The word from Washington is that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D‑MA) is pushing his amnesty/guest worker bill full speed ahead. In this rush to passage, many Republicans — including those supporting some kind of amnesty — complain that they're excluded from the process. And even some of his fellow Democrats, such as Sen. Diane Feinstein (D‑CA), have complained. She prefers a smaller-scale amnesty than the pardon of 10 million or more that Kennedy has envisioned.

The pace toward amnesty — and a guest worker program — slowed not a bit even when former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicted a possible recession before the end of the year. Nor did it slow with reports of growing welfare use and extreme poverty among Americans. The interests of disadvantaged and struggling citizens, evidently, are not on the radar of Sen. Kennedy and all the rest on board his amnesty/guest worker express train.

Indeed, there are some people he has worked with closely, whose concerns he definitely has heeded, in crafting his bill. Among them, reportedly, is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which claims we face a dire shortage of workers in such fields as construction, housing services, and leisure and hospitality. Taking issue with this claim is CNN commentator Lou Dobbs, who observes that wages in these fields would be rising if there truly were a labor shortage. In reality, he notes, “Real wages in the overall construction sector have fallen nearly two percent since the start of the decade and nearly four percent since the recent wage peak in 2003. Construction workers in 2006 were making the same per‑hour salary as they did in 1965 (measured in 1982 dollars). Landscaping workers have also seen real wages fall by four percent since 2001. For the leisure and hospitality sector, workers are making the same per‑hour salary as they did in 1972.”

The Amnesty Express keeps chugging right along. Destination: Low‑wage, overcrowded, balkanized America. Kennedy and company will keep on railroading America until Americans apply the brakes.

Sources: The Washington Times (2/23/07); Congress Daily PM (2/28/07); Associated Press (2/26/07); McClatchy Newspapers (2/22/07); Money News (2/26/07); CNN.com (3/7/07).