WASHINGTON — A last-minute scheduling change for the final-drafting session of immigration reform legislation forced Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills) to dash to the airport as Yom Kippur concluded.
Berman and Feinstein hopped redeye flights back to Washington in order to make a Tuesday-morning conference committee meeting where members of Congress put the final touches on the immigration bill.
House Republican leaders had rescheduled the session from the afternoon to the morning, drawing fire from some Jewish members of the committee.
“That certainly showed a lack of consideration on their part,” Berman said through a spokeswoman.
The pair’s dash proved to be in vain, as GOP lawmakers, who set the rules for the committee, did not allow Democrats to offer any amendments to their proposal.
The measure, which is expected to pass Congress before it adjourns for the election, has angered many Jewish groups for its ban on federal programs to legal immigrants and its imposition of new hurdles for people seeking asylum to enter the United States.
The measure also steps up the enforcement of laws requiring relatives to take more financial responsibility for new immigrant family members they are sponsoring.
Feinstein, who supports the bill’s efforts to combat illegal immigration, was the only Democrat to sign the conference committee’s report.