U.S. Congressman Jim Kolbe, District 8, once again received the Spirit of Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during his annual State of the District Address.
The award, presented Wednesday, recognizes senators and representatives who vote with business issues at least 70 percent of the time during one session of Congress.
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Monica Banken, manager of government affairs for the U.S. Chamber, said she doesn't get tired of handing the award to Kolbe.
"If all members of Congress would vote like Jim Kolbe votes, our economy would be stronger," she said.
Banken applauded Kolbe's efforts to focus on issues she said matter to business owners.
One of those issues, which catapulted Kolbe into the national spotlight recently, is guest worker legislation and border security.
Kolbe is co-sponsor of a bill with Arizona Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, District 6, and a companion bill sponsored by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain that would create two new types of visas for immigrant workers.
Kolbe said the first visa would match willing workers with companies here in southern Arizona. The second visa would enable workers already in this country to apply for legal worker status.
"If you fail to deal with one part of the problem, it won't work," Kolbe said.
He said a failed amnesty program in the past only fueled a new wave of illegal immigration.
"We suffer so much because of illegal immigration," he said. "I'll continue to take a stand on this issue because I believe in it."
Especially difficult here in Arizona is the strain illegal immigration puts on border hospitals, Kolbe said.
"It ought to be the federal government who takes responsibility," he said. "It's simply unfair that local hospitals have this burden."
Kolbe said guest worker legislation would allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other coordinating agencies to concentrate on the real threats.
"Ninety-nine percent of those people who come into this country come in for the same reasons many of our ancestors did," he said. "But that still leaves 1 percent who come for other reasons."
He said those reasons include drug and immigrant smuggling and terrorism, and that 1 percent still constitutes 38,000 people.
"We need to concentrate on that 1 percent," he said. "What we've been doing hasn't been working."
Kolbe praised the recent creation of the Arizona Border Control Initiative that Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchison unveiled at a press conference at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base March 16.
The Arizona Border Control Initiative includes the addition of four helicopters, ground sensors, seven air-conditioned tents for illegal entrants and 260 new border agents in addition to two unmanned air vehicles to patrol the border.
With those additions, the number of border agents in the Tucson sector will reach more than 2,000 employees, and the price tag for the initiative itself could reach more than $10 million.
Kolbe said the initiative shows a decade of progress in securing the border. In 1994, there were only 400 agents and no helicopters or UAVs, Kolbe said.
Kolbe also said during the annual report that the state of the district is strong and its communities continue to thrive.
Kolbe is serving his 10th consecutive term. District 8 encompasses the greater Tucson metropolitan area and most of southern Arizona.
He addressed about 300 constituents at the DoubleTree Hotel at Reid Park, and touched on everything from the economy, border security and Medicare to education and the military. The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Cox Communications sponsored the event.
Steve Touch, the Tucson chamber's chairman of the board, said Kolbe not only addresses world issues, but also the ones important to southern Arizonans.
Touch praised Kolbe for his leadership in immigration concerns and his recent travel abroad to Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern nations.
War was not a forgotten topic. Kolbe opened his speech by noting the over 400 Americans killed in Iraq since his speech a year ago, and paused for a moment of silence near the end of his speech.
James Zwilling may be contacted at jzwilling@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4239.
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