Senate panel plans field visit to Aurora

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

WASHINGTON - Aurora is more than 500 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, but it soon will be ground zero in the congressional fight over immigration policy.

The U.S. Senate Budget Committee has scheduled a field hearing at the Aurora Municipal Center Aug. 30 to talk about current and proposed immigration policies.

Although the witness list was still being finalized, it is expected to include representatives from Gov. Bill Owens' administration, local government officials and business leaders.Because of the Budget Committee's focus, the discussion will center on the financial impacts of illegal immigration, such as the costs of providing health care, law enforcement and other government services.

"This field hearing will be very useful in helping lawmakers understand the serious, but often overlooked, budget implications of the different immigration reform proposals they are considering," said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, who requested the Colorado hearing as the committee's second-ranking Republican.

The hearing is part of a series being held this summer as Congress tries to break an impasse between the Senate and House of Representatives over competing versions of border-control and immigration reform legislation.

With no compromise in sight, some critics have charged that the hearings are just an attempt by Republicans to keep immigration on the front burner going into November's midterm elections.

Allard chief of staff Sean Conway denied the charge.

"There's no political motive by Sen. Allard," Conway said. "He has been talking about doing these hearings for months."

Because Congress is "stuck in neutral" on compromise talks, Conway said hearings in Colorado and elsewhere during the August congressional recess are a chance to hear from people affected by the immigration issue.

Late last year, the House passed legislation calling for a 700-mile long security fence along the southern border, a crackdown on illegal immigrants and tough sanctions on the employers who hire them.

The Senate passed a version adding guest-worker provisions that President Bush has called an essential part of comprehensive reform, plus measures that could allow millions of people who are in the country illegally to pay fines and back taxes and eventually gain citizenship.The Senate bill split Colorado's senators.

Allard, R-Loveland, opposed the final version, equating its citizenship provisions to "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Denver, was among the most vocal backers of the bill, although he missed the final vote on May 25 because of a commitment to speak at his daughter's high school graduation in Denver.

The bill passed the Senate by a 62-36 vote, and the chairman of the Budget Committee, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., was among 21 Republicans on the "yes" side.

In the House of Representatives, critics of illegal immigration denounced the Senate bill and said they would try to block it in a House-Senate conference committee that must reconcile the differences between the two measures.

GOP-led House committees have scheduled hearings to pick apart aspects of the Senate-passed legislation.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, among the most vocal critics of the Senate-passed legislation, plans to attend a field hearing of the House Resources Committee in Hamilton, Mont., on Aug. 28.

Conway said the Senate committee's hearings will be different because they do not take aim at any one piece of legislation.

After its monthlong August recess, Congress will have little time to reach compromise.

By early October, the House and Senate tentatively are scheduled to adjourn for the year, although extended "lame duck" sessions could be scheduled after the November election.

"As long as Congress is in session, I'd not say that any legislative idea is completely dead," Conway said. "As long as people are plugging away at it, still working on it, hope is there that some things can get worked out."

Immigration hearing at a glance

• Who: Members of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee

• What: Field hearing to receive testimony from state and local officials, as well as business leaders, about the impact of immigration policy and various proposed reforms.

• When: 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Aug. 30

• Where: City Council Chambers, Aurora Municipal Center, Aurora