Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Washington in brief

House looks to crack down on illegal immigrants

By wire services
Published December 7, 2005

WASHINGTON - The House is to vote next week on legislation that strengthens border security and requires workplace enforcement of immigration law but does not offer a guest worker program, a goal of President Bush and many in Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who crafted the bill, said he supports a guest worker program, which would provide temporary visas for unskilled labor, including to those currently in the country illegally. But he said that without a clear consensus on what that program would entail, "I believe it is wise to move cautiously."

The committee is expected to vote Thursday on the measure, which also imposes tougher penalties for both smugglers and illegal immigrants. The full House will take up the bill next week, committee aides said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has pledged to consider immigration reform in February.

WASHINGTON - The House is abandoning plans to move in the waning days of this congressional session on major legislation to shore up the financially troubled employer-based pension system, a Republican leader said Tuesday.

Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said there was "really no likelihood" that the House would vote any time soon on a bill to overhaul traditional defined-benefit pension plans.

The Senate last month, on a 97-2 vote, approved its version of the legislation that tightens rules for companies that underfund their pension funds while strengthening the future financial viability of the federal agency that insures pension plans for some 44-million Americans.

WASHINGTON - The Postal Service is in a position not many Americans can claim: debt free. But even a projected surplus won't stop next month's postal rate increase, which the service says is needed to cover a congressionally mandated expense.

Once $11-billion in the red, the post office paid off the remaining $1.8-billion of its debt in 2005, postal chief financial officer Richard Strasser said Tuesday.

It's the first time the Postal Service has been without debt since it was organized from the old post office in the 1970s.

Strasser said the agency's plan for 2006 was for a $1.3-billion surplus, but a requirement that it place $3-billion in escrow is forcing it to raise postal rates on Jan. 8.

The price of a first-class stamp will go from 37 cents to 39 cents and other rates will also rise.

WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders stepped carefully Tuesday around the complicated case of indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, the once and possibly future majority leader trying to clear his name on money laundering charges.

Rep. Roy Blunt, who assumed DeLay's duties when the Texan was charged, told reporters he would not oppose elections early next year for a permanent replacement if the rank and file wanted it. But he said he doesn't believe it will come to that.

"I believe Mr. DeLay's situation will be resolved by then," he said.

[Last modified December 7, 2005, 00:34:15]