AFSCME Legislative Report
Legislation Department
May 26, 2006
AFSCME LEGISLATIVE
REPORT
May
26, 2006
In this issue:
Senate Passes Immigration Bill Setting Up Clash With
House
The Senate successfully completed the first major
overhaul of the nation's immigration law in 20 years by approving S.
2611 on a vote of 62-36. While the final bill was substantially
altered with the passage of more than two dozen amendments, it still
retained the Judiciary Committee's underlying tripartite compromise:
a path-to-legalization for the majority of the undocumented workers
currently in the U.S.; a new guest worker program for future
immigrants; and stronger border security measures.
Under the
Senate agreement, illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for
five years or more, about seven million people, would eventually be
granted citizenship if they remained employed, passed background
checks, paid fines and back taxes, and enrolled in English classes.
Illegal immigrants who have lived here two to five years, about
three million people, would have to leave the country briefly and
receive a temporary work visa before returning, as a guest worker.
Over time, they would be allowed to apply for permanent residency
and ultimately citizenship. Illegal immigrants who have been here
less than two years, about one million people, would be required to
leave the country altogether. They could apply for the guest worker
program, but they would not be guaranteed acceptance in
it.
In several important respects, the final bill is much
improved over the committee version. Most importantly, the huge
guest worker program in the committee bill – originally set at
800,000 workers and later reduced to 325,000 in the first year with
a 20 percent annual increase –was drastically scaled back even
further. The final bill reduces the annual number of guest workers
permitted under the new H-2C visa program to 200,000 a year and also
removes the provisions allowing for annual increases of up to 20
percent while giving Congress the ability to raise the cap later.
The final bill also includes a very important labor
certification provision, offered by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) that
would require employers to certify that they have looked for U.S.
workers and have used job search assistance provided by state
agencies before being allowed to use guest workers. In addition,
employers would have to offer the job to any qualified and available
eligible U.S. worker first. The provision adds a measure of
accountability that was lacking in the original bill, which only
required employer attestation at a few centralized processing
centers.
An amendment, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley
(R-IA), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Max Baucus
(D-MT), that passed by a vote of 58 to 40 adds anti-discrimination,
privacy and due process protections to the Employment Eligibility
Verification System (EEVS), which require that employers
electronically verify the employment eligibility of every worker in
the country.
Three amendments that would have made further
improvements failed. The first was an amendment offered by Sen.
Kennedy that would have allocated 25 percent of all the fees that
are collected under the guest worker program to strengthen the
enforcement of wage and hour and health and safety laws by the
Department of Labor. It would also have clarified that undocumented
workers are entitled to back pay as a remedy for being unlawfully
fired for union organizing, and created an exemption to the
requirement that the new H-2C guest workers must leave the country
if they are unemployed for 60 days. The Kennedy amendment was tabled
on a procedural vote, 57-40, that required 60 votes to be
successful.
A second amendment offered by Sen. Byron Dorgan
(D-ND) that failed by one vote, 48-49, would have sunset the guest
worker program after five years. And a third amendment that also
failed, 37-61, was the "orange card" amendment offered by Sen.
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). This amendment would have permitted all
undocumented workers who had entered the U.S. before January 2006,
had passed criminal background checks and been cleared by the
Department of Homeland Security to ultimately obtain legal status.
It would have replaced the proposal in the bill that divides the
undocumented workers into three groups according to when they
entered the country and only permit those here for more than five
years to remain and be granted legal status.
The bill will
now go to a joint Senate-House conference committee that will
attempt to reconcile the Senate bill with the very different House
passed bill (H.R. 4437) that only contains tough border security and
workplace enforcement measures. Many House Republicans vehemently
oppose the provisions in the Senate bill that would legalize most
illegal immigrants and create a guest worker program and have vowed
to fight to prevent the legislation from becoming law.
(Marge
Allen- mallen@afscme.org) Return to Index
House
Passes Agriculture Spending Bill
On May 23, the House
passed its FY 2007 Agriculture spending bill (H.R. 5384) which
provides less federal support for year-to-year funded programs than
FY 2006 but more than the funding level proposed in President Bush's
budget. Spending for the Food Stamp program, which is not
appropriated annually, was reduced by $2.8 billion from FY 2006. The
House adopted an amendment that prohibits the U.S. Department of
Agriculture from subsidizing food stamps for legal immigrants, a
largely symbolic gesture since current law contains the same
prohibition. Spending for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) was increased $40 million
above FY 2006 levels and $44 million more than the President's
request, but is still below the funding level needed to serve the
projected 8.2 million participants in FY 2007. The bill also
includes $80 million for avian flu/pandemic countermeasures and
monitoring, which is $33 million less than the Administration's
request. The House defeated an amendment by Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO)
that would have imposed a one percent across-the-board cut on the
agriculture bill. The Senate has not taken action yet on its version
of the spending bill.
(Fran Bernstein- fbernstein@afscme.org) Return to Index
Bipartisan
Group of House Members Urges Administration to Do More to Protect
Health Care Workers and First Responders from Threat of Pandemic
Flu
On Thursday, a bipartisan group of House Members
sent Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt and
Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Elaine Chao a letter expressing
their concern that the agencies were not doing enough to protect
health care workers and first responders in the event of pandemic
flu. Noting the critical role that health care workers and first
responders will play in responding to a pandemic flu, the letter
highlighted that "preparation thus far by both Departments fails to
properly account for the risks of infection and implement a plan to
minimize them." In particular, the letter noted that the HHS
Pandemic Influenza Plan released in November 2005 recommends that
employers implement the use of surgical masks for personal
respiratory protection, contradicting recommendations by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention that, at a minimum, N-95
respirators be used by health care workers and first responders. The
letter also urged DOL to exercise its authority and responsibility
to protect the health of workers at risk of occupational exposure to
pandemic flu.
At AFSCME's request, the letter to Leavitt and
Chao was organized by Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Steven LaTourette
(R-OH), co-chairs of the House Nursing Caucus. They collected the
signatures of over 80 House Members, including 20 Republicans. To
read the letter and see the list of signers, go to www.afscme.org
and click on the Legislative Action page.
(Barbara Coufal- bcoufal@afscme.org) Return to Index
Senate
Confirms Bush Loyalist to the D.C. Circuit
By a vote of
57-36, the Senate on May 26 voted to confirm the nomination of Brett
Kavanaugh to a lifetime position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the D.C. Circuit, our nation's second highest court. Kavanaugh, a
political operative who has spent a great deal of his career working
in the Bush Administration, has virtually no judicial experience,
less than any judicial nominee to the D.C. Circuit in 30 years.
During his confirmation hearings Kavanaugh failed to answer
questions about his possible involvement with the National Security
Agency's warrantless wiretapping of American citizens and other
Administration activities that have come under fire in the past
year.
AFSCME opposed the Kavanaugh nomination primarily
because of the importance of the D.C. Circuit to the lives of all
Americans. The D.C. Circuit's decisions have a direct and profound
impact on the lives of millions of working men and women across the
U.S. because the court reviews more decisions of the National Labor
Relations Board than any other court, and frequently hears
challenges to health and safety protections adopted by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and
Heath Administration and other federal agencies. AFSCME joined
several other national organizations in opposing the nomination
because Kavanaugh lacks the judicial experience to serve on such an
important and powerful Court.
(Cynthia Bradley- cbradley@afscme.org)
Return to Index
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