A few details on S.A.V.E. and the Discharge Petition

Below we posted a commentary from Politico's The Crypt that responds to the magazine's article on the S.A.V.E. Act.

The media continues to avoid publishing anything on H.B. 4088

One thing lacking in this comment is compassion.

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A discharge petition circumvents the legislative process by "discharging" the bill from the committee with jurisdiction and preventing amendments. This is a back-door approach to legislating that undermines the democratic process and shortchanges the public. Instead of systematically addressing the problems in the broken immigration system, the SAVE Act throws more money at the border, mandates use of a flawed employer verification system, and spends more taxpayer dollars on prosecuting and removing needed workers. It simply pushes the much bigger problems under the rug. Not ONCE in this entire argument has ANYONE (Congress Members, Editorial writers, etc) given some serious thought and argument to THE ROOT CAUSES of why immigrants come to the U.S. in the first place: unfair, unethical trade agreements that force down the price of the only goods that they used to survive in the first place, and leave them without jobs or means to provide for their family. If you want to address the immigration issues in this country, you need to start taking a good look at the very legislation that this country enacts and that the president signs into law that causes immigrants to come here in the first place. Is is really a coincidence that the past 15 years have seen a stead increase of immigrants? (NAFTA was enacted in 1994).

Posted By: MMD | March 12, 2008 at 06:56 PM

for link to this comment click the title of this post

Just a note about Rep. Thelma Drake and the S.A.V.E. ACT

This announcement was released several weeks ago. I realize it is out of date, however, since so little is being circulated about the S.A.V.E. act, I thought it wise to post anything I could find.

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drake.house.gov

Thelma Drake
Contact: Travis Burk (202) 225-4215


Drake urges Congress to act on Illegal Immigration


Washington, Mar 14 -

U.S. Representative Thelma Drake (R-Va.) today called on Congress to join her and 180 of her colleagues in bringing the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act to the House floor for a vote. The bipartisan measure was introduced last year by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), though it has been stalled in eight different House Committees awaiting further consideration. In an effort to take action on this important national security issue, Drake introduced a discharge petition this week to move the SAVE Act forward in the House.

“I find it hard to believe that of the 48 Democrats who were original cosponsors of the SAVE Act, only 8 have signed the discharge petition,” Drake said. “Everyone calls for something to be done, but when it comes down to it, I think the signatures on this petition clearly demonstrate who is really serious about securing our borders.”

“The safety and security of American citizens is important to both Democrats and Republicans alike, and I am very proud to be working with Rep. Shuler to bring the SAVE Act to the floor for debate.”

The discharge petition needs 37 more signatures before it may be called to the House floor for consideration.

for link to this announcement click the title of this post

Discharge Petition on HB 4088

C-Span's definition of "Discharge Petition:" starts a process to force a bill out of committee. A successful petition requires the signatures of 218 members, which is a majority of the House.

The bill 4088 is very similar to the bill presented by the House of Representatives in early 2006. As mentioned before on this blog - the media seems to have made a pact with the devil - they are leaving the news about 4088 under the table.

Hopefully, the people involved with 4088 are pushing the bill so that they can seem tough to their anti-immigrant constituents - they might be thinking its the only hope they have when November comes - since it is clear that the GOP will be going down the tubes (at least for a while).

The list below is that of Representatives who signed the petition on 4088 (s.a.v.e. bill)

Is your favorite Representative on this list? If so, you might want to question how they view humanity - if they are supporting (and endorsing) HB4088 they are wanting something very harsh to come down on the U.S. See dreamacttexas posts "The Gravity of HB4088" from March 19, 2008 and "Explaining the S.A.V.E. Act (HB 4088) from March 13, 2008.

Discharge Petition on HB 4088 signed by the following Members:

Thelma D. Drake, Brian P. Bilbray, Lynn A. Westmoreland, Tom Davis, Bill Shuster, Jo Bonner, Peter J. Roskam, Mike Pence, Roy Blunt, Charles W. Dent, Mac Thornberry. Jeff Miller, Terry Everett. Thomas G. Tancredo, Heath Shuler, Ginny Brown-Waite, Steve Buyer, Eric Cantor, Michael C. Burgess, Virginia Foxx, Gus M. Bilirakis, Jeb Hensarling, Joe Wilson, Jean Schmidt, Jim Gerlach, David Davis, Paul C. Broun, Gene Taylor, Tim Walberg, John Campbell, Mike Ferguson, Dean Heller, Thaddeus G. McCotter, Ted Poe, Kevin Brady, Darrell E. Issa, Charles W. Boustany, Jr., Rodney Alexander, Michael R. Turner, Todd Russell Platts, Phil English, Tom Cole, Frank R. Wolf, Edward R. Royce, Mary Fallin, Randy Neugebauer, Marilyn N. Musgrave, Candice S. Miller, Mary Bono Mack, Connie Mack, Jim Jordan, John Abney Culberson, J. Randy Forbes, John Kline, Steve King, Bob Inglis, Joe Knollenberg, Jim Saxton, Peter Hoekstra, Brad Ellsworth, F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Ron Lewis, Jerry Weller, Kay Granger, Patrick T. McHenry, K. Michael Conaway, Walter B. Jones, Jo Ann Emerson, Michele Bachmann, J. Gresham Barrett, Ray LaHood, John Barrow, Lee Terry, Dana Rohrabacher, Harold Rogers, John J. Duncan, Jr., John B. Shadegg, Daniel E. Lun- gren, Nick Lampson, Joseph R. Pitts, Sue Wilkins Myrick, Barbara Cubin, Geoff Davis, Robin Hayes, Christopher H. Smith, Virgil H. Goode, Jr., Henry E. Brown, Jr., Mark Steven Kirk, Lamar Smith, Ken Calvert, Bob Goodlatte, Christopher Shays, Judy Biggert, Todd Tiahrt, Nathan Deal, Michael N. Castle, Robert E. Latta, Ric Keller, David G. Reichert, Kenny Marchant, Jim McCrery, Robert J. Wittman, John Boozman, John R. Carter, Donald A. Manzullo, Sam Graves, Ander Crenshaw, Doug Lamborn, Scott Garrett, Tom Feeney, Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, Cliff Stearns, Paul Ryan, Dave Weldon, Tim Murphy, Kenny C. Hulshof, Jack Kingston, Steven C. LaTourette, Marsha Blackburn, Mike McIntyre, Dan Burton, Duncan Hunter, Nancy E. Boyda. Michael T. McCaul, Greg Walden, Jerry Lewis, David Dreier, Trent Franks, Heather Wilson, Rick Renzi, Jeff Fortenberry, Phil Gingrey, Pete Sessions, John Sullivan, W. Todd Akin, Zach Wamp, Tom Price, John Linder, Adrian Smith, Kevin McCarthy, John L. Mica, John A. Boehner, Frank D. Lucas, Jerry Moran, Ed Whitfield, Adam H. Putnam, Howard Coble, Gary G. Miller, Roscoe G. Bartlett, Louie Gohmert, Dave Camp, C. W. Bill Young, Wayne T. Gilchrest, Elton Gallegly, Ralph M. Hall, John E. Peterson, Peter T. King, Thomas E. Petri. Sam Johnson, Steve Chabot, Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, John T. Doolittle. Stevan Pearce, Vern Buchanan, Wally Herger, Chris Cannon, Rob Bishop, John Shimkus, Mike Pence, Robert B. Aderholt, Michael K. Simpson, Ralph Regula, Jim Ramstad, Jon C. Porter. Dennis R. Rehberg, Tom Latham. Spencer Bachus, Joe Barton, Joe Donnelly, Christopher P. Carney. and Jeff Flake.

click title of this post for link to Thomas Report on 4088