Political Quotes

“I want to thank the gentleman from Texas, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Lamar Smith, for his leadership and support of this legislation, as well as my good friend, Congressman Conyers, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee for his support. I especially want to express my appreciation and thanks to the chairwoman of our congressional Asian Pacific Caucus, Ms. Judy Chu, not only as the chief sponsor of this legislation but for her dynamic leadership in bringing this bill to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 683, a resolution of regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major law restricting immigration to the United States to enforce a 10-year moratorium on Chinese immigrant laborers and denying naturalization to those who were already in the United States. Enacted on the premise that Chinese labors ``endangered the good order of certain localities,'' the law was largely motivated by economic fears by our fellow Americans who felt that Chinese laborers were to blame for unemployment and the declining wages in the West. Through the Geary Act of 1892, the Chinese Exclusion Act was extended for another 10 years before becoming permanent in 1902, and it was only repealed by the Magnuson Act of 1943, when China became an ally of the United States during World War II.…”