MicEvHill.Com - This Week on the Hill

The following hearings are scheduled for this week at which significant immigration- or refugee-related matters are expected to be discussed:

Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations for the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at which it will examine the Obama Administration's fiscal year 2011 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the parent agency of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Testifying at the hearing will be Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm EST on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, in Room SD-124 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security has scheduled a hearing for Thursday, March 11, 2010, at which it will examine the Obama Administration's fiscal year 2011 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau. Testifying at the hearing will be John Morton, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am EST on Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Room 2362-B of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Visa Security and Passenger Pre-Screening. The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism has scheduled a hearing for Thursday, March 11, 2010, at which it will examine "Visa Security and Passenger Pre-Screening Efforts in the Wake of Flight 253," focusing on the roles of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of State in visa security and passenger pre-screening in the aftermath of the Flight 253 incident on Dec. 25, 2009. Scheduled to testify at the hearing are Raymond R. Parmer Jr., Director, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Thomas Winkowski, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DHS; and David T. Donahue, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, Bureau of Consular Affairs.

The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm EST on Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Room 311 of the Cannon House Office Building.

This Week's Conference Activity

Health Care Reform Bill. The House and Senate have each passed differing versions of health care reform legislation that, if enacted into law, would have a significant impact on the ability of both legal immigrants and undocumented aliens to access health care. The White House and the House and Senate Democratic Leadership are in what they hope are the final stages of resolving differences between the two chambers' health care reform bills - a process that they hope to complete within the next several weeks.

With specific regard to the treatment of immigrants in health care reform legislation, reports indicate that the White House, the House Democratic Leadership, and the Senate Democratic Leadership are seeking to enact the Senate-passed bill's immigration-related provisions into law without change. Those provisions, found in the Senate-passed version of H.R. 3590, would exempt persons who are not lawfully present in the United States from the measure's general mandate that virtually everyone living lawfully in the United be covered by a qualified health insurance plan or face tax penalties for failure to comply. They also would make legal immigrants eligible for health care affordability tax credits without regard to a waiting period. And they would bar aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States from using their own funds to purchase health insurance products that are listed in the Health Insurance Exchanges that the bill would create. The Senate-passed bill also would establish a new citizenship and immigration status verification regime, the purpose of which would be to ensure that persons who are not lawfully present in the United States do not receive health insurance products and benefits from which they are barred. The regime would rely on the recently enacted Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization bill's mechanism for verification, subjecting everyone who purchases health insurance through the exchange, who benefits from an exchange plan, or who receive an affordability tax credit to a citizenship and immigration status verification using the new regime.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and pro-immigrant advocates are deeply concerned about two provisions, in particular, in relation to the Senate-passed health care reform bill. First, they oppose the Senate-passed bill's provision that would bar undocumented aliens from using their own funds to purchase health insurance products that are listed in health insurance exchanges. And second, they are upset that the Senate bill does not contain a provision that would allow states to waive the five-year-after-entry-bar to accessing Medicaid that most legal immigrants face under current law.

As the week of March 8, 2010, began, the Democratic leadership in each of the two chambers were involved in intense negotiations with the White House, with their own Members and senators, and with the Democratic Leadership of their respective chambers in an effort to determine both the substantive and procedural way forward. By all reports, White House, House Democratic Leadership, and Senate Democratic Leadership have put together a four-step plan for the plan that the White House, the House Democratic Leadership, and the Senate Democratic Leadership would involve four steps.

First, the House would have to pass the Senate-passed version of the health care reform bill without change, thus clearing that measure for the President's signature. This would be no small feat, given the narrow margin by which the House passed its own health care reform bill last year. Numerous factions in the House are vehemently opposed to portions of the Senate-passed health care reform bill, including about a dozen pro-life Democrats who oppose the measure's abortion provisions and about two dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) in the House, who oppose the Senate bill's immigration provisions. Second, simultaneous with House passage of the Senate-passed health care reform bill, the House and Senate would have to negotiate changes to the Senate-passed measure that are sufficient to win the support of 216 Members of he House of Representatives and 50 Senators, and those changes would have to be packaged together into a separate, budget reconcilation bill. Third, the House would have to pass the budget reconcilation bill, a feat that would require 216 or more votes. And fourth, the Senate would have to pass the budget reconcilation bill, a feat that would require 50 or more votes.

A corps of about a dozen pro-life Democrats in the House, led by Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI), are threatening to oppose both the Senate-passed health care reform bill and the budget reconciliation bill unless they are satisfied with the way the bills deal with abortion. This threat has given these pro-life Democrats enormous leverage as negotiations ensue over the final disposition of the health care reform bill. It was unclear at the time of this writing whether the Congressional Hispanic Caucus would pursue a similar, aggressive strategy to win changes in the immigration- and immigrant-related provisions in the Senate-passed version of the health care reform bill.

Off of the House and Senate Floors

A considerable amount of activity on immigration- and refugee-related matters is taking place this week off of the House and Senate floors and outside of House and Senate hearing rooms. This week's "Off of the Floor" legislative activity includes the following:

Press Conference on the Need for Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and numerous other senators and representatives have scheduled a press conference this week to express support for S. 656, the "Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 2009", and to call for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians in the United States. Among the senators and representatives expected to attend the press conference are Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); and Representatives Michael McMahon (D-NY), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), Erik Paulsen (R-MN), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI), and Luis V. Gutierrez.

The Press conference is scheduled for 1:00 pm EST on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, in Room 1539 of the Longworth House Office Building.

Meeting between "High-Level" White House Officials and Key Advocates for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Yet-to-be-Named "High-Level" White House officials will meet on Thursday, March 11, 2010, with key advocates for comprehensive immigration reform to discuss comprehensive immigration reform. Rumor has it that the President may drop-in on the meeting before it is over.

The meeting has been rescheduled for 12:30 pm EST on Thursday, March 11, 2010.
Meeting between President Obama and Key Senators on Comprehensive Immigration Reform. President Barack Obama has requested a meeting with Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to discuss comprehensive immigration reform. The Oval Office meeting originally was scheduled for 5:30 pm EST on Monday, March 8, 2010. However, flight problems for Senator Graham has caused a delay in the meeting.

At the time of this writing, the Oval Office meeting had been rescheduled for 3:00 pm EST on Thursday, March 11, 2010.
Meeting between President Obama and Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Health Care Reform. President Barack Obama is schedlued to meet with representatives of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Thursday, March 11, 2010, to discuss health care reform.

At the time of this writing, the meeting is scheduled ror 6:20 pm EST on Thursday, March 11, 2010.