SCHotline Press Releases

Senate Conferees Are Attempting to Kill Immigration Reform

Refusal to sign Conference Report keeps House from being able to vote

(Columbia, SC) – This year’s Illegal Immigration Reform Bill took a big hit today as the Senate Conferees took major steps towards single handily killing this reform many have been pushing for.

As the Immigration Reform Conference Committee finished its work yesterday, negotiations were down to a single issue – keep the I-9 Federal loophole, or require true, reliable private employee verification. By the end of the meeting, the Senate Conferees had agreed to ask the Senate to remove the controversial I-9 provision from the bill and allow the House to vote on a Conference Report today.

“Recently, there has been way too much waffling going on surrounding the immigration reform bill. I just hope the Senate Conferee’s decision to go back on this agreement today does not totally kill the reforms our citizens have demanded,” House Speaker Bobby Harrell said. “There seems to be a lot of John Kerry ‘I voted for it, before I voted against it’ double talk taking place in the Senate. One Senator even went so far as to send out a press release saying he was against I-9s, before he was for them.”

Speaker Harrell continued, “This is a poorly crafted move by the Senate to deflect having to make difficult decisions that will result in a strong immigration bill. This is an issue the House is very willing to take up and vote on, but we must have the signatures of at least two House members and two Senators – and the Senate knows that. But instead of signing the report and enabling the House to vote today, the Senate is choosing to present an argument to the public based on lies and misrepresentations.”

All three House Conferees signed the agreed upon Conference Report early today. However, when the time came for the Senate Conferees to live up to their end of the bargain, none could be found or reached by phone. As the issue continues to stand, the House cannot take a vote until at least two Senate Conferees sign the report.

Head Immigration Conferee for the House, Jim Harrison said, “I am quite shocked that the Senate Conferees would refuse to sign the agreement we reached yesterday that would allow the House to vote on the issue and by doing so, possibly have this entire reform package killed by the actions of three Senators. The House rules are clear – no signatures, no vote. If this happens, it will be the third year in a row the Senate has successfully kept illegal immigration reforms championed by the House from becoming law.”

Speaker Harrell added, “All too often the Senate is more concerned about grandstanding in the safety of their own chamber, far away from the facts and realities surrounding an issue. This is an unfortunate fact the House and the people of South Carolina sometimes have to suffer through. The S.C. Senate is doing exactly what Congress and the Federal Government are doing concerning illegal immigration, playing shell games that accomplish little in addressing the real problems.