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Immigration on the High Plains
Inhofe, Rice on immigration
Inhofe: Yeah, I voted against the comprehensive immigration bill, referred to sometimes as the amnesty bill. And I knew it would not pass because you can't have a comprehenive bill on a subject like this.
Haslett: The 2007 immigration proposal was the third comprehensive bill to fail in the Senate in a two-year period. Republican Arlen Specter sponsored an unsuccessful bill in 2006. In 2005, two comprehensive packages stalled in the Senate- one was proposed by Republicans John Cornyn and Jon Kyl- the other was a bipartisan proposal from Ted Kennedy and John McCain. Inhofe hopes to avoid the failures of comprehensive bills by introducing smaller bills targeting specific aspects of the immigration issue.
Inhofe: So what we are doing in the United States Senate- twelve of us are intorducing individual bills, each in an area of speciality, for example, Jeff Sessions of Alabama has the electronic verification- an employer might hire someone and be given false documentation and then id something happens the employer is responsible. That is not fair and if we have electronic verification, that would preclude that from happening.
Haslett: Inhofe says the system Sessions advocates is not the existing Real ID system, which has been used in some states, but a new system that has not yet been implemented. Meanwhile, Andrew Rice says he would have supported the 2007 Immigration Reform Act.
Rice: My plan as a federal candidate is really the compromise plan that wasn't taken up last year. You go to the back of the line on citizenship, but there is a path-to-guest-worker program that would- be here legally, pay your taxes, pay a penalty and have a way that you could legally remain in this country for a certain amount of time. The idea that you're going to be deport people people wholesale, about 12 million people is just not feasible. There's no easy solution to it- the people on both extremes of the issue have to realize they're not going to get everything they want on it because we ignored the problem for so long, we have to come to some sort of compromise solution for it.
Haslett: Rice rejects the characterization of the 2007 bill and its predecessors as "amnesty" bills.
Rice: I don't think it was amnesty. I mean, "amnesty" is a loaded term that is not accurately applied to this, although, of course in politics that doesn't matter. The McCain-Kennedy bill did not have amnesty precicely because of the penalty that was involved and going to the back of the line on citizenship. There was a limited amount time you could be here, which is not consistent with the idea of a sort of unlimited refuge in a place.
Haslett: While in the state senate, Rice voted in favor of House Bill 1804- that's the immigration omnibus bill passed in 2007. By supporting 1804, Rice joined two-thirds of his Democratic senatorial colleagues in supporting the Republican-authored legislation. The bill passed the Oklahoma senate 41 to six after clearing the house by an 88 to nine margin., This is Mark Haslett, High Plains Public Radio News.
© Copyright 2012, hppr
(2008-10-28)
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GUYMON, OKLA.
(hppr) -
Haslett: In Oklahoma, Tulsa Republican Jim Inhofe is a favorite to win a third full term to the United States Senate. Inhofe's challenger, Oklahoma City Democrat Andrew Rice, currently serves in the Oklahoma state Senate. Both candidates know that the pressure will be on the 2009 Congress to make progress on the issue of immigration. The last big federal immigration proposal was the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. The Bill, sponsored by Nevada Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, enjoyed bipartisan support, including a push from President Bush. However, the bill failed to make it out of the Senate. No major federal legislation on immigration has been introduced since then- those votes took place in June of last year. Inhofe did not support the proposals.
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Inhofe: Yeah, I voted against the comprehensive immigration bill, referred to sometimes as the amnesty bill. And I knew it would not pass because you can't have a comprehenive bill on a subject like this.
Haslett: The 2007 immigration proposal was the third comprehensive bill to fail in the Senate in a two-year period. Republican Arlen Specter sponsored an unsuccessful bill in 2006. In 2005, two comprehensive packages stalled in the Senate- one was proposed by Republicans John Cornyn and Jon Kyl- the other was a bipartisan proposal from Ted Kennedy and John McCain. Inhofe hopes to avoid the failures of comprehensive bills by introducing smaller bills targeting specific aspects of the immigration issue.
Inhofe: So what we are doing in the United States Senate- twelve of us are intorducing individual bills, each in an area of speciality, for example, Jeff Sessions of Alabama has the electronic verification- an employer might hire someone and be given false documentation and then id something happens the employer is responsible. That is not fair and if we have electronic verification, that would preclude that from happening.
Haslett: Inhofe says the system Sessions advocates is not the existing Real ID system, which has been used in some states, but a new system that has not yet been implemented. Meanwhile, Andrew Rice says he would have supported the 2007 Immigration Reform Act.
Rice: My plan as a federal candidate is really the compromise plan that wasn't taken up last year. You go to the back of the line on citizenship, but there is a path-to-guest-worker program that would- be here legally, pay your taxes, pay a penalty and have a way that you could legally remain in this country for a certain amount of time. The idea that you're going to be deport people people wholesale, about 12 million people is just not feasible. There's no easy solution to it- the people on both extremes of the issue have to realize they're not going to get everything they want on it because we ignored the problem for so long, we have to come to some sort of compromise solution for it.
Haslett: Rice rejects the characterization of the 2007 bill and its predecessors as "amnesty" bills.
Rice: I don't think it was amnesty. I mean, "amnesty" is a loaded term that is not accurately applied to this, although, of course in politics that doesn't matter. The McCain-Kennedy bill did not have amnesty precicely because of the penalty that was involved and going to the back of the line on citizenship. There was a limited amount time you could be here, which is not consistent with the idea of a sort of unlimited refuge in a place.
Haslett: While in the state senate, Rice voted in favor of House Bill 1804- that's the immigration omnibus bill passed in 2007. By supporting 1804, Rice joined two-thirds of his Democratic senatorial colleagues in supporting the Republican-authored legislation. The bill passed the Oklahoma senate 41 to six after clearing the house by an 88 to nine margin., This is Mark Haslett, High Plains Public Radio News.
© Copyright 2012, hppr
