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Washington Update
March 2001
Subcommittee Shake-Ups
Give Reason for Optimism
By Merrill Smith, LIRS Washington
Representative
The dust has not yet settled enough on the Bush administration's
appointment process to know who will head the refugee bureaus in the departments
of State or Health and Human Services or, for that matter, the Immigration
and Naturalization Service. But we do know something about how things
are shaping up in the following congressional subcommittees important
to refugees and immigrants:
Immigration Subcommittees
In the House, after six tumultuous years, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, was
term-limited out of his leadership and replaced by Republican George W.
Gekas of Pennsylvania's south central 17th District, which includes Harrisburg.
The son of a Greek immigrant, Gekas is played a minor role in softening
some of the harsher family-unity provisions of the anti-immigrant legislation
of 1996. Other subcommittee Republicans, Bill McCollum and Charles Canady,
both of Florida, and Edward Pease, Ind., have left and been replaced by
freshmen Darrell Issa, Calif./48th, Melissa Hart, Pa./4th, and Jeff Flake,
Ariz./1st. The Democrats on the panel remain unchanged.
In the Senate, defeated chair Spencer Abraham will probably
be replaced by Judiciary Committee newcomer Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Brownback
championed legislation last year benefiting battered immigrant women and
victims of trafficking. With particularly strong feelings about religious
persecution abroad, he was the major GOP supporter of the Refugee Protection
Act last session, and the hope is that he will reintroduce it soon. It
is unclear at this time what other changes there will be on the subcommittee,
but there is some indication that Richard Durbin of Illinois may join
the Democrats there as the Senate attempts to balance its evenly divided
members.
Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittees
Our champion Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., was term-limited out of his chair
on the House panel and replaced by Republican Jim Kolbe of Arizona's southeastern
5th District, which includes outer Tucson and Douglas and borders on Mexico.
While his feelings about refugee funding specifically are unclear, Kolbe
supports liberalizing economic migration and is a strong internationalist
on trade issues. Human rights advocate John Porter, R-Ill., is out, and
the ranking minority position has shifted from Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
to Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.
The Senate subcommittee remains largely the same-Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., chair, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking member.
Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice,
State and the Judiciary
In the House, funding for the Commerce, Justice and State departments-including,
hopefully, funding for legal orientation presentations and alternatives
to detention-will be guided by the new subcommittee chair and longtime
human rights supporter, Frank Wolf of Virginia's northern 10th district.
Judd Gregg, R-N.H., remains in charge of the Senate subcommittee. A fiscal
conservative, he may find the efficiencies of our immigration detention
reform agenda appealing.
House Human Rights and International Operations Subcommittee
We are sorry to see human rights activist and refugee champion Chris Smith,
R-N.J., rotate out of leadership but have high hopes that his replacement,
Miami's Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, will carry on his traditions. A Cuban refugee
herself, Republican Ros-Lehtinen has consistently extended her support
for Haitians and as well as other refugees.
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