GCard_Dream
03-21 05:17 PM
I am just wondering if anyone can suggest a good immigration attorney in Arizona. I need to find a good attorney as soon as possible. Thanks in advance for your inputs.
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sukhwinderd
12-10 10:23 AM
lawmakers are so anxious to legalize illegals. they will bring seperate bill to legalize parents.
Macaca
11-01 09:51 AM
Committee of One (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103102559.html?hpid=opinionsbox1) By Robert D. Novak | Washington Post, November 1, 2007
A story told in cloakrooms of the House of Representatives shows how ironic life on Capitol Hill can be. Jim McCrery, the low-key, hardworking ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, has spent all year trying to establish good relations with the tax-writing committee's first Democratic chairman in 12 years, Charles Rangel. He succeeded, only to discover that Rangel does not really run Ways and Means. Nancy Pelosi does.
Rangel, a crafty New York politician, so far looks like the weakest Ways and Means chairman during my 50 years in Washington. That's only because Pelosi so far is the most powerful speaker of the House during that same period, a reality obscured by her historic role as the first woman to hold that office. She does not confer with or defer to standing committee chairmen, whose predecessors made previous speakers dance to their tune.
On both sides of the aisle, the 67-year-old grandmother from San Francisco is referred to as the "Committee of One" who rules the House. Many speakers over the years relied on their majority leader, as Republican Dennis Hastert let Tom DeLay handle day-to-day operations. But not Pelosi, who actually opposed Steny Hoyer's election as majority leader.
Ruling absolutely does not mean all Democrats think she rules well. Her misguided effort to pass a resolution condemning the 1915 Armenian genocide constitutes a rare public blunder, but beyond that she has not crafted a coherent Democratic message. This month's Harris Poll puts her nationwide job disapproval ("fair" or "poor") at 57 percent. But she is an icon at the Democratic grass roots, and none of the committee chairmen who have been downgraded by her -- certainly not Rangel -- utters a word of public criticism.
Rangel's massive tax reform proposal, released last week, gets less respect than is normally accorded to a Ways and Means chairman's plan, because Pelosi is not on board. Rangel's desire to compromise with the Bush administration on international trade agreements has been frustrated because the speaker defers to Rangel's trade subcommittee chairman, Sander Levin, who follows organized labor's protectionist line.
Much the same treatment has been experienced by John Dingell, the senior member of Congress, as Energy and Commerce Committee chairman. In bygone days, Dingell deferred to neither Democratic presidents nor speakers. But Pelosi is determined to pass an energy bill this year even though it means crossing Dingell, who as a Detroiter opposes Californian Pelosi on vehicle mileage and emission standards. A sage old professional, Dingell knows there is no political profit in publicly clashing with Madam Speaker.
No committee chairman wants to take the risk of going public against Pelosi, including one who sought her advice -- and, hopefully, support -- on a controversial matter of House business. This anonymous chairman was rebuffed by the speaker, who declined to talk to him, in person or over the telephone.
Being the "Committee of One" does not mean Pelosi is without lieutenants. She is close to two fellow Californians, both fiercely partisan, who head committees: George Miller (Education and Labor) and Henry Waxman (Oversight and Government Reform). Miller is regarded as her consigliere, always at her side. She is also considered close to moderate chairmen Ike Skelton (Armed Services) and John Spratt (Budget), plus liberal chairman Barney Frank (Financial Services).
That does not mean, however, that she always takes their advice. Witness her big blunder as speaker. Skelton, a seasoned student of international relations, told her the Armenian resolution would antagonize Turkey and thus constituted a foreign policy debacle in the making. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, also opposed it (as he had when serving as President Bill Clinton's political aide). Pelosi insisted until some 45 House Democrats -- including Skelton -- opposed her.
The Armenian episode suggests a Pelosi decision has to approach the brink of disaster before Democrats speak out. Her popularity in the party beyond Capitol Hill is too great. When I asked one esteemed Democratic operative whether Pelosi's authority is without restraint, he called that a sexist question because I never would have asked that about Sam Rayburn or Tip O'Neill. Indeed, I would not have. They were not that powerful.
A story told in cloakrooms of the House of Representatives shows how ironic life on Capitol Hill can be. Jim McCrery, the low-key, hardworking ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, has spent all year trying to establish good relations with the tax-writing committee's first Democratic chairman in 12 years, Charles Rangel. He succeeded, only to discover that Rangel does not really run Ways and Means. Nancy Pelosi does.
Rangel, a crafty New York politician, so far looks like the weakest Ways and Means chairman during my 50 years in Washington. That's only because Pelosi so far is the most powerful speaker of the House during that same period, a reality obscured by her historic role as the first woman to hold that office. She does not confer with or defer to standing committee chairmen, whose predecessors made previous speakers dance to their tune.
On both sides of the aisle, the 67-year-old grandmother from San Francisco is referred to as the "Committee of One" who rules the House. Many speakers over the years relied on their majority leader, as Republican Dennis Hastert let Tom DeLay handle day-to-day operations. But not Pelosi, who actually opposed Steny Hoyer's election as majority leader.
Ruling absolutely does not mean all Democrats think she rules well. Her misguided effort to pass a resolution condemning the 1915 Armenian genocide constitutes a rare public blunder, but beyond that she has not crafted a coherent Democratic message. This month's Harris Poll puts her nationwide job disapproval ("fair" or "poor") at 57 percent. But she is an icon at the Democratic grass roots, and none of the committee chairmen who have been downgraded by her -- certainly not Rangel -- utters a word of public criticism.
Rangel's massive tax reform proposal, released last week, gets less respect than is normally accorded to a Ways and Means chairman's plan, because Pelosi is not on board. Rangel's desire to compromise with the Bush administration on international trade agreements has been frustrated because the speaker defers to Rangel's trade subcommittee chairman, Sander Levin, who follows organized labor's protectionist line.
Much the same treatment has been experienced by John Dingell, the senior member of Congress, as Energy and Commerce Committee chairman. In bygone days, Dingell deferred to neither Democratic presidents nor speakers. But Pelosi is determined to pass an energy bill this year even though it means crossing Dingell, who as a Detroiter opposes Californian Pelosi on vehicle mileage and emission standards. A sage old professional, Dingell knows there is no political profit in publicly clashing with Madam Speaker.
No committee chairman wants to take the risk of going public against Pelosi, including one who sought her advice -- and, hopefully, support -- on a controversial matter of House business. This anonymous chairman was rebuffed by the speaker, who declined to talk to him, in person or over the telephone.
Being the "Committee of One" does not mean Pelosi is without lieutenants. She is close to two fellow Californians, both fiercely partisan, who head committees: George Miller (Education and Labor) and Henry Waxman (Oversight and Government Reform). Miller is regarded as her consigliere, always at her side. She is also considered close to moderate chairmen Ike Skelton (Armed Services) and John Spratt (Budget), plus liberal chairman Barney Frank (Financial Services).
That does not mean, however, that she always takes their advice. Witness her big blunder as speaker. Skelton, a seasoned student of international relations, told her the Armenian resolution would antagonize Turkey and thus constituted a foreign policy debacle in the making. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, also opposed it (as he had when serving as President Bill Clinton's political aide). Pelosi insisted until some 45 House Democrats -- including Skelton -- opposed her.
The Armenian episode suggests a Pelosi decision has to approach the brink of disaster before Democrats speak out. Her popularity in the party beyond Capitol Hill is too great. When I asked one esteemed Democratic operative whether Pelosi's authority is without restraint, he called that a sexist question because I never would have asked that about Sam Rayburn or Tip O'Neill. Indeed, I would not have. They were not that powerful.
2011 Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple),
shiniboy
07-07 05:14 AM
Thank you, I love your site.
more...
jaocanada
07-02 10:52 AM
Hi Gurus,
There was a minor RFE on my wife's I-485 (incomplete form I-1485 - a tick mark was missing) on 18 June. Our lawyer received the RFE and forwarded to us (I am not sure if we also are supposed to receive a copy of the RFE directly from USCIS but we did not). We replied to it and the lawyer sent it to USCIS this week such that it would have been received by USCIS on 1 Jul 09(Wed). I was expecting to see a status change to something like "Response to request for evidence received, and case processing has resumed". However, the case status changed to "Document mailed to applicant".
I am puzzled with this. Does anyone have a similar experience? Any guess what it might be?
Just getting anxious.
Thx
There was a minor RFE on my wife's I-485 (incomplete form I-1485 - a tick mark was missing) on 18 June. Our lawyer received the RFE and forwarded to us (I am not sure if we also are supposed to receive a copy of the RFE directly from USCIS but we did not). We replied to it and the lawyer sent it to USCIS this week such that it would have been received by USCIS on 1 Jul 09(Wed). I was expecting to see a status change to something like "Response to request for evidence received, and case processing has resumed". However, the case status changed to "Document mailed to applicant".
I am puzzled with this. Does anyone have a similar experience? Any guess what it might be?
Just getting anxious.
Thx
indianabacklog
08-01 10:31 AM
Has anyone who filed in June and at NSC recieved any approvals for EAD/AP ?
We see TSC sending all these approvals..!!!
Please post here and we can track'em as they come.
Thanks
Have not received EAD approval for case filed in Texas in May, where are all these approvals from June??????????????
We see TSC sending all these approvals..!!!
Please post here and we can track'em as they come.
Thanks
Have not received EAD approval for case filed in Texas in May, where are all these approvals from June??????????????
more...
sands_14
10-17 11:21 AM
I dont remember the docs,it varies with the country u going to.
But yes,its one and same thing if u travel on OPT or on H1,so no worries.Enjoy your trip!
But yes,its one and same thing if u travel on OPT or on H1,so no worries.Enjoy your trip!
2010 wallpaper golden temple.
eagerr2i
07-18 07:14 PM
Let the EAD expire, it makes more sense to use H1B when you enter the country. EAD and Advance Parole should be avoided and be used only as a last resort in extreme cases beacuse of the way immigration rules are carved.
more...
rahul2009
04-26 04:42 AM
Hi,
I recently received an e-mail from my Lawyers about notification of H-1B Approval Notice (I-797).
My Masters OPT has expired in January 2009. Hence, I enrolled in a degree at a new school to get CPT work permit. My CPT work permit is expiring on 05/09/09.
As my H1-B petition is approved and the change of status has been applied, I came to know that my F-1 status is terminated, when I went to school to get updated I-20, with the new work permit.
What can I do at this moment, to get work permit.
Am I eligible for "Cap-Gap" relief?
Please let me know.
I recently received an e-mail from my Lawyers about notification of H-1B Approval Notice (I-797).
My Masters OPT has expired in January 2009. Hence, I enrolled in a degree at a new school to get CPT work permit. My CPT work permit is expiring on 05/09/09.
As my H1-B petition is approved and the change of status has been applied, I came to know that my F-1 status is terminated, when I went to school to get updated I-20, with the new work permit.
What can I do at this moment, to get work permit.
Am I eligible for "Cap-Gap" relief?
Please let me know.
hair Golden Temple, Amritsar, India
Blog Feeds
06-22 12:50 PM
Well, he didn't exactly use that phrase, but pretty close. Here's how the Washington Post is describing the war of words: The White House and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz), the No. 2 man in the Senate GOP leadership, feuded Monday over immigration policy, as the Arizona senator said that President Obama personally told him the administration will not support stricter border enforcement until Republicans back broad immigration reform. The White House strongly denied the claim. At a town hall in Arizona on Friday, Kyl responded to a voter's question about immigration by detailing a one-on-one meeting he had with Obama....
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2010/06/prez-to-kyl-you-lie.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2010/06/prez-to-kyl-you-lie.html)
more...
waiting_4_gc
07-31 07:02 PM
Hello,
I am going to file my EAD and AP.I have older version of the forms.
But should i use older version or newer version?:confused:
I am going to file my EAD and AP.I have older version of the forms.
But should i use older version or newer version?:confused:
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engineer
10-29 12:10 PM
I am arranging IV WI Chapter Meeting on Fri 11/9 in Brookfield, WI.
Please PM me if you would like to attend. Please spread this message to your friends etc in WI.
Likey Agenda items:
1. Updates from IV Core on various IV activities.
2. Discuss Plans to meet with WI State Representatives and US Senators/
Congressman/woman from WI.
3. Hear issues from each of you and what would you like IV Core to work on.
4. IV awareness campaign. How to spread IV message to local WI scene.
Let me know if you would like to add any other items to agenda.
Thanks,
Please PM me if you would like to attend. Please spread this message to your friends etc in WI.
Likey Agenda items:
1. Updates from IV Core on various IV activities.
2. Discuss Plans to meet with WI State Representatives and US Senators/
Congressman/woman from WI.
3. Hear issues from each of you and what would you like IV Core to work on.
4. IV awareness campaign. How to spread IV message to local WI scene.
Let me know if you would like to add any other items to agenda.
Thanks,
more...
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kirupa
04-11 05:06 PM
Hey vibedesign,
Create and animate the text that you wish to have "wireframed" in Swift 3D. When exporting the SWF, make sure you select the No Fill option. Consequently, make sure you select the Outline option with Entire Mesh or another setting selected! That should export your animation without the fill but with the outlines instead. That will look like a wireframe text effect!
Create and animate the text that you wish to have "wireframed" in Swift 3D. When exporting the SWF, make sure you select the No Fill option. Consequently, make sure you select the Outline option with Entire Mesh or another setting selected! That should export your animation without the fill but with the outlines instead. That will look like a wireframe text effect!
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slither
09-03 02:54 PM
Hi,
I have been working for a non-profit organization and have a H1-B through them. I never applied to the regular commercial H1. I was wondering if I can just transfer this non-profit H1 to a commercial company. Please share your experiences and thoughts.
Thanks
I have been working for a non-profit organization and have a H1-B through them. I never applied to the regular commercial H1. I was wondering if I can just transfer this non-profit H1 to a commercial company. Please share your experiences and thoughts.
Thanks
more...
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Img
07-25 05:32 PM
Guys, applied recently for EAD and its pending and 180 days has not passed. I am planning to open a part time business. Does anyone know if its ok to start a part time business before the EAD gets approved ? Any insights will be appreciated.
Thanks
img
Thanks
img
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wandmaker
10-27 05:14 PM
If you call USCIS 1800 number, and you ask the representative to raise a service request then they email the service center asking for details. Most of the time, personnel from service center will call back with the information that you have requested. If you learn there is a way you can email the service center, please post here.
more...
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Steven-T
February 25th, 2004, 01:52 PM
It's just down the road. Does anyone think they'll give me a tour (on assignment from DPhoto.us) and allow me to photograph the joint with a 1D and 1Ds...
:-)
Rob
I think this is just the assembly plant. Is most of the parts from Taiwan?
I can offer an even exchange of my F2AS and F5 with your 1D and 1Ds. Someone is talking.
Steven
:-)
Rob
I think this is just the assembly plant. Is most of the parts from Taiwan?
I can offer an even exchange of my F2AS and F5 with your 1D and 1Ds. Someone is talking.
Steven
girlfriend Katrina Kaif at Golden Temple
tslee
04-22 11:34 AM
Dear all:
May I ask what I should do in the following situation?
I hold F1 visa and my new job starts on Sept 1. The int'l student office of my current university mistakenly set my OPT start date on May 6. My OPT has been approved and EAD card arrived.
That is, I will have 120-plus "unemployment" days accumulated by early August, which will then violate the "90-day unemployment rule" of OPT.
I am under tremendous pressure and really want to hear your opinions.
Many thanks in advance!
May I ask what I should do in the following situation?
I hold F1 visa and my new job starts on Sept 1. The int'l student office of my current university mistakenly set my OPT start date on May 6. My OPT has been approved and EAD card arrived.
That is, I will have 120-plus "unemployment" days accumulated by early August, which will then violate the "90-day unemployment rule" of OPT.
I am under tremendous pressure and really want to hear your opinions.
Many thanks in advance!
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pappu
05-05 03:37 PM
Gurus,
Is it possible to apply for a Green card for my parents if I am a Green card holder?
Thanks
http://immigrationvoice.org/wiki/index.php/Family_Based_Green_Card
Is it possible to apply for a Green card for my parents if I am a Green card holder?
Thanks
http://immigrationvoice.org/wiki/index.php/Family_Based_Green_Card
Macaca
11-28 07:49 AM
As Lott Leaves the Senate, Compromise Appears to Be a Lost Art (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/27/AR2007112702358.html) By Jonathan Weisman | Washington Post, November 28, 2007; A04
In January, as a dormant Senate chamber entered its fourth hour of inaction and a major ethics bill lay tangled in knots, Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) took to the Senate floor with a plaintive plea.
"Here we are, the sun has set on Thursday. It is a quarter to 6. The sun officially went down at 5:13. We are like bats," the veteran lawmaker lamented to a near-empty chamber. "Hello, it is a quarter to 6. . . . I have called everybody involved. I have been to offices. I have been stirring around, scurrying around. Is there an agenda here?"
The next 10 months appear to have given him the answer. A major overhaul of the nation's immigration laws went down in flames. Just two of a dozen annual spending bills passed Congress, and one of those was vetoed. Repeated efforts to force a course change in Iraq ended in recrimination and stalemate. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) filed 56 motions to break off filibusters to try to complete legislation, a total that is nearing the record of 61 such "cloture motions" in a two-year Congress.
And on Monday, Lott, one of the Senate's consummate dealmakers, called it quits.
"Is he the most frustrated he's ever been? Probably not," said David Hoppe, Lott's longtime chief of staff, now with the lobbying firm Quinn, Gillespie & Associates. "But frustration is cumulative."
Lott's departure from Capitol Hill in the coming weeks after 34 years in Congress -- 16 in the House, 18 in the Senate -- is further evidence that bonhomie and cross-party negotiating are losing their currency, even in the backslapping Senate. With the Senate populated by a record number of former House members, the rules of the Old Boys' Club are giving way to the partisan trench warfare and party-line votes that prevail in the House. States once represented by common-ground dealmakers, including John Breaux (D-La.), David L. Boren (D-Okla.), James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) and Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), are now electing ideological stalwarts, such as David Vitter (R-La.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
"The Senate is predicated on the ability of people being able to work together," said former senator Don Nickles (R-Okla.), who was majority whip for much of Lott's years as majority leader. "I'm not throwing rocks at anybody, but there's just been a lot less of that."
Former majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) agreed: "Senator Lott's resignation means the loss of one of the few Republicans in leadership who often excelled in finding compromise and common ground."
Lott has never been a policy moderate, inclined to reach agreement with Democrats on ideological grounds. But he has almost always been a pragmatist, relishing the art of the deal. Just last month, as he labored to crack a wall of Democratic opposition to the confirmation of U.S. Appeals Judge Leslie H. Southwick, Lott wondered aloud to an aide why he was working so hard for a man he did not really know and for someone who was much more closely allied with Mississippi's other Republican senator, Thad Cochran.
"I said to him, 'You know, it's not that you like Southwick. You just like the process. You want the deal,' and he just smiled," recalled the Lott aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was divulging private deliberations. "It was a game. It was, 'Let me figure out how to get this done.' "
Such dealmakers still wander the Senate's halls: Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah.). And others could arise as a generation schooled in pragmatism -- such as John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) -- heads for the exits next year.
"Just because an individual leaves doesn't mean you're not going to find new centers to structure work in the United States Senate," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff to former majority leader (R-Tenn.). Lott would "be the first to say that no individual is indispensable."
But with the Senate almost dysfunctional, those new power centers are difficult to find.
"The Senate is still a great deliberative body," Nickles said. "But it's a little less congenial and a little too partisan."
Lott made a career out of the art of the deal. In the summer of 1996, after then-Sen. Robert J. Dole resigned to pursue the White House full time, Lott took the reins of a Senate that had ground to a halt as Democrats moved to thwart GOP accomplishments ahead of the presidential election. Lott implored his colleagues to act.
In short order, Congress approved a major overhaul of the nation's welfare laws, cleared a bevy of other bills and cut a deal with the Clinton White House on annual spending bills. After the election, Hoppe recalled, Clinton called Lott to joke that had he not gotten the Senate back on track, the Democrats might well have recaptured a chamber of Congress.
The next year, White House Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin -- both wealthy Wall Street financiers -- sat huddled in Lott's office, as Lott and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) tried to cut a final deal on a balanced budget agreement that included a cut to the capital gains tax rate.
"There they were, two Democrats who had been very successful in business, squaring off with two Republicans who didn't have two nickels to rub together," Hoppe recalled.
They struck a deal: Cut the capital gains rate and create a major federal program to offer health insurance to children of the working poor.
After the 2000 election, which left the Senate deadlocked at 50 seats apiece, Lott again struck a deal that angered many in his party. Although Republicans technically had control of the Senate with the vote of newly elected Vice President Cheney, Lott and Daschle agreed to evenly divide the committees. Moreover, they agreed, if one party won a majority midstream, either through a party switch, a resignation or a death, the other party would agree to relinquish control without a fight.
Lott reasoned that the deadlocked Senate could waste the first months of George W. Bush's fledgling presidency in a process fight, or he could relent early and get to work.
But such deals are getting harder to come by.
On June 7, as Lott absorbed increasingly virulent attacks from conservatives for his support of a bipartisan immigration overhaul, he took to the Senate floor for another appeal.
"This is the time where we are going to see whether we are a Senate anymore," he intoned. "Are we men or mice? Are we going to slither away from this issue and hope for some epiphany to happen? No. Let's legislate. Let's vote."
Three weeks later, the immigration bill fell to a Republican filibuster, and Congress slithered away from the issue.
In January, as a dormant Senate chamber entered its fourth hour of inaction and a major ethics bill lay tangled in knots, Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) took to the Senate floor with a plaintive plea.
"Here we are, the sun has set on Thursday. It is a quarter to 6. The sun officially went down at 5:13. We are like bats," the veteran lawmaker lamented to a near-empty chamber. "Hello, it is a quarter to 6. . . . I have called everybody involved. I have been to offices. I have been stirring around, scurrying around. Is there an agenda here?"
The next 10 months appear to have given him the answer. A major overhaul of the nation's immigration laws went down in flames. Just two of a dozen annual spending bills passed Congress, and one of those was vetoed. Repeated efforts to force a course change in Iraq ended in recrimination and stalemate. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) filed 56 motions to break off filibusters to try to complete legislation, a total that is nearing the record of 61 such "cloture motions" in a two-year Congress.
And on Monday, Lott, one of the Senate's consummate dealmakers, called it quits.
"Is he the most frustrated he's ever been? Probably not," said David Hoppe, Lott's longtime chief of staff, now with the lobbying firm Quinn, Gillespie & Associates. "But frustration is cumulative."
Lott's departure from Capitol Hill in the coming weeks after 34 years in Congress -- 16 in the House, 18 in the Senate -- is further evidence that bonhomie and cross-party negotiating are losing their currency, even in the backslapping Senate. With the Senate populated by a record number of former House members, the rules of the Old Boys' Club are giving way to the partisan trench warfare and party-line votes that prevail in the House. States once represented by common-ground dealmakers, including John Breaux (D-La.), David L. Boren (D-Okla.), James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) and Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), are now electing ideological stalwarts, such as David Vitter (R-La.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
"The Senate is predicated on the ability of people being able to work together," said former senator Don Nickles (R-Okla.), who was majority whip for much of Lott's years as majority leader. "I'm not throwing rocks at anybody, but there's just been a lot less of that."
Former majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) agreed: "Senator Lott's resignation means the loss of one of the few Republicans in leadership who often excelled in finding compromise and common ground."
Lott has never been a policy moderate, inclined to reach agreement with Democrats on ideological grounds. But he has almost always been a pragmatist, relishing the art of the deal. Just last month, as he labored to crack a wall of Democratic opposition to the confirmation of U.S. Appeals Judge Leslie H. Southwick, Lott wondered aloud to an aide why he was working so hard for a man he did not really know and for someone who was much more closely allied with Mississippi's other Republican senator, Thad Cochran.
"I said to him, 'You know, it's not that you like Southwick. You just like the process. You want the deal,' and he just smiled," recalled the Lott aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was divulging private deliberations. "It was a game. It was, 'Let me figure out how to get this done.' "
Such dealmakers still wander the Senate's halls: Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah.). And others could arise as a generation schooled in pragmatism -- such as John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) -- heads for the exits next year.
"Just because an individual leaves doesn't mean you're not going to find new centers to structure work in the United States Senate," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff to former majority leader (R-Tenn.). Lott would "be the first to say that no individual is indispensable."
But with the Senate almost dysfunctional, those new power centers are difficult to find.
"The Senate is still a great deliberative body," Nickles said. "But it's a little less congenial and a little too partisan."
Lott made a career out of the art of the deal. In the summer of 1996, after then-Sen. Robert J. Dole resigned to pursue the White House full time, Lott took the reins of a Senate that had ground to a halt as Democrats moved to thwart GOP accomplishments ahead of the presidential election. Lott implored his colleagues to act.
In short order, Congress approved a major overhaul of the nation's welfare laws, cleared a bevy of other bills and cut a deal with the Clinton White House on annual spending bills. After the election, Hoppe recalled, Clinton called Lott to joke that had he not gotten the Senate back on track, the Democrats might well have recaptured a chamber of Congress.
The next year, White House Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin -- both wealthy Wall Street financiers -- sat huddled in Lott's office, as Lott and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) tried to cut a final deal on a balanced budget agreement that included a cut to the capital gains tax rate.
"There they were, two Democrats who had been very successful in business, squaring off with two Republicans who didn't have two nickels to rub together," Hoppe recalled.
They struck a deal: Cut the capital gains rate and create a major federal program to offer health insurance to children of the working poor.
After the 2000 election, which left the Senate deadlocked at 50 seats apiece, Lott again struck a deal that angered many in his party. Although Republicans technically had control of the Senate with the vote of newly elected Vice President Cheney, Lott and Daschle agreed to evenly divide the committees. Moreover, they agreed, if one party won a majority midstream, either through a party switch, a resignation or a death, the other party would agree to relinquish control without a fight.
Lott reasoned that the deadlocked Senate could waste the first months of George W. Bush's fledgling presidency in a process fight, or he could relent early and get to work.
But such deals are getting harder to come by.
On June 7, as Lott absorbed increasingly virulent attacks from conservatives for his support of a bipartisan immigration overhaul, he took to the Senate floor for another appeal.
"This is the time where we are going to see whether we are a Senate anymore," he intoned. "Are we men or mice? Are we going to slither away from this issue and hope for some epiphany to happen? No. Let's legislate. Let's vote."
Three weeks later, the immigration bill fell to a Republican filibuster, and Congress slithered away from the issue.
keepwalking
05-14 05:55 PM
My priority date will become current on June 1st 2011. I will add my wife to green card process on June 1st 2011 (she is in US in H-4 status now). My I-485 is with Texas processing Center.
If I leave my sponsoring (green card) employer after 3-4 months of getting my green card and join another employer or have my own company, does it affect my wife's green card that may be still in process
If I leave my sponsoring (green card) employer after 3-4 months of getting my green card and join another employer or have my own company, does it affect my wife's green card that may be still in process
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