Schumer working on immigration reform -- again
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Yet he also could find in the upcoming immigration fight that he might have something to prove about his legislative skills to those for and against comprehensive reform.<br />
"Nobody is going to fill Ted Kennedy's shoes," lamented Angela Kelley, an immigration policy specialist at the liberal Center for American Progress.
Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which backs stricter curbs on immigration, said it was a good thing that "the push for amnesty is now in less capable hands."
Schumer said Friday he took the subcommittee post after others turned it down.
But once he did, he said, he told the White House to put immigration on the agenda this year, despite widespread skepticism it can make headway on a crowded calendar, "because it's doable in a very positive way."
He said Kennedy laid the groundwork, but failed because "the mood got a little sour," especially with the House GOP.
Times have now changed, Schumer said, and passing a bill is possible by separating illegal from legal immigrants with what he calls the linchpin: a biometric Social Security card that includes digital records of personal characteristics.
Schumer brings a very different political reputation to the battle than Kennedy's, one that is less liberal and ideological, and more political.
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But Schumer made it clear he has his eye on the middle class he is wooing to his party.<br />
"My basic premise is that I am what I think the American people are," he said. "They are pro-legal immigration but anti-illegal immigration."
