Wednesday, April 25, 2012

UPDATE: Janet Napolitano Refuses To Play Blame Game With Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the first Senator at this morning's Judiciary Committee hearing to raise today's Supreme Court oral argument on Arizona's SB1070 illegal immigration enforcement law, and DHS Secretary (and former Arizona Governor) Janet Napolitano refused to play along.

Graham did NOT ask a question about the Arizona law; instead, he wanted to make a point about the failure of the federal government to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  He asked Napolitano whether the Obama Administration had pushed for comprehensive immigration reform in his first year, when he had Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

Napolitano said that there was not an effort, but declined to blame Republicans (or, Democrats who do not support comprehensive reform).  Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) then took the opportunity to remind Graham and viewers that the same Congressional members who had met with then-President George W. Bush and had attempted immigration reform in 2007 met with the Obama Administration in 2009 and had told him that there was no point in even trying.

At yesterday's subcommittee hearing, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) tried to blast the Republicans for not attending and for not participating in efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The video will be posted when available.  The exchange took place at 7:07a.m. (Arizona Time).  The live streaming video can be found here.

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has begun his questioning (7:19a.m.)

We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It seems that Republicans want Immigration reform, but like children are afraid to ask. It is time to stop blaming each other and pass an Immigration Reform. There are 4 million American children who can become orphans in the foster care if Republicans and Democrats cannot find a common sense. The beauty of it all is that we, taxpayers, will have to pay for it all: foster care etc.