移民法改革提案有望绕过共和党

移民法改革提案有望绕过共和党

WASHINGTON — Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, offered a long-shot option on Thursday to revive the moribund effort to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws that would require the support of more than a dozen House Republicans — and, if nothing else, pressure others to act on an election-year issue that Tea Party-aligned members strongly oppose.

华盛顿——周四，来自纽约州的民主党参议员查尔斯·E·舒默(Charles E. Schumer)提出了一种希望渺茫的选择，以求重启陷入停滞的全面改革移民法的努力。这种选择将需要获得至少十几位共和党众议员的支持，而且最起码还要敦促其他人在一个亲茶党议员强烈反对的选举年议题上有所作为。

The legislative maneuver, known as a discharge petition, would allow supporters of overhauling the nation’s immigration laws to circumvent the Republican majority in the House by bringing the measure directly to the House floor, bypassing the regular committee process. It is a rarely successful tactic, though it was used in 2002 to eventually win passage of a major campaign finance law.

这项立法策略名为“放行请愿”，可以让支持改革美国移民法的人避开由共和党把持的众议院多数党优势，将提案直接拿去全会讨论投票，从而绕过正常的委员会程序。这种战术鲜有成功的先例，不过曾在2002年被用来最终通过了一项重大的竞选资金法案。

Mr. Schumer, who was one of the architects of a broad-based rewriting of immigration laws that passed the Senate in June, accused House Republicans of trying to “sweep this issue under the rug,” and added, “In the next few months you’re going to see increased pressure, and the discharge petition is one such way.”

舒默参与策划了参议院去年6月通过的移民法全面改革提案。他指责共和党众议员试图“将问题扫到地毯下面”，并且宣称，“在接下来的几个月里，你们会看到压力增大，而放行请愿就是增压的一种方式。”

Lawmakers and aides in both parties say that a discharge petition, especially one coming from Mr. Schumer, whose views are strongly opposed by many House conservatives, is unlikely to succeed. Even if all House Democrats supported the measure, it would still require more than a dozen Republican signatures.

两党议员及幕僚均表示，放行请愿不太可能成功，尤其是来自舒默的请愿，因为他的观点遭到众多保守派众议员的强烈反对。就算此举受到全体民主党众议员的支持，仍需至少十几名共和党人的签名。

“This scheme has zero chance of success. A clear majority in the House understands that the massive Senate-passed bill is deeply flawed,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner. “That’s why we will continue to work on step-by-step, common-sense reform.”

“这种伎俩成功的可能性为零。众议院的明显多数认为，参议院通过的议案存在重大瑕疵，”众议院议长约翰·A·博纳(ohn A. Boehner)的发言人迈克尔·斯蒂尔(Michael Steel)说。“正因为如此，我们将继续致力于符合常识的、一步一个脚印的改革。”

Mr. Boehner, who had offered a set of principles to his caucus to try to advance immigration legislation at a recent retreat, all but conceded a week later that the measure was dead this year.

不久前，博纳在休假地向麾下的议员提出了推进移民立法的一套准则。然而，一周后，他却承认，今年通过相关法案的希望已化为泡影。

The Senate bill included a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country, and House Republicans have largely dismissed it as “amnesty.” They prefer to take on the issue in a piecemeal approach through a series of narrower bills.

参议院通过的议案中，包含为已身处美国的1100万非法移民提供入籍途径的内容，而共和党众议员已经基本上将其贬为“大赦”。在移民议题上，他们更为青睐的方式是通过一系列范围较小的提案去零敲碎打。

But Mr. Schumer’s strategy accomplishes an important goal of Democrats and immigration advocates: It keeps the pressure on Mr. Boehner and his fellow Republicans to move forward on at least some sort of an immigration overhaul, and serves as a cudgel for Democrats, especially looking toward the 2016 presidential elections.

不过，舒默的策略达成了民主党人及移民问题倡导人士的重大目标：它保持了施加在博纳及其共和党同侪身上的压力，督促他们多少推进一点移民改革;它还充当了民主党人的一件武器，尤其是着眼于2016年的总统大选。

Even those who would support the discharge petition, or at least the idea of passing broad immigration legislation, privately acknowledge it is more about a tactical political advantage than a viable legislative option.

就连那些可能支持放行请愿，或者至少是支持通过全面移民法改革理念的人，也在私下里承认，提出这种想法多半是为了获得策略上的政治优势，而非将其当作可行的立法选择。

“Discharge petitions are difficult, but when they work, it’s because there’s a clear majority of the body that supports a specific proposal, and in this case, that is true,” Mr. Schumer said. “But I have no illusions that this will be easy in any way.”

“放行请愿殊为不易，但是，它奏效的时候，是因为立法机构的明显多数支持某项提案，而在这件事情上，事实的确如此，”舒默说。“但我不会心存幻想，以为这件事会多么轻松。”

J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois who was speaker the last time a discharge petition succeeded, was critical of the tactic. “I have always been an advocate of regular order,” Hastert said. “Discharges, I believe, lead to poor results.”

放行请愿上次成功，要追溯到来自伊利诺伊州的共和党人J·丹尼斯·哈斯泰特(J. Dennis Hastert)担任众议院议长期间。他本人对此策略持批评态度。“我始终倡导常规程序，”哈斯泰特说。“放行的话，我认为，会导致糟糕的结局。”

Coming on the heels of a “clean” debt ceiling vote this week, which Mr. Boehner put on the House floor on Tuesday knowing it would pass only with a majority of Democratic votes, Mr. Schumer’s suggestion also serves as a test of just how far Mr. Boehner is willing to push his conference and buck outside conservative activists. Mr. Boehner has already, six times in the past 14 months, violated the unofficial House Republican credo that legislation should pass the House only with a majority of the majority, and a discharge could potentially provide him the opportunity to do so on immigration.

本周二，博纳将提高举债上限的“干净”提案诉诸投票，明知它能通过的唯一途径是借助民主党内的多数票。舒默紧随此事提出的建议，同样是对博纳的一种测试，看他究竟愿意在多大程度上来推动麾下的共和党人，来抵挡外围的保守派活动人士。在过去的14个月中，博纳已六次违反共和党在众议院的非正式原则，也就是众议院只应通过拥有多数党中多数人支持的议案。放行请愿或许会给他提供一个在移民问题上再次逆原则行事的机会。

Yet that option remains highly unlikely. Representative Charlie Dent, a Republican moderate from Pennsylvania and a supporter of moving forward on immigration, said a discharge petition has “zero” chance of accumulating the Republican signatures it would need. Even Republicans like him, who favor action, would not sign on to a petition requesting consideration of the Senate-passed bill, because they do not support it on policy grounds.

然而，放行请愿的选项仍是极为不现实的。宾夕法尼亚州的共和党温和派众议员查利·登特(Charlie Dent)支持推进移民改革。他表示，放行请愿攒出所需的共和党人签名数的可能性为“零”。就连他这种倾向于有所行动的共和党人，也不会在要求考虑参议院已通过提案的请愿书上签字，因为他们与这份提案存在政策上的分歧。

During the 16-day government shutdown in October, Democrats circulated a discharge petition to reopen the government — a maneuver that was seen as far more urgent and, in theory, had far more support. But Republicans refused to sign, said Mr. Dent, who led the House Republicans trying to end the shutdown.

去年10月，政府停摆了16天。在此期间，民主党人传阅了一份重开政府的放行请愿书。那个举动被认为比现在要迫切得多，而且在理论上也拥有多得多的支持。然而，在众议院牵头尝试终止关门的登特表示，共和党人当时拒绝签署。

Now, the same Republicans who support action on immigration would not betray Mr. Boehner. “It means you’re putting a thumb in the eye of the speaker, not just in this issue but any issue,” Mr. Dent said. “You’re essentially handing control of the floor to the minority party.”

现在，同样这批提倡在移民问题上有所作为的共和党不会选择背叛博纳。“那样做是戳议长的眼窝子，不光是关系到这一个问题，而是事关全局，”登特说。“你这实际上是把众议院的控制权拱手送给少数党。”

The speaker’s decision this week to put a debt ceiling increase to a vote without preconditions was meant to get past a divisive issue so Republicans could regain their focus on the issues that unite them, especially opposition to President Obama’s health care law. It was “pulling the bandage from the scab and doing it fast,” Mr. Dent said, adding that Republicans were not about to do the same thing with immigration anytime soon.

博纳议长本周决定，将不带前提条件的提高举债上限议案付诸投票。此举意在将一个造成分歧的议题抛诸脑后，以使共和党人重新聚合到团结众人的问题上，尤其是反对奥巴马总统的医保法案。这是“从疮疤上一把扯下绷带，长痛不如短痛，”登特说。他还表示，共和党近期不会在移民问题上如法炮制。