House leaders plan immigration tour

Ianus · 07-18-2013, 01:05 AM

I guess House lawmakers have to start somewhere,but this also reminds me of a similar event that happened in 2006 that lead to a stalemate.

Quote:

The House hasn’t been able to solve the immigration issue while in Washington, so a bipartisan group of lawmakers is hitting the road.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is among those planning to visit New York later this month on a three-day trip of immigration-focused events as part of the Becoming America tour, which is meant to spotlight the historical and personal aspects of immigration.

The lawmakers will attend events on Ellis Island and at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the African Burial Ground National Monument, according to an itinerary of the trip. Leaders will speak at a naturalization ceremony, and the group will also have a breakfast meeting at Gracie Mansion with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a key advocate of immigration reform.

The Becoming America tour isn’t meant to hash out the nitty-gritty of legislation or debate the politics of specific immigration policies. But lawmakers hope it will be a small step forward in Congress’s effort to enact immigration reform.

“It helps us to be removed from Washington and not be in the limelight of all that happens inside the Beltway,” Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), one of the tour leaders, said in an interview Wednesday. “It gives us a chance to get outside, and what better place to go than New York City, symbolic of immigration for our country? It’s the epicenter of immigration.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) is another leader of the tour, which runs July 25-27. Carlos Gutierrez, who served as commerce secretary under former President George W. Bush, is among the more than 100 political and community figures who will participate.

“I think it does give us an opportunity for those members — for those of us who are going — to spend some time together, to get to know each other better,” Diaz-Balart said. “And that’s helpful. That’s always helpful.”

Cantor is scheduled to speak at a keynote event in Jackson Heights, Queens, located in Crowley’s district. It is among the most ethnically diverse districts in the United States — 11.4 percent of its residents are black, 16.5 percent are Asian and 46.9 percent are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“This trip is another bipartisan occasion to come together and celebrate the stories and traditions of so many of our families who came to this great country to pursue the American dream and build a brighter future for our children,” Cantor said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

The Faith & Politics Institute, a nonprofit interfaith organization, is coordinating the trip in the same mold as the Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Selma, Ala., which the group also put together. This year, lawmakers such as Cantor, Crowley, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and a slew of others joined Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon who led the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 to petition for voting rights.

“In everything we do at The Faith & Politics Institute, our hope is to promote goodwill on Capitol Hill,” Elizabeth McCloskey, the institute’s president and CEO, said in an email. “We seek to create sacred spaces where we invite members of Congress to experience, reflect upon and discuss the poignant human stories that highlight challenging moments and the hope of reconciliation in our nation’s history.”

Religious groups have played a pivotal role this year in advocating Congress in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. Key Christian organizations are lobbying lawmakers on the issue, particularly on the pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

In addition to Crowley, Diaz-Balart and Cantor, the confirmed list of lawmakers participating includes Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Susan Davis (D-Calif.), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).

Details of the tour will be formally rolled out on Friday. The expenses for the trip will be paid for by the lawmakers, either through their personal funds or their campaign accounts.

Of course, this trip — intended to foster bipartisan goodwill in the heat of the complex battle in Congress over immigration reform — won’t necessarily translate into concrete legislative action on the Hill.

The Senate has passed a comprehensive reform bill that overhauls essentially every corner of U.S. immigration laws, but leaders in the GOP-led House has no plans to take it up. Instead, that chamber is still figuring out what bills to move onto the House floor, and it is not expected to take up any immigration reform legislation in July.

Severity · 07-18-2013, 07:44 AM

Why don't you guys just do your job instead of taking time off? Grown adults needing a field trip to get to know each other... pathetic.

VeryNicePerson1 · 07-18-2013, 09:07 AM

Politician 1: LOL, roaddddd tripppp!!! YAY!!!

Politician 2: But wait, what if some people think we are just going on vacation!!!

Politician 1: No worries, just say we're doing it for CIR and political purposes...Then when we get back, we can just say we are making OK progress but it will still take alot of time...We can even avoid using our own money and just take it from our political coffers!!!

Politician 2: NICE!!! Lets do this!!!!

dtrt09 · 07-18-2013, 10:39 AM

Oh, I get it! This is the same, super productive and accomplished tour as the Gutierrez 2012 national tour to stop deportations. Yep. He toured the nation, all 50 states to stop non- criminal immigrants from being deported.

In fact, he was soooo good, that only 400,000 were deported last year. Oh, boy, I just can't wait to see the accomplishment of this one.

Happyman0607 · 07-18-2013, 11:11 AM

When I become a citizen in the foreseeable future, I'm gonna run for congress so I can get paid $200,000 a year to take field trips :}

Tonyhasadream · 07-18-2013, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeryNicePerson1

Politician 1: LOL, roaddddd tripppp!!! YAY!!!

Politician 2: But wait, what if some people think we are just going on vacation!!!

Politician 1: No worries, just say we're doing it for CIR and political purposes...Then when we get back, we can just say we are making OK progress but it will still take alot of time...We can even avoid using our own money and just take it from our political coffers!!!

Politician 2: NICE!!! Lets do this!!!!

Have you ever watched the movie Sex Drive? Lol

VeryNicePerson1 · 07-18-2013, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonyhasadream

Have you ever watched the movie Sex Drive? Lol

Nope...lol...is it good?

Looks like one of them teen movies.

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House leaders plan immigration tour