By Jude Joffe-Block, KJZZ News for Fronteras
PHOENIX – As the push for comprehensive immigration reform continues in Congress with public hearings, behind the scenes, different interest groups are holding their own negotiations. Business and labor have emerged from talks, and now agree any bill should address the need for better data to guide future visas for immigrant workers.
Late last week the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL CIO released a list of principles they agree on. Among them was the need for better data on demographics and labor markets, and a new federal bureau to brief Congress on that data. It’s a proposal long supported by DC-based think tanks. Ross Eisenbray is the vice president of the Economic Policy Institute.
ROSS EISENBRAY: “The idea that we have been promoting together for many years, of a commission or a bureau of experts in economics and demography that would help determine the flows, the future flows of immigrant and non immigrant workers, is now at the heart of the comprehensive immigration reform debate on capitol hill.”
Meanwhile, immigration related hearings will continue in the House on Tuesday on Border security and agricultural labor.
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