Hearings of Various House and Senate Committees/Subcommittees on Immigration Reform Various House Committees and Subcommittees are scheduled to hold hearings in various locations in July and August 2006. The Senate Judiciary Committee is also scheduled to launch its own hearings on the immigration reform. The Senate Juridicary's hearings will kick off in Washington, D.C. on July 12, Wednesday. Obviously, the Senate Judiciary Committee will focus on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, S. 2611, which the full Senate floor passed. The Senate Committee's hearings are expected to display a duel between the Democrat members that want to keep S. 2611 intact and the Republican members that attempt to amend S.2611 towards accomodation of the House position on border security and immigration enforcement. Various House Committee hearings will be scheduled on July and August at such locations as Laredo, Texas, Yuma, Arizona, and Washington, D.C. It is interesting to note that these hearings will almost totally focus on the House's agenda to focus on border security and immigration enforcement as the locations of hearings suggest. The hearings will focus on such subjects as border vulnerabilities and international terrorism, cost to federal, state, and local governments of an unsecured border, English as official language, DREAM Act, impact of potential law changes on employers, enforcement of immigration laws and its impact on workforce, etc, etc. No one knows whether these hearings will be able to produce any legislative bills which the House and the Senate will agree before the national election in November 2006. Considering the fact that the Democrats and the Republicans in both Houses are so polarized in an attempt to take advantage of the immigration reform for their political gains in the upcoming election, eventually the nation may see the end of passionate political drama without any fruits, at least before the election. The temperature of the heat of the debates may arise all right, but since the debates and the heat will be all orchestrated and poised to their political gains, publicity, and hidden agenda, it is dubious at best whether the immigration reform will be achieved before the election. Indeed, both parties are taking the immigration reform legislation as a critical test that can determine their fates in terms of changes in ruling power in the Presidency and the Congress from Republicans to Democrats. One may say that it is an extremely dangerous gamble to play. The result of the November election will eventually tell the impact of immigration reform conflict on each party. Upcoming dramas in the border cities and the nation's capital may end up with nothing but these political parties' schemes to drum up their agenda and to test the heartbeats of the nation.
