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Republicans blast hearing schedule for immigration bill, demand details on cost
Published April 11, 2013
FoxNews.com
Republican senators complained Wednesday that plans to hold just one hearing on a yet-to-be-unveiled immigration overhaul are "unacceptable" -- as they continued to press for more details on how much the legislation could cost taxpayers.
Fox News has learned the proposed bill could be unveiled as early as Thursday. In anticipation of the release, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced his committee will hold a hearing on the legislation April 17.
"A single hearing scheduled so quickly to discuss legislative language that is not yet even available is completely inadequate for senators or the American people to get answers to the many questions a bill of this magnitude will inevitably raise," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a statement. "We could not possibly have a meaningful hearing with a substantive discussion of what will surely be over 1,000 pages of provisions we haven't even yet seen."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., called the hearing schedule "unacceptable."
"We need a committee hearing on every component of reform, including the extraordinary potential costs to taxpayers, the impact on wages and job prospects for the unemployed, and the administration's continued refusal to enforce the laws previously enacted by Congress," he said. "Failure to commit to this kind of open process is tantamount to an admission that the bill is not workable and will not stand up to public scrutiny."
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