Recent Action in the U.S. Congress
The House and Senate Debate Border Security
For nearly four months, the U.S. House and Senate have beenat an impasse over the provisions of broad immigration reform legislation. Abill passed by the House focused on worksite enforcement as well as bordersecurity, while the Senate-approved bill offered citizenship to millions ofillegal immigrants and created a guest worker program favored by PresidentGeorge W. Bush. Instead of holding a conference to resolvedifferences in the two bills, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert announcedthat the authorizing committees would hold immigration hearings around thecountry during August. Subsequently, eight committee chairmen presided over 19hearings in 12 states. The conference has now…
