Political Quotes

“Thank you. I, too, want to thank my colleague, Congressman Cardenas of California, as well as the other members of our freshman class, for this important time to talk about an issue that is critical to the border. Madam Speaker, the 23rd Congressional District in Texas, which I have the privilege of representing, runs some 800 miles along the Texas- Mexico border. It encompasses 29 counties, which are bigger than 29 States, and 10 of the counties that I represent are along the Texas- Mexico border. {time} 1930 It includes five ports of entry: Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Presidio, Fabens, and Zaragoza-Ysleta in El Paso. No other congressional district in the country shares a larger border with Mexico. The impact of the immigration debate, it's a tremendous impact not only on the 23rd District, but truly in all of Texas. There are many reasons to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but one of the best reasons is simple, straightforward economics. Let's take a look at the numbers. According to a 2006 report by the comptroller of public accounts in Texas, ``the absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal year 2005 would have been a loss to the gross State product of $17.7 billion.'' Recently, I asked our current comptroller to update that study so that all of the Members of Congress from Texas would have updated information during a very important policy debate. Sadly, she denied my request.…”