Lawmakers Break Ranks to Steer Aid Bill

Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente) is a liberal former assembly line worker and United Auto Workers representative. His solidly Democratic suburban district is home to many Latino and Asian residents whose families came to Southern California to seek a better life.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) is a conservative if pragmatic former insurance executive and state legislator. His bedrock Republican district encompasses part of sprawling San Bernardino County, where predominantly white residents have settled in search of affordable housing and traditional values.

Torres and Lewis have little in common. But last week both broke ranks with key allies to help steer the $8.6-billion California earthquake aid bill through the House with uncharacteristic swiftness.

Their involvement turned on two potential obstacles to the $8.6-billion measure to assist the Los Angeles region’s recovery and rebuilding: a divisive fight over benefits for illegal immigrants and a time-consuming battle over efforts to pay for the disaster assistance with cuts in other federal programs.

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The first showdown was in the House Appropriations Committee, where Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) pressed an amendment to deny an individual all but emergency medical services when it was “made known” to a federal agency that the applicant was in the country unlawfully.

Many Democrats, particularly Latinos and civil libertarians, found this offensive. Torres was among them.

“Whenever there is a disaster in Mexico City, Bangladesh or elsewhere, Americans are the first ones there and we never say we can’t help these people,” Torres said this week. “You can’t deny people here what we so generously give away from our borders.”

But the Democratic leaders realized that the measure had broad bipartisanship support. Moreover, it could put them in the politically untenable position of defending aid to illegal immigrants in California at a time when the state was asking the rest of the nation to ante up record relief sums.

The Democrats also realized that resolving the issue in the Appropriations Committee, where television cameras and tape recorders are barred, was far preferable to airing it on the House floor before a national audience. There, Democrats feared a harsher amendment would prevail--a concern underscored when the Senate later adopted more restrictive language.

Torres, an Appropriations member, joined Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) in negotiations with Packard and Lewis, another panelist, to strike the word made --with its connotation of third-party finger-pointing--from the made known phrasing of the amendment. If no one reported a person’s legal status, they figured, it would not be asked.

And they spelled out a range of emergency services that illegal immigrants would still receive, including shelter, food, water and medical treatment.

Even this largely symbolic gesture provoked bitter debate. Hispanic Caucus Chairman Jose E. Serrano called it “immigrant bashing” and “mean-spirited.” But when it ran into an initial snag, Torres stood up and reintroduced it. It passed moments later.

By stepping forward, Torres signaled not only the unanimous support of California Democrats on the powerful panel but also divisions within the Hispanic Caucus. He also assured himself of backlash among some immigrants’ rights allies, even if many understood or even supported his action.

“Some people look at this as betrayal,” another California Democrat said. “It was giving ground, whether symbolic or not.”

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Lewis, meanwhile, was the lone Republican who from the start took a lead role in opposing precedent-setting proposals to pay for the emergency aid with budget cuts. Such efforts to keep the federal deficit in check are an article of faith among many Republicans, including most Californians.

But Lewis, whose district was little damaged by the Northridge quake, argued that such offsets could lead to drawn-out negotiations with the Senate over specific reductions and hold up the desperately needed relief.

“It was very gutsy,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), who worked with Lewis. “He kept it from being a massive Republican leadership issue.”

As he lobbied colleagues, Lewis risked reviving criticism in some quarters that he is too accommodating with the Democrats. Some say this contributed to his painful defeat as chairman of the GOP conference in 1992.

“Jerry has always been a guy who plays by the rules that he thinks can be most effective,” a California Republican said. “In many ways, that’s why he’s no longer the conference chair.”