Editorial: Politics trumps critical bill

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

It has been eight months now since the House passed a bill addressing half of the illegal immigration issue. It has been three months since the Senate passed a more comprehensive bill. But it is a complete unknown when Republican congressional leaders will arrange for a session to reach a compromise between the two bills.

Congress is now on a five-week break. Another break is coming up in late September that will last through the general election. It is highly unlikely that during the precious little time left to Congress this year, including a lame-duck session after the election, any progress will be made toward an immigration bill.

Honestly, this is an outrage. The immigration issue has engaged millions of people in every state. Congress had a responsibility to pass a thoughtful bill this year, and its Republican leaders are skipping out on their responsibility.

The House bill, passed in December, calls for strict border enforcement. Other than to brand them as criminals, however, the bill leaves up in the air the question of what to do about the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

The Senate bill has an answer. In addition to strengthening the borders it would establish a temporary guest-worker program and provide undocumented immigrants with steps they can take to secure U.S. citizenship.

But the House has decided that more hearings - in addition to those that took place in June and July - are needed on its bill, and so has scheduled 21 of them in 13 states over the next several weeks. We're not the only ones who see these hearings as political grandstanding. "This is more about positioning for the election than about writing a new law," Tom Mann, a political analyst at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told The Denver Post.

The Republicans are taking a chance, however. Their intention is to have a rallying cry that will drive conservatives to the polls. But many people will likely resent the fact that they are using an issue of critical importance to the country as an opportunity to boost their election chances.

We are among those people.