WVIA Congressional Debate Between Lou Barletta And Paul Kanjorski

WVIA-TV sponsored a debate between 11th Congressional opponents Lou Barletta and Paul Kanjorski. In viewing the tape of the program it begs some fact checks on statements made by Congressman Kanjorski against Mayor Lou Barletta.

Kanjorski stated that the "FBI was in Hazleton at this very moment" investigating the site of the mine reclammation project remediating the toxic waste of the former Hazleton Landfill of the 70's. In fact there is NO FBI investigation of that site, period. While the FBI seized files from operators at that site, their investigation has nothing to do with the actual site as proffered by Kanjorski. Further more, there has been no new developments in that seizure. Speculation abounded at the time that they were sent there by supporters of Kanjorski but have yet to be confirmed.

Lou Barletta attacked Paul Kanjorski over his vote for amnesty in 1986. Kanjorski stated there is "Congressional record that states I voted against amnesty and thats a damnable lie".   Kanjorski said "that's a matter of checking the Congressional Record."  Let's do that.

Here is an article from CBS by The New American titled "How they voted: key votes on border security and guest-worker/amnesty". The link is this article is broke but I wanted to relate what they stated to lead into the links about the vote.

This index shows how every current member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted on the 1986 amnesty law, and on the border security and guest-worker/amnesty legislation now before Congress. A "Y" indicates that a congressman voted "Yea"; an "N" indicates that he voted "Nay", and a "?" indicates that he did not vote. A blank space indicates that he was not in Congress during 1986.


Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. This legislation (S. 1200) granted amnesty to roughly three million illegal immigrants for the stated purpose of solving the immigration problem and securing our border. The enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) dramatically eroded border control not only by granting citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants but by encouraging millions more to enter into the United States illegally in the hope that they too would eventually receive legal status. Twenty years later, there are now an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in this country, and many congressmen--including some who voted for the 1986 amnesty--are again arguing that the means to relieve the pressure on the border is to legalize the illegal aliens. The House passed the final version of IRCA on October 15, 1986 by a vote of 238-173 (Roll Call 433).

Here is a link to the House Vote 860 on that bill held October 9, 1986. Kanjorski voted YES. Here is a link to the vote on October 15, 1986 known as House Vote 873. Kanjorski voted YES. He voted not once but twice in the affirmative for amnesty. Guess who is stating the damnable lie?

As I review the debate I will point out more of the fallacies spread by Paul Kanjorski.