One on One with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
Friday, June 08, 2007
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SUSIE GHARIB: Joining us now to talk more about the future of the immigration bill, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Mr. Secretary, welcome to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
CARLOS GUTIERREZ, US COMMERCE SECRETARY: Thank you, Susie.
GHARIB: Both Republicans and Democrats are saying it is up to President Bush on whether immigration reform is going to get a second chance. What is President Bush going to do and how active is he going to be in lobbying?
GUTIERREZ: Well, the president has shown a tremendous amount of leadership from the very beginning. And he has been very active and I'm sure he is going to continue to be very active. He's had a number of meetings in the oval office. There's no question that the leadership has come from President Bush and that will continue to happen. We want, of course, the Senate to put the bill back on the floor so that we can get the pending amendments that were not put through by Republicans and then hopefully go to a vote. So we all need to work together in this. We need to make it bipartisan. We all need to work in conjunction. It's the Senate, it's the executive branch. We've got a lot at stake here. This is a very important bill. The country needs this bill. And we are more determined than ever to get that bill back on the floor, very encouraged by what Senator Reid said last night as well as Senator McConnell.
GHARIB: Now one of the stumbling blocks seems to be that some opponents are saying that even if the bill passes, it's not going to solve the structural problems with immigration, whether we're talking about illegal immigration, border enforcement, employee verification. And that you know this system is broken and legislation is not going to change that. What are your thoughts on that, what do you say to those critics?
GUTIERREZ: Well, precisely, the system is broken, that is why we need legislation. And in this new legislation, we have two major objectives. One is national security. And we cannot get real national security the way we want to see it unless we have what's inside this bill. We're talking about major enforcement in the border and very importantly, an employee verification system which will be mandatory. Those tools are not in place today. So we're talking about new laws and new tools that will help us have greater national security. And by having a legal flow of workers, we'll be able to continue to grow our economy. So if we want national security, this is the bill. And if we want to continue growing our economy, this is the bill, this is truly in the national interest.
GHARIB: As you heard in the package that preceded this interview, American businesses especially high-tech companies want to get visas for foreign workers who they say they need so that American businesses can be competitive. And yet they've -- businesses have made so many compromises. Do you think American businesses are going to get what they want out of this bill?
GUTIERREZ: Well, you know we have had, this has been a compromise and everyone's gotten something. No one has received everything they wanted. And that's what a compromise is. But we're increasing the number of hi-b visas. We have dramatically streamlined the process in order to get hi-b's to green cards. We've also increased the number of green cards for businesses as well employment-based green cards and will do so in the future as well. So it may not be as many as they would like, but it's an increase. It's better than the status quo and it's better than what we have today. That's what's important here is that we are all moving forward and we're going to have a better national security situation and a better legal system to be able to continue to grow our economy.
GHARIB: Do you think this bill will pass by the end of the year?
GUTIERREZ: Well, the president has said that, you know, his objective is to have it on his desk to sign in August and we have to do it this year. Next year is a presidential election year. It's not going to be a time to be debating immigration reform. Then after that we're going to have a new president. And we don't know if he or she will put immigration reform in the list of priorities during the first term. So this is a president who wants to get it done. He wants to face up to it. He wants to do the job. He wants to take action. He wants to solve the problem. Now is the time to do it.
GHARIB: Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for coming on our program. We really appreciate it.
GUTIERREZ: Thank you, thank you very much.
GHARIB: My guest tonight, Carlos Gutierrez, U.S. Commerce secretary.
