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Trajectory issues
Webb said about 20 percent j of his time in the Senate has j been spent on forward-looking i issues like economic fairness, ambitious “trajectory” areas 1 where he hopes to make his j mark. “I have a philosophy j towards government which I j formulated 24 years ago,” he ! said. “Henry Kissinger taught '
me at the time that if you don’t jj block out a period of time for for- jj ward-thinking on issues, you’ll 'j never do it.”
Forward-thinking also ! means making government/ accountable for its mistakes “Accountability takes care of itself if you get the right kind of leadership,” he said.
Over four years in the 1970s, | Webb, served as legal counsel to | the Joint Economic Committee. I<
and now serves on the panel. |r “The interesting thing about I this committee is that you’re not j writing bills but you’re address-f
ing major themes,” he said. “One j| issue is the criminal justice sys- r tern. It’s completely broken. And •1 the whole issue of how you put | together the pieces where we * can bring economic fairness! back to this country.”
Webb said that February’s passage of a minimum wage increase was a vital first step in raising the economy’s “water-j line.” “In terms of setting the > floor in what we’re going to pay.1 workers, passing this bill has j great symbolic effect,” he said.
Resolving the continued surge of immigrant tides also remains a focal point. It is also a personal issue. The senator’s wife, Hong Le Webb, was born and raised in Vietnam, which her family fled after the fall of Saigon in 1975. She is a securities and corporate law attorney in Washington.
Webb said that immigration solutions have to come from a reasonable control of the borders, better enforcement at the employer level, and a “realistic path” towards citizenship, he said.
“It’s unrealistic to ask someone for their green card if they come to mow your lawn, particularly in Northern Virginia,” he said. “You can’t go into L.A. and pretend to round people up who have truly put their roots down here.”
Email the reporter at jarundel@timespapers.com
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