Sen. Pryor: Inclined to Vote for Immigration

Wall Street Journal

By Kristina Peterson and Shelly Banjo

June 13, 2013

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/06/13/sen-pryor-inclined-to-vote-for-immigration-bill/?mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

A key centrist Democrat said Thursday he was leaning toward voting for the Senate immigration bill, suggesting the legislation could carry the support of nearly the entire Democratic caucus.

Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who is up for re-election in his conservative-leaning state next year, said in a brief interview Thursday that his “inclination is to vote for the legislation,” though he cautioned he would want to see how the upcoming weeks of debate over amendments change the underlying bill. Mr. Pryor is one of a handful of red-state Democrats whom immigration supporters have been courting as they seek the needed 60 votes to pass the bill, with many hoping for a bigger show of bipartisan support to put pressure on the GOP-controlled House.

Mr. Pryor, who has split with Democrats over other high-profile issues this year, including gun-control and budget legislation, said the immigration overhaul draws support from many communities in his home state.

“A lot of the business community wants this, a lot of the agricultural community wants this,” he said. “We have people who don’t want this, but by and large most of your employers, they’d like to see this happen.”

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which is based in Bentonville, Ark., in February broadly praised the efforts of the White House and the group of eight senators at the time working on crafting the Senate bill. And last month, it hosted a panel at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington to explore the legislation’s impact on the economy.

“We believe reform will grow and strengthen our communities, our economy and the American workforce,”  Leslie Dach, executive vice president of corporate affairs said in a February statement.

As the country’s largest employer, with more than 1.4 million employees in the U.S., Wal-Mart said it is meeting with lawmakers and groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens to push for more high-skill immigration in areas like engineering and technology, which is important to the retailer as it builds out its e-commerce business. The retailer said increasing the number of H-1B visas the company can offer to high-skilled workers will help it attract much-needed talent. It is also advocating for the widespread adoption of the federal E-Verify system to detect illegal workers, which it says would level the playing field among all retailers and businesses.

Mr. Pryor said he had spent much of last weekend reading the lengthy bill and felt it credibly tackled many of the thorniest immigration issues. He said he plans to introduce border-security amendments, but noted that the legislation “has quite a bit on border security already.”

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