John Edwards for President-Edwards makes post-debate campaign stop

Edwards makes post-debate campaign stop

Jun 9, 2007 6:53 AM

Kevin Landrigan
Nashua Telegraph
Jun 9, 2007

NASHUA – Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said the federal immigration reform bill made it too difficult for the nation’s undocumented aliens to become citizens.

“I happen to think we shouldn’t have millions of people living in this country as second-class citizens. I don’t think that’s right,” Edwards said during a town hall-style forum at Amherst Street Elementary School on Friday.

Edwards later told reporters he objected to the length of time – eight to 13 years – it would take the 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens and the requirement that many men would have to return to their native country for a time before coming back to the U.S.

“I’m not for amnesty, but I am for earned citizenship.”

The bill effectively died in the Senate late Thursday when opponents from both political parties blocked a move, 50-45, to end debate.

Edwards said he did like those parts of the bill that cracked down on employers who hired aliens and took steps to secure the borders by completing a fence along Mexico and hiring more border patrol agents.

The visit made Edwards the first Democratic hopeful to return here since the televised debate at Saint Anselm College on Sunday night.

Since the 2008 campaign began, Edwards has made more trips, 17, to the first-primary state than any other Democratic rival. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate, has made 20 trips, the most of anyone running for president.

During this visit, Edwards stressed his campaign to improve the lives of low-income families, timed just after release of his book, “Ending Poverty in America.’’

The book features essays from educators, politicians, economists and human service professionals.

Edwards said his mandate that all Americans obtain health insurance would be a giant step toward helping the 37 million Americans who live below the poverty level.

His plan would require employers to offer coverage or pay into a government fund that would supply insurance. He’d pay for the $90 billion price tag by raising taxes on Americans making more than $200,000 a year.

A mandate is the only way to ensure universal coverage, Edwards told reporters after a forum at a Derry bookstore.

He praised primary rival Barack Obama for offering a plan but said the New Republic, an online magazine, concluded that without a mandate, Obama would still leave without coverage 15 million of the 47 million who are now uninsured.

“If you want universal coverage for everyone, you have to make it law,” Edwards insisted.

To make the country more energy independent, Edwards would create a cap on the emissions of carbon dioxide that leads to greenhouse gases, and that cap would be lowered every year.

His goal would be to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and to raise the mandatory fuel mileage rating for cars sold in America to 40 miles a gallon by 2016.

Democratic rival Chris Dodd has proposed a tax on carbon emissions to encourage polluters to invest in alternative energies, but Edwards said that’s not necessary to bring about systemic change.

Energy conversion would create one million good-paying jobs in the U.S., Edwards said.

“America has no credibility in dealing with global warming, because we are the worst user on the planet. We have 4 percent of the world’s resources, and we produce 25 percent of its pollution,” Edwards said.

European and Asian countries would follow suit, and the search for renewable energy would lead to economic growth in Africa, because it has the most undeveloped land in the world.

“I think one of the mistakes we have made in past elections is to think of these issues in boxes: the energy box, the jobs box, the fighting poverty box. They are all connected,” Edwards said.

He would oppose construction of any coal-burning plants until the discovery of technology to reduce carbon emissions and also said he’s against nuclear power.

“We need to solve this problem now, and we haven’t built a nuclear plant in this country for decades,” Edwards argued.

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Edwards makes post-debate campaign stop

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