Critics of the Senate’s Gang of Eight immigration reform bill say they’re being set up and out-gunned at the first hearing on the legislation set for Monday in which a whopping 20 witnesses have been scheduled to testify.
“Twenty witnesses at one hearing?” said one incredulous top Senate staffer. “Are they trying to make this a circus?”
The lead-off witness: Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers.
No longer an 844-page draft, the bill now has a title according to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In an email sent out late Friday afternoon, the Democrat-led panel said, “NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING TITLE CHANGE: The Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing scheduled for Monday, April 22, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building is now entitled ‘The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744.’
Proponents of the bipartisan bill see it as a way to finally figure out what to do with 11 million illegal immigrants. But the details in the bill are vague. Critics say it leaves it to Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano to write most of the rules and regulations, and there are at least 20 open-ended spending requirements.
The new witness list is not yet on the committee’s website. Here is what they sent to members:
April 19, 2013
NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING TITLE CHANGE
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing scheduled for Monday, April 22, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building is now entitled “The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744.”
By order of the Chairman.
Witness List
Hearing before the
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
On
“The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744”
Monday, April 22, 2013
Hart Senate Office Building, Room 216
10:00 a.m.
Panel I
Arturo Rodriguez
President
United Farm Workers
Keene, CA
Charles Conner
President & CEO
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
Washington, DC
Alyson Eastman
President
Book-Ends Associates
Orwell, VT
Panel II
Megan Smith
Commissioner
Vermont Dept. of Tourism & Marketing
Montpelier, VT
The Honorable Jim Kolbe
Former United States Representative (R-AZ-5)
Washington, DC
Brad Smith
General Counsel and Executive Vice President
Legal and Corporate Affairs
Microsoft
Seattle, WA
Tamar Jacoby
President & CEO
Immigration Works USA
Washington, DC
Professor Ron Hira
Associate Professor of Public Policy
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY
Neeraj Gupta
Chief Executive Officer
Systems In Motion
Newark, CA
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
Washington, DC
Fred Benjamin
Chief Operating Officer
Medicalodges, Inc.
Coffeyville, KS
Panel III
Gaby Pacheco
Immigrant Rights Leader
Director, Bridge Project
Miami, FL
Janet Murgu?a
President and CEO
National Council of La Raza
Washington, DC
Dr. David Fleming
Senior Pastor
Champion Forest Baptist Church
Houston, TX
Mark Krikorian
Executive Director
Center for Immigration Studies
Washington, DC
Laura L. Lichter, Esq.
President
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Denver, CO
Panel IV
Mark Shurtleff
Partner, Troutman Sanders LLP
Former Utah Attorney General
Washington, DC
The Honorable Bill Vidal
Former Mayor of Denver
President and CEO
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver
Denver, CO
Janice L. Kephart
Former Counsel, September 11 Commission
Principal, 911 Security Solutions
Washington, DC
Chris Crane
President
National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118
Of the American Federation of Government Employees
Washington, DC
