As I was saying …

When U.S. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kyl (R-Ariz.) get together to write legislation, you know things are going to be interesting. And watching the development of the most recent iteration of an immigration reform bill was nothing short of fascinating.

It happened that NRCA's Political Insiders Council—composed of significant contributors to its political action committee, ROOFPAC—was in Washington, D.C., in May on the day a deal was reached on an immigration reform bill in the Senate. Press conferences were called to celebrate the agreement just as talk radio hosts took to the air to deride it.

All the announced—and some of the as-yet unannounced—presidential candidates either took predictable positions or decided to wait for the polls to tell them what to do.

The new bill was developed with the involvement of all sorts of special interest groups and is predictably complicated. Such is the business of legislation by com­promise. If the new bill passes in its current form, we will see immigration quotas increase significantly; a new temporary worker program initiated; much tougher border security; a new electronic system for employer verification; and a path to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented workers currently in the U.S. These are all elements of immigration reform NRCA supports.

However, at the time the press conferences were called, the final legislative language was still being drafted. And key questions remain: How soon will employers be required to use new verification methods? How reliable are the methods? What are the liabilities if an employer unknowingly hires an illegal immigrant? How will the new guest worker program work? How will we address extended family members of current undocumented workers?

It's possible, but unlikely, these questions will be answered soon. It's more likely all the interest groups will come forward to push for amendments that address their particular concerns, and the process will get downright ugly if and when the House passes a bill and a conference committee takes over.

The fact that the bill made it this far is a testament to the process, as frustrating as it often becomes. And it is a testament to hard work, including, not insignificantly, that done by NRCA's Washington office staff. During the course of the many debates on the bill's merits, it was repeatedly noted that ours is a nation of immigrants and denying entry into our country is inconsistent with our best impulses. It is also true that ours is a country that has figured out how to arrive at decisions through compromises. Every once in awhile, it's fun to watch that happen.

Bill Good is NRCA's executive vice president.