林青霞都参加真人秀了，简直不敢相信# TVChinese - 中文电视
H*i
1 楼
大多数人将会强烈要求给一个总结，这里总结写得最好的人之一就是Beijing了。
关于Grassley反对舒默的提案，feishi已经在一个多星期前寄出去的我们的工作汇报中
提到了，的确是专门负责H.R.3012的幕僚写给我们的亲笔信。
格老对H.R.3012的立场经历了如下变化:
(1)Hold H.R.3012
(2)Ammend H.R.3012 (其实hold的目的是为了加进去他自己的条件）
(3)修改提议被拒绝后坚决Hold H.R.3012
(4)现在说只要没有爱尔兰人的条款就可以放弃Hold H.R.3012
Untold Story on H.R. 3012 Lobby and Negotiation Behind the Dark and Thick
Curtain
Our readers have remained in the dark when it comes to the details of events
and activities behind the curtain to lobby for the stalled H.R. 3012 in the
Senate. The National Journal, for the first time, reported today the scenes
and pictures of these activities behind the spotlights of media and public.
Following are the excerps from the National Journal report. For the full
report, readers are advised to read the full text of the National Journal
report. We will cite the relevant part of the report in full in edited
format in Itallic:
CHASING AN EARRING
As soon as the bill left the House, it ran smack into Sen. Chuck Grassley.
The Iowa Republican almost immediately put a hold on the bill, a procedural
maneuver that allows senators to essentially block legislation from being
debated on the floor. At 78, Grassley—a plainspoken conservative with a
penchant for sweater vests—has spent almost half his life in Congress. He
supported President Reagan’s 1986 immigration-reform law, which, by giving
amnesty to undocumented workers and increasing enforcement and sanctions,
was billed as the solution to illegal immigration. Like many Republicans who
supported that law, he now feels he was sold a bill of goods. “You know
what I found out? You reward illegality and you get more of it,” Grassley
said in his Senate office. “So that’s why I can’t be for amnesty again,
or somebody’s going to say, ‘Grassley, can’t you learn from your mistakes
?’ And I can learn from my mistakes.” The Iowan doesn’t object in
principle to removing per-country green-card quotas. Rather, he wants to use
Chaffetz’s bill for his own purposes—to reform the guest-worker visa
system that companies use to bring high-skilled foreign workers into the
country temporarily. The program has problems with fraud: 20 percent of the
so-called H-1B visas issued do not meet the law’s criteria, he said, citing
a 2008 Homeland Security Department report. Slots that are supposed to go
to individuals with specialized training are instead being used as a gateway
for low-skilled workers. “It’s the only immigration bill that’s going to
be around for two years. So if you want to get some reforms, you take every
opportunity you can to take an immigration bill and [fix] other things
wrong with immigration.” —Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, on the Chaffetz
billWith comprehensive immigration reform long dead, Grassley has taken his
fight on visa fraud to the only immigration bill moving this year—H.R. 3012
. He is not the only one looking to add a little something to the bill. Sen.
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, wants to tack on a special visa category for
Irish nationals. Schumer is not Irish, but he represents a lot of Ireland
partisans. He argues that the Irish have been waiting patiently, like
everyone else, for a broad immigration overhaul that would give them more
opportunities to come to the U.S. The European country that sent some 3
million immigrants to America after the 1845 potato famine now feels
slighted for being left out of special visa categories created under free-
trade agreements for others, such as Chile and Singapore. Trying to
determine exactly how the popular Chaffetz proposal got mired in this mess
is like chasing an earring down a sink drain. To sum up:
• Grassley says he is willing to lift his hold on H.R. 3012 if Schumer
backs off his Irish-visa proposal.
• Schumer says that Democrats aren’t the holdup; it’s actually a
Republican, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who shot his mouth off to a
bunch of Irish constituents back home, saying that the Irish-visa bill was
“about to pop.” Massachusetts—where Brown expects a tough reelection
fight—is the hub of the Ireland lobby.
• Brown says he has not placed a hold on the Chaffetz proposal and
supports it in principle. But he also wants the Irish-visa bill to pass, and
he won’t say whether he would block the Chaffetz bill if the Irish measure
doesn’t move with it.
• Grassley, meanwhile, has offered Schumer a chance for an up-or-down
vote on the Irish-visa bill, provided the required skill levels get tweaked
and the special-visa program has an end date. There’s no word yet on
whether Schumer will accept the offer.
And so, H.R. 3012 sits. “It’s the only immigration bill that’s probably
going to be around for two years,” Grassley said, “so if you want to get
some reforms, you take every opportunity you can to take an immigration bill
and [fix] other things that are wrong with immigration.” Grassley’s
tactic is exactly what makes passing small, targeted legislation so tough.
Pretty soon, a simple, six-page bill is loaded down with pet projects that
make it impossible to pass muster. “I’m only adding one thing,” he said.
“Anybody trying to add anything to any other bill, you know what you call
them? U.S. senator—because that’s what the Senate’s all about. No limit
on debate. It’s the deliberating body. Anybody can bring up anything.”
SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM
The slow walk of the Chaffetz bill in the Senate infuriates leaders in the
technology sector, whose companies depend on high-skilled labor. Asked about
the legislation, the president of TechNet, which represents the nation’s
top tech CEOs, sputtered in frustration. “That bill,” Rey Ramsey said
before pausing and starting over. “I’m trying to calm myself, because it’
s just stunning the partisanship and ineffectiveness to be able to move
something that’s so important for the economy.” In February, about 40
senior TechNet executives spent a day on Capitol Hill meeting with Democrats
and Republicans in the House and Senate. They left exasperated. “When you
sum up the CEOs’ sentiments, it was a frustration at fingers being pointed
and not a clear-enough glide path for reso-lution,” Ramsey said. “This is
an unacceptable and unsustainable way to do the country’s business.” In
meeting after meeting, the tech executives heard Democrats and Republicans
blame each other for inaction. In the morning, the group met with about two
dozen Senate Democrats. Before greetings could even be exchanged, according
to one participant, Majority Leader Harry Reid began attacking Republicans
for holding up the Chaffetz bill. Later, Schumer suggested some questions
that the executives should put to Republicans. One did, irritating Sen. John
McCain of Arizona, who accused Democrats of demagoguing the issue at tech
leaders’ afternoon meeting with about a dozen GOP senators. Things didn’t
go much smoother in the House. In a meeting with Republicans, Majority
Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Whip Kevin McCarthy of California hit the
right talking points on high-skilled immigration, but they did little to
convince tech leaders they were serious about reform. “Cantor chimed in and
said, ‘This is an important issue, and there’s bipartisan agreement, and
we want to get something done,’ ” said a tech-industry leader who attended
the meeting. “It was very much a platitude.” In the same meeting,
Chaffetz told the executives to go talk to Grassley. It drove home the
message from lawmakers: It’s not our fault. Talk to the other guy. Tech
leaders don’t understand why House Republicans can’t persuade their Senate
brethren to pass Chaffetz’s bill. “Grassley is holding your damn bill up.
That’s where the CEOs were incredulous,” said another participant in the
House GOP meeting. Their frustration is understandable, but it also speaks
to a major disconnect between Silicon Valley’s agile innovators and a
politically hamstrung Congress that can barely keep the government afloat.
“I love them. They’re my constituents,” said Lofgren of the tech lobby.
“But their idea is that they’ll fly in some CEOs, spend a day, go back to
the valley, and you’ll see them again next year.” These executives,
accustomed to solving problems with the click of a mouse, are strangers in a
land where decisions are years in the making and influence is accumulated
over decades. Tech leaders know they have to do more to engage Washington,
particularly Republicans, who have traditionally enjoyed less political
support from the liberal-leaning Silicon Valley than Democrats. TechNet is
planning a major valley fundraiser for Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky this spring. A major goal of the event will be
pressing the Republican leader to urge Grassley to lift his hold on the
Chaffetz bill. The organization is also talking to former Hewlett-Packard
chief executive and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina about building
stronger relationships with congressional Republicans.
The Report quotes Senator Grassley's position: “It’s the only immigration
bill that’s going to be around for two years. So if you want to get some
reforms, you take every opportunity you can to take an immigration bill and
[fix] other things wrong with immigration.” —Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa,
on the Chaffetz bill"
Hmm.......................................... Readers, you got that? We have
reported all along the complexity of lobbying process for this bill in the
context of another stakeholder legislation, Irish E-3 visa, strongly glued
to the bill in one form or another. Until this logjam is resolved, readers
ain't going to see this House bill on the Senate floor soon.
关于Grassley反对舒默的提案，feishi已经在一个多星期前寄出去的我们的工作汇报中
提到了，的确是专门负责H.R.3012的幕僚写给我们的亲笔信。
格老对H.R.3012的立场经历了如下变化:
(1)Hold H.R.3012
(2)Ammend H.R.3012 (其实hold的目的是为了加进去他自己的条件）
(3)修改提议被拒绝后坚决Hold H.R.3012
(4)现在说只要没有爱尔兰人的条款就可以放弃Hold H.R.3012
Untold Story on H.R. 3012 Lobby and Negotiation Behind the Dark and Thick
Curtain
Our readers have remained in the dark when it comes to the details of events
and activities behind the curtain to lobby for the stalled H.R. 3012 in the
Senate. The National Journal, for the first time, reported today the scenes
and pictures of these activities behind the spotlights of media and public.
Following are the excerps from the National Journal report. For the full
report, readers are advised to read the full text of the National Journal
report. We will cite the relevant part of the report in full in edited
format in Itallic:
CHASING AN EARRING
As soon as the bill left the House, it ran smack into Sen. Chuck Grassley.
The Iowa Republican almost immediately put a hold on the bill, a procedural
maneuver that allows senators to essentially block legislation from being
debated on the floor. At 78, Grassley—a plainspoken conservative with a
penchant for sweater vests—has spent almost half his life in Congress. He
supported President Reagan’s 1986 immigration-reform law, which, by giving
amnesty to undocumented workers and increasing enforcement and sanctions,
was billed as the solution to illegal immigration. Like many Republicans who
supported that law, he now feels he was sold a bill of goods. “You know
what I found out? You reward illegality and you get more of it,” Grassley
said in his Senate office. “So that’s why I can’t be for amnesty again,
or somebody’s going to say, ‘Grassley, can’t you learn from your mistakes
?’ And I can learn from my mistakes.” The Iowan doesn’t object in
principle to removing per-country green-card quotas. Rather, he wants to use
Chaffetz’s bill for his own purposes—to reform the guest-worker visa
system that companies use to bring high-skilled foreign workers into the
country temporarily. The program has problems with fraud: 20 percent of the
so-called H-1B visas issued do not meet the law’s criteria, he said, citing
a 2008 Homeland Security Department report. Slots that are supposed to go
to individuals with specialized training are instead being used as a gateway
for low-skilled workers. “It’s the only immigration bill that’s going to
be around for two years. So if you want to get some reforms, you take every
opportunity you can to take an immigration bill and [fix] other things
wrong with immigration.” —Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, on the Chaffetz
billWith comprehensive immigration reform long dead, Grassley has taken his
fight on visa fraud to the only immigration bill moving this year—H.R. 3012
. He is not the only one looking to add a little something to the bill. Sen.
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, wants to tack on a special visa category for
Irish nationals. Schumer is not Irish, but he represents a lot of Ireland
partisans. He argues that the Irish have been waiting patiently, like
everyone else, for a broad immigration overhaul that would give them more
opportunities to come to the U.S. The European country that sent some 3
million immigrants to America after the 1845 potato famine now feels
slighted for being left out of special visa categories created under free-
trade agreements for others, such as Chile and Singapore. Trying to
determine exactly how the popular Chaffetz proposal got mired in this mess
is like chasing an earring down a sink drain. To sum up:
• Grassley says he is willing to lift his hold on H.R. 3012 if Schumer
backs off his Irish-visa proposal.
• Schumer says that Democrats aren’t the holdup; it’s actually a
Republican, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who shot his mouth off to a
bunch of Irish constituents back home, saying that the Irish-visa bill was
“about to pop.” Massachusetts—where Brown expects a tough reelection
fight—is the hub of the Ireland lobby.
• Brown says he has not placed a hold on the Chaffetz proposal and
supports it in principle. But he also wants the Irish-visa bill to pass, and
he won’t say whether he would block the Chaffetz bill if the Irish measure
doesn’t move with it.
• Grassley, meanwhile, has offered Schumer a chance for an up-or-down
vote on the Irish-visa bill, provided the required skill levels get tweaked
and the special-visa program has an end date. There’s no word yet on
whether Schumer will accept the offer.
And so, H.R. 3012 sits. “It’s the only immigration bill that’s probably
going to be around for two years,” Grassley said, “so if you want to get
some reforms, you take every opportunity you can to take an immigration bill
and [fix] other things that are wrong with immigration.” Grassley’s
tactic is exactly what makes passing small, targeted legislation so tough.
Pretty soon, a simple, six-page bill is loaded down with pet projects that
make it impossible to pass muster. “I’m only adding one thing,” he said.
“Anybody trying to add anything to any other bill, you know what you call
them? U.S. senator—because that’s what the Senate’s all about. No limit
on debate. It’s the deliberating body. Anybody can bring up anything.”
SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM
The slow walk of the Chaffetz bill in the Senate infuriates leaders in the
technology sector, whose companies depend on high-skilled labor. Asked about
the legislation, the president of TechNet, which represents the nation’s
top tech CEOs, sputtered in frustration. “That bill,” Rey Ramsey said
before pausing and starting over. “I’m trying to calm myself, because it’
s just stunning the partisanship and ineffectiveness to be able to move
something that’s so important for the economy.” In February, about 40
senior TechNet executives spent a day on Capitol Hill meeting with Democrats
and Republicans in the House and Senate. They left exasperated. “When you
sum up the CEOs’ sentiments, it was a frustration at fingers being pointed
and not a clear-enough glide path for reso-lution,” Ramsey said. “This is
an unacceptable and unsustainable way to do the country’s business.” In
meeting after meeting, the tech executives heard Democrats and Republicans
blame each other for inaction. In the morning, the group met with about two
dozen Senate Democrats. Before greetings could even be exchanged, according
to one participant, Majority Leader Harry Reid began attacking Republicans
for holding up the Chaffetz bill. Later, Schumer suggested some questions
that the executives should put to Republicans. One did, irritating Sen. John
McCain of Arizona, who accused Democrats of demagoguing the issue at tech
leaders’ afternoon meeting with about a dozen GOP senators. Things didn’t
go much smoother in the House. In a meeting with Republicans, Majority
Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Whip Kevin McCarthy of California hit the
right talking points on high-skilled immigration, but they did little to
convince tech leaders they were serious about reform. “Cantor chimed in and
said, ‘This is an important issue, and there’s bipartisan agreement, and
we want to get something done,’ ” said a tech-industry leader who attended
the meeting. “It was very much a platitude.” In the same meeting,
Chaffetz told the executives to go talk to Grassley. It drove home the
message from lawmakers: It’s not our fault. Talk to the other guy. Tech
leaders don’t understand why House Republicans can’t persuade their Senate
brethren to pass Chaffetz’s bill. “Grassley is holding your damn bill up.
That’s where the CEOs were incredulous,” said another participant in the
House GOP meeting. Their frustration is understandable, but it also speaks
to a major disconnect between Silicon Valley’s agile innovators and a
politically hamstrung Congress that can barely keep the government afloat.
“I love them. They’re my constituents,” said Lofgren of the tech lobby.
“But their idea is that they’ll fly in some CEOs, spend a day, go back to
the valley, and you’ll see them again next year.” These executives,
accustomed to solving problems with the click of a mouse, are strangers in a
land where decisions are years in the making and influence is accumulated
over decades. Tech leaders know they have to do more to engage Washington,
particularly Republicans, who have traditionally enjoyed less political
support from the liberal-leaning Silicon Valley than Democrats. TechNet is
planning a major valley fundraiser for Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky this spring. A major goal of the event will be
pressing the Republican leader to urge Grassley to lift his hold on the
Chaffetz bill. The organization is also talking to former Hewlett-Packard
chief executive and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina about building
stronger relationships with congressional Republicans.
The Report quotes Senator Grassley's position: “It’s the only immigration
bill that’s going to be around for two years. So if you want to get some
reforms, you take every opportunity you can to take an immigration bill and
[fix] other things wrong with immigration.” —Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa,
on the Chaffetz bill"
Hmm.......................................... Readers, you got that? We have
reported all along the complexity of lobbying process for this bill in the
context of another stakeholder legislation, Irish E-3 visa, strongly glued
to the bill in one form or another. Until this logjam is resolved, readers
ain't going to see this House bill on the Senate floor soon.
