In Washington, this past weekend, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and other fellow Democrats, took part in a great moment in the journey for improving millions of lives in America. It was a moment they have been preparing and anticipating – for a very long time, probably since November 2008.
Velazquez and her colleagues believed in the urgency and importance of this goal and made sure to be as outspoken as they could be, to make sure this opportunity will not be missed.
On Saturday, standing in front of 500,000 people, Velazquez called on Congress and the president to pass the immigration reform immediately.
Yes, perhaps the timing wasn’t perfect for the “March for America” rally, the nationwide rally for immigration reform. Not when the health care reform was being voted on in the house.
“We stand here to say to the Republican leadership in the Senate, to the Democrats in the Senate and also in the House, and the President Barack Obama, we want immigration reform now,” Velazquez called Sunday.
Velazquez, with more than 20 Congressional Hispanic Caucus members behind her, has already decided on Thursday, to support the health care bill. The CHC supported the bill, despite the fact that it prohibits illegal immigrants from buying health care from the proposed health exchanges. “The broader impacts of the legislation, override the other concerns,” The CHC statement said.
So maybe, the timing of the rally wasn’t so poor after all.
Congresswoman Velazquez has many different chairs to sit in.
She Chairs the Hispanic Caucus, the Small Business Association and Rep. of New York City’s Congressional District 12. She’s a Democrat-Latina with close ties with the Speaker of the House.
Most of the time, all these roles go together well, but on rare occasions, they can conflict. Generally, immigrants and small businesses, her constituency and her party share congruent interests.
Was it her loyalty to the CHC, SBA, to her constituency? Was it to Pelosi, her party, to America, her career, or all of the above that convinced her to support the controversial overhaul?
As for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Velazquez says its good news after all.
Only a week before the vote, the CHC threatened to derail the health care bill unless changes were made to the bill’s immigration provisions. But Velazquez and the caucus said that the 8.8 million Latinos who will benefit from the reform, are good enough reasons to support it.
“In my home district, it improves options for 324,000 residents, and expands care to 86,000 more,” she said in a statement on Monday.
For Small Businesses, the bill will provide tax credits for up to 249,000 New York small businesses to help make coverage more affordable.
“In my district alone, 33 clinics will see critical improvements, meaning more options for the men and women of Brooklyn, Queens and the Lower East Side,” Velazquez said.
[NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation will issue a statement Friday regarding the reform]
Her constituency doesn’t really care or understand, how their women in DC will vote. And those who are informed -don’t always agree.
In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a sunny Wednesday, a day before the CHC announced they unanimously support the reform, residents and business owners of Congressional District 12 weren’t following closely after Pelosi’s head-count.
Senior Italian residents were strolling, Hispanic school kids were playing in the streets, and Hassid Jews in long black coats were busy unpacking, reorganizing grocery shelves and replacing goods with “Kosher for Passover” products.
They were busy taking care of their small businesses and hardly gave any thought to the Washington thriller
On Grand Avenue, Willferd Ochoa sat in the back room of a small car service office. His cell phone was constantly ringing. Between conversations he said that Velazquez should vote against the bill.
“It has to be for everyone,” he said. “If someone is illegal but he has money to buy it, he should be able to.”
In the 21 years Willfred has been living in the US, he never visited a doctor here. Only when he goes home, to Ecuador, he gets all his check-ups -usually all in one day.
In an accounting office in Bushwick, Refael was also very busy. He had been helping small businesses and immigrants with their accounting papers and legal aid.
“We never know how many, or what kind of changes were made,” he said.
“I support the amnesty, but this is how the system works, you have to respect the law. If you’re illegal – you’re illegal,” Refael said, regarding the illegal immigrants provision.
Last week, Obama embraced a framework for legislation offering a new high-tech identification card for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want a job.
But on Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham who offered the legislation said:
“If the health care bill goes through this weekend, that will, in my view, pretty much kill any chance of immigration reform passing the Senate this year.”
The health care bill passed 219-212, but the immigration reform will probably have to wait.
After clashing recently with another Democrat, Rahm Emanuel, who has been pushing for his own goals,Velazquez stated “he’s always about winning”, she found out you sometimes have to sacrifice to be on the winning side.