The aftermath of President Bush’s proposal for a guest worker program has motivated many lawmakers to take official positions against or in support of the plan.  Political affiliation is not, in this case, dictating how an individual member of Congress feels about Bush’s plan.  However, it seems that many members of Congress have strong feelings one way or the other about the proposal.

There have been a number of positive remarks from lawmakers from both parties.  A handful of key congressional leaders have voiced their full support for the Bush administration’s plan.  House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) has publicly said he will work to get this proposal passed and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is also very supportive of Bush’s efforts.  Only a handful of conservative pundits immediately approved Bush’s proposal, including David Horowitz, Andrew Sullivan and John Podhoretz.

Democratic presidential candidates were quick to refer to similar plans of their own.  Representative Dick Gephardt (D-MO) referred to his own three-year-old plan for “earned legalization,” which would legalize those illegal immigrants who have been good citizens while they have been in the country.  Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) had planned to introduce legislation later this month designed to grant legal status to illegal immigrants who can show that they have been taxpaying US workers for several years, and also to set up a guest worker program for those who do not qualify for earned legalization.  The senators still plan to unveil their bill soon. 

Other lawmakers who support allowing undocumented immigrants to earn legal status criticized Bush’s proposal as insufficient.  Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) expressed his disappointment in the Bush administration’s delayed re-involvement in the immigration debate and said that it falls short of what needs to be done to fix the problem.  Gephardt has said that Bush’s announcement was more of a political move than a solution, agreeing with other Democrats.  Another presidential hopeful, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) released a statement saying that Bush’s proposal coincides too closely with the election year and is three years too late.  

Presidential candidate Howard Dean and Minority Leader Daschle support the earned legalization plan along with the goal of legalizing undocumented workers.  Daschle, however, has expressed concern that wages paid to guest workers might pull down the wages of American workers and that it is critical to offer minimum wage limits to all these workers.

Representative Ciro D. Rodriguez (D-TX), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told the press that he thinks Bush’s proposals are an election-year ploy to court Hispanic voters and may damage US relations with Mexico.  He also said that Bush’s plan would create a population of second-class citizens with no hope of ever achieving the American dream.

Conservative lawmakers are also expressing their apprehension in regard to Bush’s plan.  Although Representative Dana Rohrabacher (D-CA) spoke admiringly of Bush’s idealism, he expressed concerns that the long-term impact on the American people would be very negative.

Spokesmen for Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who heads the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus that strives for tighter controls on immigration, stated that Tancredo feels Bush’s plan is extremely dangerous and is too close to de facto open borders.  Although Tancredo is from one of the state’s major GOP strongholds, he appeared on nearly 25 news programs in the past several days criticizing Bush’s plan for rewarding illegal behavior.  He has repeatedly called the measure an “amnesty” program and said that Bush’s administration obviously cares more about cheap labor and political points over national security.  Tancredo’s press secretary said that he supports putting the military on the Mexican border to solve the problem of immigrants illegally entering the United States.

House majority leader Tom Delay (R-TX) told CNN that he applauds the President for delving into such a difficult and important issue, but that his plan seems to reward illegal behavior.

Despite the vocal criticism from both conservative and liberal lawmakers on Capitol Hill, congressional leadership aides predict that the President might be able to pass his immigration reform proposals this year if he pushes hard for support from moderate lawmakers in both parties.