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All Amendments submitted  to H.R. 4437

FINAL PASSAGE 239-182

The House passed 25 Amendments in all, the vast majority of which strengthened an already good (albeit narrow) bill. With the amendments, this legislation is more sweeping and, if fully implemented, would likely combat illegal immigration more than any bill in history.

Links to all roll call votes are listed below with the results and descriptions of every amendment during the two-day marathon.


NEXT STEPS:

1. The Senate is expected to try to pass its own immigration legislation in February. It will be picking among bi-partisan Senate bills that are .enforcement-only. like H.R. 4437 and also bi-partisan bills that are weak to moderate on enforcement while adding massive guestworker programs and some form of amnesty. (NumbersUSA will soon be mobilizing its 124,000 members to limit Senate action to enforcement.)The President is expected to push the Senate to add some form of non-citizenship amnesty and a guestworker program.

2. The Senate bill and the House.s H.R. 4437 will be put in a Conference Committee of negotiators from both chambers. With heavy participation from the President, they will hammer out some kind of compromise.

3. The compromise Conference bill will go back to both Senate and House for their approval, after which the President will have to sign before the bill becomes law.

4. NumbersUSA will continue to work closely with the Immigration Reform Caucus in the House to ensure that maximum pressure is kept on House leaders to prevent a bad bill from coming out of the joint Conference Committee and to kill any unacceptable bill if it does come back to the House floor.

5. H.R. 4437 contains an amazing number of wonderful provisions, but not all that are needed. Successfully guiding it into law will not be the end of NumbersUSA.s work. We will continue to fight for later legislation that addresses chain migration, birthright citizenship, green card fraud and much else. And we will continue to mobilize citizens to pressure the Bush Administration to stop violating its oath of office and start enforcing immigration laws on the books.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM FRIDAY, DEC. 16, 2005:

VICTORY: Decisive bi-partisan majority of House voted to eliminate the Visa Lottery. This is the first time since 1924 that either chamber of Congress has voted to REDUCE legal immigration. The House came within about 30 votes of killing the lottery in 1996. The Visa Lottery was created in 1990 by Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) and each year picks by random 50,000 foreigners from tens of millions who apply and gives them the right to U.S. citizenship. The system is set up so that it disproportionately gives visas to people from terrorist-sponsoring countries. (See below for futher information)

VICTORY: In passing H.R. 4437 on Friday, the House created a phase-in schedule over several years for all employers to use a proven electronic verification system to check on all new hires to ensure that they have the legal right to work in the U.S. As the jobs in most workplaces dry up, many illegal aliens will become discouraged and voluntarily go back home. This provision was part of the original bill but was modified by the Sensenbrenner/King amendment.

VICTORY: House voted 237-180 to assist local governments and law enforcement in arresting and detaining illegal aliens. This Norwood Amendment includes many parts of his CLEAR Act. (See more below)

VICTORY: Hayworth Amendment withdrawn at last minute. Seeing that he was going to lose a large number of votes from fellow Republicans who support immigration reductions, Rep. Hayworth (R-AZ) spoke for his amendment late this afternoon and then withdrew it before a vote. This was a victory for the torrent of NumbersUSA members who began phoning Congress on Thursday in opposition to the amendment. Although Rep. Hayworth has been a strong champion for the immigration-reduction movement, NumbersUSA stated to its members and to Members on the Hill that his amendment would have been a step backwards. (See vote section below for more explanation)

LOSS: One of the more than 100 filed amendments that was not allowed by the Rules Committee to receive a vote was one to end birthright citizenship for the babies of illegal alien mothers.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THURSDAY, DEC. 15, 2005:

VICTORY: Overwhelming bi-partisan vote approved for major additional security fencing along the Mexican border. Fencing has been designated in sectors that have the highest number of immigrant deaths, instances of drug smuggling and illegal border crossings from the Pacific coast of California to the Gulf of Mexico beaches of Texas. This does not provide fencing for the entire length of the border, but it starts building more fences first where they are most needed.

VICTORY: Friday's Amendments do not include language by Rep. Flake that would have supported an expanded foreign guestworker program. Our allies protested that they would kill the whole bill rather than include that invitation for the Senate to add a guestworker program to this enforcement-only bill. In a showdown with GOP leaders on Thursday afternoon, our allies persuaded the leaders to pull Flake's language out of the Manager's Amendment for Friday. This was a powerful signal to the Senate that it risks killing the whole bill if it sends it back with a guestworker program in it.

LOSS: Under pressure from GOP leadership at the request of the tourism industry, Rep. Gingrey withdrew his amendment that would have closed a giant loophole in the entry/exit system of this country. (See description below)

2. Gohmert Amendment (10 minutes of debate)
SUMMARY: Directs the Inspector General to refer any instances of misconduct or wrongdoing on a contract to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security or other appropriate official for the purpose of evaluating whether or not suspension or debarment of the contractor is warranted.

VOICE VOTE PASSED

Amendment text

4. Renzi Amendment (10 minutes of debate)
SUMMARY: States that all uniforms procured for use by Border Patrol agents are to be made in the United States.

VOICE VOTE PASSED

Amendment text

6. Gingrey Amendment (10 minutes of debate)
SUMMARY: Suspends the visa waiver program – which allows citizens from certain nations to enter the United States as “travelers” for a period of up to 90 days – until: (1) a statutorily-mandated automated entry-exit system is fully-implemented and functional; (2) all nonimmigrants are processed through that system; and, (3) all ports-of-entry have biometric machine readers.

WITHDRAWN

Amendment text

Amendment text

Alien smuggling is a pervasive, multi-billion-dollar threat to our national security as well as to the integrity of laws regulating unlawful presence in the United States. Not only is alien smuggling a crime, it may, aptly, be described as a “gateway” crime as it can lead to much more injurious offenses. Criminal organizations often use illegal aliens smuggled into the United States to undertake higher-risk criminal activities. More insidiously – particularly since September 11 – terrorist and extremist groups wanting to avoid detection at ports-of-entry may use the services of alien smuggling networks.

As such, it is imperative that this repugnant offense be punished accordingly.