desperately need and that we should use the current government shutdown as a lever to get to "yes".

I am greatly encouraged by our ability to do this by the agreement which was reached in 2013 by the so called "gang of eight" in the Senate.

Here is a synopsis of the legislation I referred to:

Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act

Full title	To provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.
Colloquial name(s)	The "immigration bill"
Introduced in	113th United States Congress
Introduced on	April 16, 2013
Sponsored by	Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Effects and codifications
Act(s) affected	Immigration and Nationality Act, Social Security Act, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 and others.
U.S.C. section(s) affected	8 U.S.C. § 1101, 8 U.S.C. § 1184, 8 U.S.C. § 1182, 8 U.S.C. § 1153, 8 U.S.C. § 1324a, and others.
Agencies affected	U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Social Security Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Science Foundation, Army National Guard, United States Sentencing Commission, International Development Association, Transportation Security Administration, United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Government Accountability Office, United States House of Representatives, United States Agency for International Development, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (United States), General Services Administration, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service, National Archives and Records Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, United States Forest Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Inspector General, National Park Service, International Organization for Migration, Legal Services Corporation, Executive Office for Immigration Review, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Comptroller General of the United States, Executive Office of the President, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Judicial Center, United States Department of Labor, United States Congress, Farm Service Agency, Office of Management and Budget, Director of National Intelligence, United States Department of Energy, United States Department of State, United States Department of Commerce, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Transportation, Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Department of the Treasury, United States Department of the Interior, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United States Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, United States Department of Defense, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Small Business Administration, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Supreme Court of the United States, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Bureau of the Census, United States Senate
Authorizations of appropriations	At least $1,970,500,000 with an additional unlimited amount
Appropriations	At least $62,020,000,000 with an additional unlimited amount
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S.744 by Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on April 16, 2013 Committee consideration by: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Passed the Senate on June 27, 2013 (Roll Call 168: 68-32)

The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (S.744) was a proposed immigration reform bill introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in the United States Senate ^[1]and co-sponsored by the other seven members of the "Gang of Eight", a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators who wrote and negotiated the bill. It was introduced into the Senate of the 113th United States Congress on April 16, 2013.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the bill in April 2013.^[2] The bill was voted out of Committee on May 21, 2013 and was placed on the Senate calendar.^[3] On June 27, 2013, the Senate passed the bill on 68-32 margin. The bill was not considered by United States House of Representatives and died in the 113th Congress.

If enacted, the bill would have made it possible for many undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and eventually citizenship. It would have increased border security by adding up to 40,000 border patrol agents. It also would have advanced talent-based immigration through a points-based immigration system. New visas had been proposed in this legislation, including a visa for entrepreneurs and a W visa for lower skilled workers.^[4] It also proposed new restrictions on H1B visa program to prevent its abuse and additional visas/green-cards for students with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees from U.S. institutions. The bill also included a $1.5 billion youth jobs program and repealed the Diversity Visa Lottery in favor of prospective legal immigrants who are already in the United States.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated this reform bill would have reduced the U.S. fiscal deficit by US$197 billion over the next ten years and by $700 billion by 2033.^[5] Its report also states that, if the bill had been passed, U.S. wages would have been 0.1 percent lower in 2023 and 0.5 percent higher in 2033 than under current law.^[6] The Social Security Administration said that it would help add $276 billion in revenue over the next 10 years while costing only $33 billion.^[7]