One place to start: immigration reform

No doubt a little crow was on the menu when President Bush lunched Thursday with Speaker of the House-elect Nancy Pelosi.

But going forward, the Republican president and the newly empowered Democratic leadership should focus on where they can agree for the future of Americans. Immigration reform should be among the top priorities on their to-do list — President Bush acknowledged as much in his post-election press conference Wednesday. The president has been angling for immigration reform since he was governor of Texas. He knows how important the 13 million foreign workers without legal immigration authority have become to the U.S. economy. He reopened the national debate with a 2004 proposal calling for stricter enforcement and a guest-worker program.

But, under the soon-to-expire Republican control of the U.S. House, more Democrats than Republicans agreed with him. The House passed a shortsighted, enforcement-only approach that was unworkable, not to mention disingenuous about the role ineffective U.S. policy and enforcement had played in creating porous borders, especially with Mexico.

The U.S. Senate took the higher ground, passing a reasonable plan the president should be able to live with. The Senate bill would increase enforcement but also authorize a guest-worker program. Workers here illegally could apply for legal permission to stay temporarily and eventually could earn the right to apply for citizenship after they pay fines and go to the end of the line.

The costly effects of the congressional stalemate showed up in one Seattle Times photo recently. Not even Walla Walla County grower Ralph Broetje, known for employee benefits that include housing, a clinic and day care, could get enough workers to harvest all of his tree fruit.

With the Democrats picking up the House on Tuesday — and at least 10 members of the anti-immigration House caucus losing or leaving — chances are better that reason and responsibility will prevail when the newly reconstituted body convenes in January.