Congress Garners More Criticism on Immigration

Yesterday’s NY Times had an article by Rachel Swarns raising the question of whether Congress’ ongoing cross-country “hearings” on immigration geared toward creating good policy or simply politicking.  She writes that “some Democratic and Republican lawmakers said the schedule of the hearings had only heightened their concerns that the Republican leadership was using immigration as a weapon in the battle over fiercely contested House and Senate seats around the country.”

It will come as no suprise at this point that I view the hearings as completely pointless political theater.  It seems like many of the nation’s governors feel the same.

An op-ed by John S. Broder in today’s Washington Post quotes a couple of Southwestern governors giving vent to their frustration:

Janet Napolitano of Arizona, the Democrat who succeeded Huckabee on Monday as the NGA chairman, echoed his words. “They’re just not getting it done,” she said of Capitol Hill. “Immigration is the biggest issue in my state. A million people are marching in the streets. States are spending hundreds of millions trying to cope with the influx. So they pass two bills, and they won’t even go into a meeting room to put them together. It’s ridiculous!”

And further on:

New Mexico Democrat Bill Richardson said, “Congress has gone from unresponsive to hopeless. On everything from the minimum wage to immigration to energy, they’ve just given up. No one expects anything from them.”

-jmc