Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 10/1/10

Two senators introduced another immigration reform bill for consideration in the waning weeks of the 111th Congress, although no such legislation is expected to get serious attention before the current Congress is due to disband at the end of the year.

Legislators are currently recessed until after the November elections.  

 
Sens. Robert Menendez (D.-N.J.) and Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 on Wednesday, according to a statement on Leahy’s website.

“The legislation Sen. Menendez and I have introduced is an important starting point for this debate. It protects the rights and opportunities of American workers, while ensuring that American farmers and employers have the help they need. It promotes jobs to help spur our economy, it supports families, it helps to bring undocumented workers out of the shadows, and it enhances our border security. These are goals we can all share,” the statement said, in part.

Menendez is quoted as saying in a statement, "If we can put political grandstanding aside and work together on a comprehensive, middle-of-the-road bill like this one, we can bring all sides to the table. We can finally take action on a problem that has generated a lot of talk over the past decade but few results."

While the new bill found favor with some pro-immigration reform groups --- such as CAUSA, Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Coalition --- ImmigrationWorks USA, a pro-business immigration reform organization, released a statement critical of the proposal, saying, in part, “For a reform bill to work – for employers or for the U.S. economy – it must also provide a way for the workers we’ll need to grow the economy in the future to enter the country legally.”

In any case, Washington observers note that the chances of Congress taking on such a major issue in a lame-duck session between the election and the end of the year are slim.

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