Roland Gutierrez: “the Republicans have announced that America can expect their budget plan in May. I hope they mean May 1997. I should be…”

“the Republicans have announced that America can expect their budget plan in May. I hope they mean May 1997. I should be concerned. That is 1 month after the legal deadline for submitting a budget. But I want to be positive so I will assume this delay is caused by tireless Republican efforts to craft a budget that restores programs taken away from law- abiding legal immigrants. I will assume Republicans are crunching numbers and saying, ``How can we restore critical benefits to our needy seniors, our blind and disabled, to mothers and their children? How can we treat our legal immigrant population with decency and fairness?'' That ``should'' be the reason for the delay, because legal immigrants deserve better than this Congress has given them. Immigrants work hard. The fact is they pay far more in taxes than they receive in benefits. They play by the rules. They are in our Nation legally, contributing their energy, hopes, and dreams to our Nation. May is a long time from now. It should be long enough for my Republican friends to learn to treat legal immigrants with the same respect legal immigrants give to America.”