Masonry Magazine July 2007 Page. 25
increasing debts with other nations such as China and Japan. Giving up a revenue stream would only increase our international borrowing, he said.
Lou DeBaca, Legislative Attorney, House Judiciary Committee
TO PROVIDE more insight into the immigration debate, particularly about what the Senate was debating during mid-May, the Masonry Legislative Conference organizers invited Lou DeBaca, a legislative attorney with the House Judiciary Committee, to speak to the group. As DeBaca explained, the Senate was trying to develop a viable policy first and they would handle the politics later. A key proposal under consideration, he said, was whether to amend the U.S. immigration system from the typical family-based system used now to a points-based system. The points system, used by many European nations, for example, assigns points to immigration applicants based on education, skills, etc., with higher resulting scores equating to a better chance for a green card.
The practicalities for such a system in the United States are limited, DeBaca said. Family immigration that's not limited to the nuclear family has been a boon to the U.S. economy, he said. DeBaca added that any new immigration law would have to preserve competitiveness in the U.S. job market, not undercut businesses or local workers. "At the end of the day, people are not just dying to get here, they're willing to die for us," he said, as he recalled a story of an illegal immigrant who eventually joined the U.S. military and lost his life in the Iraq War.
Brian Clark, Staff Member for Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
THE DISCUSSION on immigration continued with a legislative aide from Sen. Sam Brownback's office. Brian Clark said the Senate should be working toward a bill that doesn't place the entire burden on U.S. employers for filtering out undocumented workers. Employers are not police officers, he said. The current system, he said, provides more of an incentive for people to come over and work illegally. A better, nationwide system of employment verification, with some form of worksite enforcement policy, would be the ideal compromise, Clark said. "We want to make [the process) as clear for you as we can," he said, because "employers are the economic engine for our country. Politics should be set aside because our country needs the workers."
"MADE IN THE U.S.A.!"
We don't go to the Far East, or the Middle East, or Europe, South America, or any other foreign country to source products. Instead, we go to the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and all the other corners of the United States of America, because we know that American quality cannot be matched anywhere in the world. All of our products are manufactured at our plants in Charlotte, North Carolina & Memphis, Tennessee, or sourced from other American companies.
INNOVATION IN MASONRY CONSTRUCTION