Senate reaches immigration deal
May 18, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward
The White House has endorsed a bipartisan Senate deal that proposes to grant a legal amnesty to virtually every illegal immigrant in the United States. The deal also includes measures to augment border security, step up workplace enforcement and reform the legal means through which immigrants enter the country.
Heritage experts are still acquiring and examining the hundreds of pages that will comprise this complicated legislation. As they conduct their review, they continue to make the case to lawmakers for a sound immigration reform plan that secures our borders, enforces the law, welcomes legal immigrants, and does not provide amnesty for lawbreakers.
- Read more about the amnesty provisions from Heritage’s Brian Darling on National Review Online.
- Watch Heritage scholar Matt Spalding explain the principles of immigration reform in a recent video.
- Take our poll: Is amnesty a sound policy?
- Click here to read more about amnesty—including a debunking of liberal myths on the topic.
Why the Law of the Sea is wrong for America
A quarter century ago, international bureaucrats drafted the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Designed as a comprehensive legal regime to manage the seas, the treaty has been repeatedly rejected by American policymakers, most recently in 2004, because it would on balance harm America’s interests.
Now it has reared its ugly head again, and it’s no better than before. The treaty, explain Heritage scholars Edwin Meese, Baker Spring and Brett Schaefer, “poses the usual risks to U.S. interests of such multilateral treaties.” For example, it could subsume American interests within a vast, costly and unaccountable international bureaucracy.
Why mandatory paid sick leave is a bad idea
Many businesses provide their employees with paid sick leave. This is a perk they can use to attract potential workers, just as they can offer higher wages or a more lavish pension.
But liberals have somehow come to see payment for not working as a “right”—and they want to compel employers to provide it. The left-wing Center for American Progress is urging its members to support legislation backed by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) that would “guarantee that workers receive at least seven paid sick days each year.”
This sort of regulation is, to put it mildly, ridiculous. Click here to find out what Heritage experts have to say.
In other news
- By a largely party-line vote, the House of Representatives passed a massive $2.9 trillion budget for fiscal 2008 that includes a tremendous tax increase and raises the government’s debt ceiling by $850 billion. Under the plan, federal spending would increase five percent over this year’s record outlays.
- The Senate on Wednesday quite rightly rejected legislation mandating withdrawal of American troops from Iraq within a year. Meanwhile, President Bush appointed Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute to the new position of “war czar” to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- A political brouhaha erupted in the House Wednesday after the liberal majority attempted to repeal a procedural maneuver, known as the motion to recommit, that has been a mainstay of Congressional minorities since 1822. The repeal proposal was ultimately withdrawn.
- A court has upheld the “marriages” of 170 same-sex couples from New York who wed in Massachusetts before that state barred out-of-state same-sex unions.
- In his last visit to the United States as Prime Minister, Britain’s Tony Blair met with President Bush at the White House yesterday.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend the following Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.
- On Tuesday, May 22 at 10:30 a.m., Army Reserve chief Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz will speak on challenges the Reserve faces in maintaining its volunteer force in wartime.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
