Dave Treen

The passing of Dave Treen today is a very sad day for Louisiana.  Governor Treen is the father of the Louisiana Republican Party. He displayed his decency as the Louisiana Governor as no scandals surfaced during his administration.  He carried himself as a gentleman in his personal and professional life.  When running for US Congress against David Vitter, he put his own career on the back burner during the crucial days of the election when his grandson was missing.  He spoke out for his former opponent, Edwin Edwards.  While Governor Treen might have been wrong on this and perhaps other issues, his actions nonetheless showed he possessed a true heart.  Gentlemen like Dave Treen are rare.  He stood for principal.  He changed this state significantly as Governor and as Congressman.  He will be missed.  My heart goes out to his family and to others who have loved him and who have respected him.  Our state was surely graced to have such a fine man serve us with such decency and dignity.

Health Care Bill  
The Democratic House leadership has unveiled its health care bill.  Already, the partisans are hitting the media.  Proponents are praising while opponents are denouncing it.   The legislation is a blending of the three House bills that passed committees and is said to be more moderate that the legislation that have been passed.   The legislation includes a so called "negotiated rate" public option and is expected to provide insurance to 96% of Americans based upon the figures by non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.  Louisiana Congressman Fleming immediately his declared is dislike for the bill.  The Republican issued a statement today in what his office said is his response to the plan for a government takeover of health care introduced by Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats this morning:

“What Speaker Pelosi unveiled today should be called Extreme Makeover: Socializing America’s Health Care.  This plan is nothing more than the blueprint for a government takeover of our health care system and all that comes with it: delayed and denied services, bureaucrats stepping between doctors and patients, increased taxes for all American families, cuts to Medicare services for our seniors and rising unemployment because of the pressures put on our small businesses.
 
Speaker Pelosi claims this bill is a result of listening to Americans.  I believe this bill is turning a deaf ear to the American people, who are firmly against this plan.  We need meaningful health care reform in this country, but this bill is the repackaging of the same bad ideas we have been debating for months and that the citizens of this country are firmly against.  I will stand with the people of the 4th Congressional District of Louisiana and I will not support this legislation.”

Congressman John Fleming represents the 4^th Congressional District of Louisiana and is a member of the House Armed Services and Natural Resources Committees.”  (Italics represent the Fleming press release)

The Illegal Alien Amendment

Aside from claims that that the Vitter-Bennett amendment is playing to the xenophobes in America and playing to the right wing for election purposes, based upon a specific reading of the constitution and the Vitter-Bennett amendment, I believe it is too little, too late. 

Without doubt, the issue of illegal immigration needs to be addressed.  We need to find ways where we can safely open and maintain our borders.  We need to provide for services to those who are in America legally and not to provide to those individually who are in America illegally.  Louisiana might also lose Congressional seats through reapportionment.  However, there is an issue whether this loss is due to the rise in illegal aliens in America or the drop of population in Louisiana over the past ten years.

If we want to count the number of people who are in America so we can determine who is here illegally, there is no other way to do this but to get a baseline number that represents the total number of persons and then to deduct from that number vital information such as social security numbers.    Placing a question about citizenship on the census form will actually scare people away from reporting, thus, we would get an inaccurate count, therefore mitigating the opportunities to determine who is in the country legally.

However, more than anything else, Vitter’s amendment ultimately if taken all the way would be unconstitutional, would cause delay and would be unfruitful.  There is another way to pursue the goal of protecting Louisiana for the future—change the constitution.  It is unfortunate that earlier during this decade we did not address this issue with a constitutional amendment especially after Katrina. 

Section 2 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, adopted after the Civil War, says: "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed."

A strict construction plain reading of this part of the US Constitution says “persons”, not “citizens”.

Vitter’s amendment says, ““To provide that none of the funds made available in this Act may be used for collection of census data that does not include a question regarding status of United States citizenship.”

The stated purpose for the Vitter Amendment would be to prevent Louisiana from being hurt during reapportionment since Vitter and others are alleging that other states with more illegal aliens than Louisiana will benefit from high illegal alien populations than that existing in Louisiana.  Those supporting the Vitter Amendment also argue that if the census included illegal aliens it would result in our losing an absolutely-needed Congressman. 

However, the constitution says that representatives shall be apportioned according to counting the whole number of persons.  The constitution does not limit reapportionment to counting citizens.

If the Vitter Amendment were to pass Congress and allow a line on the census for citizenship, those numbers could not be used as the definitive method to affect reapportionment.  

The only way those citizen census numbers could possibly be used for reapportionment would be by changing the constitution. 

Many of us want to reduce the number of illegal immigrants on the basis of principle and because it takes away the services for citizens and documented individuals present in America. 

While illegal aliens is a “red meat” issue in our world of politics, so is following the law and being prudent.   

It is too late to change the constitution for this year’s census.  It would be wise to take all reasonable measures to combat illegal aliens without using the census as a means this time around.  Perhaps we should start all over and work on a constitutional Amendment if that is the only way to deal with this problem, but we would still be left with the question determining the number of people inside America so we can accurately determine the number of illegal immigrants. Senator Vitter’s amendment that is supported by almost all members of the Louisiana delegation, perhaps for political reasons, perhaps not, is the wrong way to do it.   The current amendment is a waste of time, a waste of money, has no real logical relationship to the purpose for the amendment and is being viewed as a way to get voters.

I think there are more practical ways to go about our business improving this nation than to support legislation that goes nowhere and causes fear, anger, and hatred (even if that is not the intent of the legislation) and does the opposite of the purpose intended.

Our Congressional delegation should work as hard as possible to determine ways to keep and grow businesses in Louisiana.  This will logically increase the number of "persons"  Focus on Louisiana growth and fighting actions such as the proposed FDA ban on raw oysters makes a lot more sense.  It is true, we are getting the raw deal due to the strange confluence of demography, fate and the constitution.  We don’t need to continue get the raw deal on economic prosperity with the practice of clamming up on Louisiana jobs when there are more logical ways to fix another problem.

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