MicEvHill.Com - Health Care Reform, Appropriations, Refugees, and CIR Dominate Week's Agenda

The attention of the country's political world will be focused on the U.S. House of Representatives this week as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) struggles to assemble the 216 votes that she will need in order to clear an historic health care reform for President Obama's signature. If enacted into law, the measure pending before the House would have serious consequences for immigrants' access to health care.

As if a battle over the enactment of a landmark health care reform with enormous consequences was not enough to keep Washington-based immigration and refugee advocates busy, Congress also this week will turn its attention to refugee matters as it commemorates the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980. Among the refugee-related activities taking place on Capitol Hill this week is a scheduled markup of refugee protection legislation in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; the likely introduction of a major new refugee protection bill by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), the participation of two key Members of Congress in a symposium looking a the history, future, and effectiveness of the United States refugee admissions program; and the participation of key legislators in a symposium on the plight of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons.

Various committees in Congres this week are conducting at least four hearings on immigration- or refugee-related matters, including hearings on the Obama Administration's fiscal year 2011 appropriations request for the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureaus; a hearing in the House Committee on Homeland Security on the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative (SBI); and an oversight hearing on thr Department of Justice, at which Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. is scheduled to testify and at which issues relating to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) could come up.

Finally, tens of thousands are expected to converge on Washington this weekend for a protest march in support of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). The march, which occurs on Sunday, March 21, 2010, comes as official and unofficial Washington is struggling to analyze conflicting and, at times, confusing signals that have emerged from a flurry of meetings held by President Obama last week on the subject of comprehensive immigration reform. At various times last week, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chief Republican sponsor in the Senate of CIR legislation, declared his continued support for CIR; asserted that he favored piecemeal immigration measures; expressed support for an enforcement-first approach to immigration; questioned the sincerity of President Obama on CIR; contended that moderate Democrats and Republicans in Congress were opposed to CIR; and declared CIR dead if, as expected, Democrats use budget reconciliation procedures to enact health care reform legislation. And these assertions were made by the GOP champion of the 111th Congress.

When the dust on the week to come settles, it may well prove to have been a seminal one for immigration, refugees, and the 111th Congress.