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Hopes are dimming for passage of Irish E3 visa bill in Congress

Senator Scott Brown seen as lacking clout to get key GOP senators on board

NIALL O'DOWD,

IrishCentral Founder

Published Friday, April 20, 2012, 6:56 AM

Updated Friday, April 20, 2012, 12:22 PM

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Senator Scott Brown

Photo by Google Images

Hopes of passage of an E3 visa bill to help legal Irish immigration are fading as the main Republican sponsor, Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass), seems to be unable to line up enough GOP support.

A leading Republican lobbyist has told IrishCentral that Brown lacks the clout within the Republican caucus to deliver, despite his very best efforts to do so.

“It is not Scott Brown’s fault, but he simply is not able to convince the old bulls in his own party that he needs this piece of legislation,” said the GOP lobbyist.

Fifty three Democrats have signed on to the bill put forward by Senator Charles Schumer which would grant 10,000 work visas a year to qualified Irish, similar to what Australia receives.

Brown has the support of a handful of GOP senators for his version of the same bill but needs far more to guarantee that the bill can pass.
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Efforts to reach a settlement with Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who has held up the bill, have not worked out.

Also Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to use his clout to get the bill through his caucus to date.

Irish activists are now considering another all out pitch at more senior Republicans to get them on board for the bill.

The time frame is considered relatively short for action on it before the election climate hots up.

The Irish government is also working all out to try and secure passage of the bill, believing it is the best that will be on offer for some time.

“It can be done if a few of the veteran senators can be persuaded,” said the GOP lobbyist. "That is how the Australians did it, they got then Senate Majority leader Bill Frist on side, to pass it. The Irish need that type of clout."

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has made clear that he will make every personal effort including phoning key senators to make the bill happen.

Nster.com

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Terry Brennan | Aug 30, 2012, 02:58 AM EDT

I read that some republicans wonder why Ireland should have an immigration advantage when Americans don't have a reciprocal arrangement for working in Ireland and that is why they are not in favor of the E3 visa- The fact is that millions of americans have an entitlement to an Irish passport if they have one Irish grandparent- There is little bureaucracy attached to this so they already have an advantage.

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McNamara31 | Apr 22, 2012, 11:35 AM EDT

"Fifty three Democrats have signed on to the bill" yet "Scott Brown (R-Mass), seems to be unable to line up enough GOP support." Does this surprise anyone here? The GOP considers immigration(or E3 visas)of any kind a dirty word. This was transparent pandering for the Boston Irish vote when in reality Brown knew it would never pass his GOP.

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ciaradexy | Apr 22, 2012, 10:43 AM EDT

George, you get more and more boring, retarded, yet slightly funnier with every post ye crazy old Yank!

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GeorgeDillon | Apr 22, 2012, 09:32 AM EDT

ciarade:"Im not going to pretend that I know anything about nor care about US politics." Ignorance of a topic hasn't prevented you from posting on it up to now. You post on dozens of topics, and you are ignorant on them all. You're an utter fool.

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Curitiba | Apr 21, 2012, 05:57 PM EDT

A government minister was in the paper the other day, begging companies to take on young people, because companies are addicted to cheap foreign labour.

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Curitiba | Apr 21, 2012, 05:55 PM EDT

We have have a saying in England, Bythebay, "I read it in the Sun, so it must be true!". I'll let you guess what that means. Personally, I never believe anything I read in the paper. A lot of stuff is just paid-for advertising masquerading as serious journalism,designed to make people believe there is no recession. Believe me, now is not a good time to come looking for a job in England. It has never been like this, and I have seen at least 2 major recessions in my lifetime.

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ciaradexy | Apr 21, 2012, 02:44 PM EDT

Why should illegals be put before people who go through the legitimate ways to get into a country? Its pretty easy to get into the US. All you need a job offer.

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ciaradexy | Apr 21, 2012, 02:33 PM EDT

Why is my name above the post regarding a pendulum 2 posts down?I didnt post that. Im not going to pretend that I know anything about nor care about US politics!

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ciaradexy | Apr 21, 2012, 10:47 AM EDT

George, Ireland isnt even in the top 30 countries for immigration. get your facts straight! The top 10 for a start, are the US,Russia, Germany,Uk, Ukraine, France, Saudi, Canada,India and Spain.

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BrianO | Apr 21, 2012, 09:52 AM EDT

Remember the goal of articles like this- Get brown out because he is a new republican. The pendulum is swinging back, which means opportunity for individuals to make it on their own may still be alive.

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beaumax99 | Apr 21, 2012, 06:53 AM EDT

It certainly takes alot of energy to maintain such hatred and anger towards Americans. I guess it's ok if you haven't anything more important in your life. I am Irish American and if you do not like it...that is just to bad. You keep your anger and hatred to yourself and let the rest of us live and love life as we see fit.

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GeorgeDillon | Apr 21, 2012, 01:16 AM EDT

Vincem1: "One last wrinkle concerning Irish immigration is that Ireland has practically blocked immigration itself." That's not true. Ireland is full of foreign migrants, the highest rate of immigration in the world. It's just that they discriminate against Americans when it comes to immigration.

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faberm1 | Apr 20, 2012, 10:58 PM EDT

If the Democrats have a majority in favor as stated in this article then why doesn't the bill pass? Another question I never hear addressed here concerns the fact that Ireland discriminates against Americans who wish to go have a hand at working in Ireland. Why should we treat them any different than they treat us? What am I missing here? Irish politicians need to change policies to stop draining Ireland of its wonderfully educated youth. The emigration is senseless.

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hollabackgurl | Apr 20, 2012, 09:03 PM EDT

I don't care what you call yourselves, but don't say you're Irish. You are modern day Nativists bolting the door to the Irish hordes. You're the same crowd, different century, that is all.

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vincem13 | Apr 20, 2012, 08:38 PM EDT

First off, most of my family came to the States LEGALLY during and just after the Potato Famine from Ireland, so I would be very happy to welcome some more of the Irish to this great melting pot. All those griping about the Republicans being so against immigration are just repeating the National Democratic Party/Obama Campaign talking points without really looking at the issue. The fact is that the USA just doesn't have a healthy enough economy or infrastructure to handle an increase in legal immigration- let alone accommodate the illegals. I think it's kind of funny that someone still thinks that the GOP wants to give millionaires a tax-cut. Three problems with that: it's only a tax cut if you decrease the rate of taxation- they're not; almost one half of all legal Americans after all is said and done end up with no federal taxes to pay; oh, and most of the very rich are democrats not republicans. One last wrinkle concerning Irish immigration is that Ireland has practically blocked immigration itself. What was that about "those who live in glass houses..."?

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