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SIERRA VISTA — Republicans and Democrats are badly split within their parties when it comes to immigration reform, Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl said Saturday.
While being optimistic about an immigration reform bill passing Congress this session, Arizona’s senior senator said it will take hard work to overcome the different views within the GOP ranks and to bring a sufficient number of Democrats into the fold for a bill to make it out of the upper chamber.
The main issue is a temporary guest-worker plan, something the president wants and that can be found in a proposal put forward by Arizona’s other Republican senator, John McCain, and U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Kyl said.
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He made his comments before heading into the Cochise County Republican Committee’s headquarters in Sierra Vista on Saturday to challenge the party faithful to become involved in this year’s elections, especially the critical congressional race.
Kyl is running for re-election. His anticipated Democratic opponent is Jim Pederson, who questions Kyl’s immigration stance.
Kyl said the split in the Republican ranks will be hard to solve, but the one facing the Democrats is even more difficult.
Although he and McCain are on different sides in the immigration debate, Kyl said he appreciates McCain’s view that allowing amendments means the state’s junior senator is willing to compromise.
Amendments are part of the process in strengthening a bill, and McCain knows that and supports it, Kyl said.
When it comes to the McCain and Kennedy package, Kyl said he will not vote for it, but at least it will have an opportunity to come up for a vote if everyone works together.
The compromise in question is a proposal by U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., that would separate illegal immigrants into groups based on the length of time they have resided illegally in the country.
Part of the proposal by Kyl and fellow Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, gives up to five years for illegal immigrants to leave the United States.
There should be no enticement to allow them to start on the path of becoming citizens, Kyl said.
The opposition plan that will allow illegal immigrants to remain in the country with requirements to pay back taxes, a fine and other requirements are a “pretty please” proposal, he said.
Becoming partisan, the senator said the Democrats under Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, are disruptive to finding a solution to the immigration problem.
Reid doesn’t want amendments offered and is using the parliamentary maneuvers to stop any from being discussed, Kyl said.
“It’s pure politics,” he said.
However, Pederson said it is Kyl who is scuttling the bi-partisan immigration compromise. Kyl introduced a controversial amendment creating the partisan impasse, Pederson stated in a Friday press release.
Kyl told the nearly 100 people at the county headquarters that this year “the other side has a plan, and the plan is to be negative and nasty.”
From the viewpoint of Randy Graf, a Republican U.S. representative hopeful, Kyl is on the mark when it comes to his race for the party’s nod to be the candidate for the seat in Congressional District. 8. The seat is being vacated by 11-term U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, who has held the position for the Republicans. Kolbe announced in November that he is retiring at the end of this term.
Graf went against Kolbe in the 2004 primary. Although he lost the primary, Graf carried Cochise County. His main issue was border security.
Although he isn’t in Congress, Graf is watching the immigration reform fight closely. He sees the Senate and House of Representatives “on a collision course.”
The House passed a bill calling for more stringent control of the border and no guest-worker program.
The 435-member House faces an important election, and if the Democrats win back control of the chamber it could mean the bill that has already been passed may be changed by the new Congress, unless there is a law satisfactory to both the House and the Senate, Graf said.
President George W. Bush has embraced the ideas outlined in the McCain and Kennedy bill. Graf believes the president is wrong.
He said illegal immigrants are mostly unskilled and undereducated and will become more of a burden to the American taxpayer if they are somehow allowed legal status.
With legal status comes the right to medical benefits and other social services, all to the detriment to the American taxpayer, Graf said.
While running his campaign, he noted that watching the happenings in Washington, D.C., “has been very frustrating.”
While Kyl is somewhat optimistic an immigration reform bill be pass before the November elections, Graf is pessimistic.
There is no real middle ground in the proposals being floated, he said.
“It’s an emotional issue,” Graf said.
SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
nicole ray wrote on Jun 21, 2009 3:35 PM: