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China News Digest - US Regional Services (Bo Xiong) --------------- Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 00:35:04 GMT Sender: Newsletter on Chinese Community From: Ifcss Hq Subject: HQ NR #7067: Capitol Hill Lobby Day on Simpson Bill Comments: To: pbs-l@ifcss.org, council-l@ifcss.org Comments: cc: china-nt@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list CCNL Status: RO * * * N E W S R E L E A S E 7067 * * * _________ December 7, 1995 __________ [[[[[[ [[[[[[[[[[ [[[[[[ [[[[[[[ [[[[[[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ ______ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[[[[[[ [[[ [[[[[ [[[[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[[[ [[[[[ ______ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ ____ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[ [[[[ [[[ [[[[ [[[ [[[[[[ [[[[[[ [[[[[[[ [[[[[[[[ [[[[[[[[ &^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^ IFCSS Foundation, Inc. 733 15th Street, NW Suite 440 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 347-0017 Fax: (202) 347-0018 &=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&= Capitol Hill Lobby Day on Simpson Bill The IFCSS joined a team to lobby the Senators' offices today on Simpson's bill S 1394. The team, composed of six representatives from American Immigration Lawyers Association and Ethnic groups, etc. spent a whole day on Capitol Hill, addressing a variety of concerns at five Judiciary Committee Senators' offices. The tour began with Senator Feingold's office at 10:00 am, at a meet- ing with Andrew Kutler, a legislative counsel. The team was informed that the Senator was quite concerned with the issues regarding the points that legal immigration should not be affected. At 11:00 am, the team went to Senator Brown's office, talking with Carlos Retureta, his legislative staff. Carlos expressed he heard a lot from business groups, and Senator Brown of Corolado supported the control of ille- gal immigration which indeed had many problems, but believed that leg- al immigrants, including employment-based immigrants, through approp- riate processes under the current system, should be allowed into the country. Carlos claimed he and his office had got a lot of messages from the constituents and various groups, and was symphathetic to the concerns very well. "How can you make a bill (S 1394) like this!" said Carlos. The team continued at 2:00 pm in the afternoon, to reach Senator Abra- ham's office, meeting with Judiciary Counsel Raymond Kethledge for 45 minutes. Raymond pointed out that the staff level of this and other offices didn't give up making effort to split the bill and make it in- to separate issues. He emphasized that Michigan was not a state of an- ti-immigrants, and the Senator wouldn't go in an opposite direction. Senator was very concerned with setting limit to legal immigrants. He ridiculed himself that he didn't have intelligence to understand how S 1394 got passed in the Subcommittee. Finally he even made the lobby- ists more optimistic, when he was requested to suggest Mr. Abraham to convince another Senator Specter for working together, Raymond promi- sed to stay in touch with us for future coordination. Abraham is from Michigan. At around 3:00pm, Melanie Sabo, a staff of Senator Thurmond (SC) was contacted in a tiny room at Hart Hall. Melanie patiently listened to opinions and views. However, she admitted later on that she wished she could help but the Senator had decided to follow the leadership of Mr. Simpson. The IFCSS President Xing Zheng individually questioned her about her boss' stand on some particular provisions, and she said the Senator would consider the issues related to employment-based immigr- ation for sure. The last visit went to Senator Herbert Kohl of Wisconsin's office at 3:45 pm, and the team met Eileen Hattan, the legislative Aide. As a very smart staff at the meeting, she thought that the S 1394 had been controversial but she questioneed the visitors with many reasonable arguments. Her boss was particularly concerned with prevailing wage issue, and would see how it would be going on with coming amendments regarding the whole legal immigration issue. The visit was positive. The IFCSS representative attended the meetings, and also presented to Senators' aides drafted letters regarding employment-based immi- gration issues with particular requests for striking several provisi- ons in Simpson's amended S 1394. Staffs all promised to convey the messages to their Senators for further considerations. The visit to meet the Hill staffs face to face concluded at about 5:00 pm. It is obvious that the opinions of Senators differ, but clearly there are all concerned with employment-based issue more or less. The more vigorous lobby is needed by any means. While Xing Zheng chatted with Dr. Han Lianchao, the former IFCSS Vice President and current one of Senator Brown's legislative counsels after the lobby, Liaochao believed that Simpson bill could pass but it must be a compromised version, which depended on how vigorously the lobby could mount up and how concerned about and committed to the community members were, to combat the bill. Thanks for your attention, and have a nice weekend! ********************************************************************* * PBS-L is IFCSS's news distribution list for individuals. To sign * * on or off from the list, please send email to listserv@ifcss.org * * leave the subject line open and put in the mail body: * * (For signing on) sub PBS-L last name first name * * (For signing off) unsub PBS-L last name first name * * For more information about IFCSS, write to ifcss-info@ifcss.org * *********************************************************************