By Guy F. Smith and Robert Costa, USCM Intern
June 19, 2006

Arizona Republican John McCain, in a Saturday June 3 Annual Luncheon Plenary Session, focused on several themes which covered topics including immigration issues, Iraq, federal spending policies, Congressional earmarks, and support for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), among others.

McCain is considered a Presidential candidate in the 2008 race for the White House.

Addressing immigration legislation which passed both the House and the Senate and will now face a reconciliation process in a joint House and Senate conference, McCain said that there is “no one in America that understands the impact of illegal immigration better than mayors,” adding that illegal immigration is both a security concern and evidence of “failed federal policy.”

He stressed two main points, saying that building fences across our border is not the answer. “The answer is a comprehensive approach: first, we have to close our borders. Second, we need to have a viable guest worker program,” he said. McCain promoted a detailed guest worker program with regulations and precise deadlines which give fair advantage to American workers. “If any employer hires some worker illegally, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said.

McCain went on to discuss the issue of illegal immigrants already living in the U.S. He said the answer to the problem was not shipping every one back, adding that it would take more than 200,000 buses to transport them from Seattle to San Diego. Instead, McCain proposed earned citizenship — not amnesty — to relieve the problem. Criminal background checks, required learning of English, paying a $2,000 fine, achieving a green card, and paying taxes are all critical to his plan. “The status quo [of doing nothing] is entirely unsatisfactory.”

McCain added that America is a vibrant nation because “we have a continued infusion of new blood pumping vitality into the nation,” suggesting that without immigration, we would not be where we are today.

On current federal spending policy, McCain said that while mayors have to submit balanced budgets on the local level, the country is facing a “very terrible fiscal crisis” and that Washington is spending money like a "drunken sailor."

In the most recent highway bill passed by Congress and currently being implemented on the national level, McCain noted that the new law contained more than 6,000 earmarked projects and that such pork-barrel spending is wasting American tax dollars.

On Iraq, which McCain said is the most important issue to the American people, McCain said the U.S. policy towards Iraq has included some mistakes, but praised the defense policy in that country. “If we prevail, then we achieve democracy in a part of the world that hasn’t seen it since the creation of the state of Israel,” he continued.

McCain added that there were three ways to achieve success in Iraq: promote economic development, create a functioning government, and train Iraqi citizens to defend themselves.

On other issues, McCain said he supports the 30-year old CDBG program of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a program which the Bush Administration has proposed to eliminate and transfer to the Department of Commerce.

He also said he supports nuclear energy which would reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, and said that France obtains 80 percent of its energy from nuclear power and Russia is currently building 40 new nuclear power plants. He added that the U.S. should look at other alternative energy sources such as wind, ethanol fuel, and solar energy.

Following his remarks, McCain took several questions from mayors.