Texas Senator Hutchison announces Achieve Act
Republicans in the House and Senate are trying to take the next step toward solving the immigration issue.
Retiring Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced yesterday that Senate Republicans are proposing the Achieve Act. The bill focuses on the status of children that have been brought into this country illegally.
“We think the best step that we can take to address an issue that is very timely is to give a legal status that would be earned,” Hutchison told reporters in Washington.
Hutchison says it makes no sense to send children that have been raised in the United States and that have attended school here back to their countries of origin for something that adults did.
“The best thing that we can do to utilize their talents and the education they have received is to give them a legal status,” the Senator explained.
While Hutchison and Senate Republicans have the Achieve Act, House Republicans are set to vote on the STEM Jobs Act this week that would expand visas for science and technology students. Brad Bailey of the Texas Immigration Solution told KTRH that these bills are a good start but they don't solve the immigration problem.
“I’m a glass is half-full type of guy. It’s better that what’s been done since 1986, really,” Bailey told KTRH.
Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak tells KTRH that the bills show the GOP understands they need to connect with the Hispanic community better than they have in the past.
“This is an opportunity for Republicans to be for something on immigration. It’s obviously something of a response to the poor electoral performance they had with Hispanics,” Mackowiak said.
Political analysts expect Congress to fully focus on the immigration problem once they get the fiscal cliff taken care of.
