Bush pushes guest worker plan as Republicans duel

ABC ^ | July 5 2006

[markedmannerf]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday vowed to keep working for immigration legislation including a guest worker program, as Republicans held dueling hearings to build support for rival bills.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter assembled employers and sympathetic politicians to testify in Philadelphia about the country's dependence on the estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Meanwhile, House Republican leaders convened a public hearing at a Border Patrol station in San Diego to highlight the need for stricter enforcement along the U.S. border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants entering the country.

Bush took a short trip from the White House to Alexandria, Virginia to weigh in on the debate, buying coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts with dollars borrowed from an aide. He told reporters the country needed a guest worker program.

"I know there needs to be a worker program that says you can come here on a temporary basis and work here legally for jobs Americans aren't doing," he said.

[gubamyster]

ping

[mysterio]

"I know there needs to be a worker program that says you can come here on a temporary basis and work here legally for jobs Americans aren't doing," he said.

No, there doesn't. Americans would do the job for a proper wage.

But more importantly, who is advising the President to keep using this tired old line? The more he says it, the more maddening it gets.

[rrrod]

I'll be glad when GWB leaves the White House. I've had it with the open borders/total amnesty crowd.

[taxed2death]

....the who shebang boils down to if one believes in amnesty (pathway to citizenship) or not.

Most everything else is moot.

Who votes for 16,000,000 + Dum-o-crats crashing the gates and who does not want to see this happen.

[Jeff Head]

No, George, no Senate...not until after we repair the breach, sew it up tight, and show we are willing to enforce it.

Then, and only then, a modest guest worker program, requiring a thorough background check, that does not give a seperate path to citizenship, does not allow for in-country dependents, is relatively short term (but renewable) and denies any anchor baby provision can perhaps be discussed.

[taxed2death]

"But more importantly, who is advising the President to keep using this tired old line? The more he says it, the more maddening it gets."


That would be the Karl Rove / La Raza gang.

[NapkinUser]

"Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter assembled employers and sympathetic politicians to testify in Philadelphia about the country's dependence on the estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States."

Why or why president Bush do you side with Arlen Specter and Edward Kennedy over James Sensenbrenner, Peter King, Steve King, J.D. Hayworth, Tom Tancredo and other conservative republicans in both the house and the senate? Don't you see it's the conservative wing that opposes this, your base, and mostly the liberal wing like Specter and Chafee in your party who support you on this?

[Hydroshock]

I could not agree more.

[TomGuy]

Press Sec Snow(job) was saying at his morning presser that the WH polling showed most Americans want 'comprehensive' immigration reform.

[The WH should try polling outside the Oval Office Cabinet secretaries. They will find a different result.]

[Shermy]

"No, there doesn't. Americans would do the job for a proper wage"

Market forces? LOL. Bush is against those. The overclass only invokes "free market" when it profits them.

[DTogo]

"We cannot kick people out who have been here for a while," Bush said. "And so I look forward to working with Congress on a rational plan as to how to make sure people who have been here, the 11 million or so people who have been here for a while, are treated with respect and dignity."

What a disgraceful disappointment...

[Shermy]

"Press Sec Snow(job) was saying at his morning presser that the WH polling showed most Americans want 'comprehensive' immigration reform."

"Comprehensive" is a nice sounding word. I've seen the poll questions. They're rigged.

[TheOracleAtLilac]

What a crock..all these meetings & debates

If this was private industry, the CEO would delineate his objectives.

His subordinates would work out the details of how to accomplish.

DONE !

I suspect most of the participants in this charade don't have/(don't want) a clue.

[ovrtaxt]

But more importantly, who is advising the President to keep using this tired old line? The more he says it, the more maddening it gets.

Probably the same one who keeps telling him to talk about the 'religion of peace'.

[Shermy]

"who is advising the President to keep using this tired old line?"

What else can he say to the question "Why do we need new and extra worker programs?"

[A CA Guy]

In law now we have a guest worker program from when Reagan did it.
What the President wants is a form of amnesty to which I say NO!

[TheOracleAtLilac]

"I know there needs to be a worker program that says you can come here on a temporary basis and work here legally for jobs Americans aren't doing," he said.

We already have it >>>it's called a H2A visa !

There's something else goin' on !

[MBB1984]

Amen!

[TomGuy]

"who is advising the President to keep using this tired old line?"

What else can he say to the question "Why do we need new and extra worker programs?"

When he gave that big night speech about immigration, he choked the first time he got to that phrase. It was funny, because he didn't even believe it himself, and his stumbling over the phrase indicated as much.

I'm reminded of 'the big lie'. If one repeats it enough, one begins to believe it.