Marietta Daily Journal

Isakson: Little chance health bill passes Senate

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-east Cobb) thinks the health care bill that passed the House on Saturday has almost no chance in the Senate because Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has vowed to join a majority Republican filibuster against the measure…

Isakson stressed the importance of the 2010 election.

“The question of 2010 is where our nation is going to go from here. This health care debate will change the America we leave for our grandchildren, so please go out and vote,” Isakson said.

The senator also fielded questions about immigration and the recession.

When asked about his thoughts on reforming immigration laws, Isakson said it should all come down to the U.S.’s employment environment at the time.

“If unemployment is low, immigration should be high because those people will be needed to work jobs here in the country. That’s how my family got into the country at the beginning of the 20th century, because my grandfather came over from Sweden and worked at a time when unemployment was low. But when unemployment is high, like it is now, then the number of immigrants should be low and restricted. There are 43 ways to get into the U.S. as an immigrant, and those people should come to America to do the work that Americans can’t. But with Americans out of work, that doesn’t exist.”

Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren, who attended the luncheon, told the senator that the county police department has developed its own 287(g) report in rebuttal to the report released by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU accused the department of racial profiling and unnecessarily detaining immigrants under the program.

When Warren told the senator he would be sending him the alternate report, Isakson said, “I look forward to it.

“The administration is avoiding the subject, which tells you which way they’re thinking,” he said. “287(g) is about getting illegal immigrants out, and the best enforcement is good education. We need to take away their ability to hide in the shadows.”

Isakson said he believes the war on terror still exists, and that there should be an investigation of the entire financial system, from the federal government to corporate employees.

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