A Weekly e-Newsletter from
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)

May 25, 2007

Dear Friends,                              

The Senate began debate this week on the most critical domestic issue facing our nation: illegal immigration.  Georgians have sent the message loud and clear that they want us to address this problem immediately with solutions that truly secure our borders without granting amnesty or a new pathway to citizenship to the millions who have broken our laws. That is exactly what I am trying to do.

I will reserve judgment on supporting the final bill until the debate is complete, but the proposal that was brought to the Senate floor is far, far better than the bill passed by the Senate last year. This year’s bill would secure our borders first. It would end amnesty. It contains no new pathway to citizenship and would force illegal immigrants to go home before they could be eligible for a green card or for citizenship. It would end chain migration. It would give employers a fraud-proof system to verify whether workers are legal. It would force immigrants to learn English. These are the kind of conservative Georgia principles that we brought to the table and fought for. These are the principles that we will always honor and uphold.

Border Security First

On Tuesday, I spoke on the Senate floor to urge the Senate to commit to securing the U.S. borders as the required first step of any immigration reform.  We’ve had an immigration policy that for the better part of 21 years has been to look the other way and to do nothing about it while millions of illegals float across our southern border. It’s got to come to an end.  If border security is the trigger for immigration reform, the American people for the first time will have an ironclad guarantee that our biggest problem, and that is an insecure border to the south, will be fixed and fixed forever.

During negotiations in crafting the legislation, I have pushed my border security trigger that includes five specific provisions that must be in place before a temporary worker program can begin: (1) Manpower – authorizing a total of 18,000 full-time Border Patrol Agents. (2) Detention beds – authorizing detention facilities with a total of 27,500 detention beds to end the practice of “catch and release.” (3) Barriers – authorize additional barriers such as fences, roads or underground sensors along the entire U.S.-Mexico border. (4)Unmanned Aerial Vehicles -- authorize funds to acquire and maintain a squadron of at least four unmanned aerial vehicles with high-tech sensors and satellite communication to allow coverage on the border by an unmanned vehicle 24 hours a day. (5) Biometrically secure ID – establish a biometric secure identification card program so employers can instantly verify an immigrants’ status.

In addition to border security first, the bill must prohibit any new pathway to U.S. citizenship and must require illegal immigrants to return home and get at the back of the line to apply for citizenship just as everyone must do now.

Funding for Troops in Iraq

On Thursday, the Senate passed legislation to provide funds for American troops without timelines for U.S. troop withdrawals in Iraq by a vote of 80 to 14.  I previously voted against a military spending bill that contained such withdrawal mandates, and that bill was later vetoed by President Bush.  It was absolutely wrong to tie the money to support our troops to arbitrary timetables that have nothing to do with success or failure.  I’m pleased this bill supports our men and women who are deployed in defense of freedom, and gives them everything they deserve and everything they need.

The military spending bill, which provides nearly $103 billion in funding for the war against Islamist terrorists, also includes political and legislative benchmarks for the Iraqi government. The Iraqis must meet the benchmarks outlined in the legislation in order to continue receiving non-military U.S. reconstruction aid. However, President Bush can waive the restriction by providing a detailed explanation for the waiver that describes the actions being taken by the United States to bring the Iraqi government into compliance with the benchmarks.

Georgia’s PeachCare Program

The bill also included $650 million dollars to fix the current funding shortfall for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known in Georgia as PeachCare.  Georgia is one of several states experiencing a funding shortfall in Fiscal Year 2007.  Senator Chambliss and I have been working for months and exploring every opportunity to find a solution to the shortfall that Georgia and many other states face under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. I’m pleased this legislation includes funds to ensure that Georgia’s children do not lose their health insurance. We also must re-authorize the program this year and permanently fix a funding formula that penalizes states such as Georgia that do such a good job providing health insurance for underprivileged children.

Stop Over-Spending Act

This week I signed on to legislation to reduce the federal deficit and reform the federal budget process, the Stop Over-Spending (S.O.S.) Act.  Specifically, the Stop Over-Spending (“S.O.S.”) Act creates a mechanism for the President and Congress to quickly and effectively eliminate wasteful spending, while maintaining Congress’ power of the purse; implements procedures to automatically slow the rate of growth for mandatory programs if Congress fails to meet deficit reduction targets; reinstates statutory caps on discretionary spending; and converts annual budget, appropriations and authorizing budget process from a yearly process into a two-year cycle.  One of the problems we have in Congress with deficit spending is spending money on projects that by anybody’s definition are projects that shouldn’t be funded with tax dollars.  So this is about changing our budget process and setting priorities for spending to become better stewards of the taxpayers’ money.

New VA Clinics Announced for Georgia

On Thursday, Senator Chambliss and I announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to open two new community-based outpatient clinics in Georgia.  The clinics will be located in the city of Stockbridge and Camden County, and will enhance access to VA health care for veterans in the state.  This is outstanding news that Georgia will receive two new VA clinics to deliver to our veterans the level of VA care they deserve. As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, one of my top priorities is to make sure America takes care of the veterans who have dedicated their lives to serving our country.

The VA said it expects both facilities to become operational later this year or in 2008. Local VA officials will keep communities and their veterans informed of milestones in the creation of the new community-based outpatient clinics. These two new facilities will be in addition to the nine VA community-based outpatient clinics that already operate in Georgia. A 10th community-based outpatient clinic is expected to open in Rome later this year.

Improvements in Mine Safety
On Tuesday I participated in a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety to discuss progress in mine safety since the January 2006 explosion at Sage Mine in West Virginia.  We have made great progress over the last year, and we will continue to work towards the day that every miner returns home to the arms of their loved ones safely.  I’m pleased that much has changed since the tragic events of 2006, and I firmly believe the legacy of the Sago tragedy is to follow the lessons we have learned so that future generations of miners do not suffer the same fate. 

Since the passage of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, or MINER Act, more than 10,000 self-contained self-rescue units have been placed in underground mines, and more are expected to be added as soon as they can be manufactured. In addition, miners are being trained and re-trained in the use of the self-contained self-rescue units, which provide respiratory protection for persons escaping or evacuating mines.  Government and private sector research on these and a host of other safety technologies is continuing at an unprecedented pace.  Mines have also installed new “lifelines” in their escape ways so miners can find their way out of the mine even in darkness. Dozens of coal mines have implemented new state-of-the-art systems to track miners while underground and to provide better communication in the wake of an accident. New mine rescue teams have been added in more than 30 of the nation’s underground mines with more on the way. I am particularly impressed with the advances toward a new self-contained self-rescue unit that allows a miner to switch to a secondary supply of breathable air without removing the mouthpiece from his original supply of oxygen.   

What’s on Tap for Next Week?

Next week, the Senate will recess for the observance of Memorial Day. 

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson