Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to be recognized to address you here on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, this great deliberative body that we are in. We have had a lot of debates and discussions here on the floor over the time that I have had the privilege to serve Americans and Iowans in the Fourth District of Iowa. Coming into this year, early in the year--in late January--we held a conference in Cambridge, Maryland, a conference to get together and discuss our best legislative strategy for this calendar year, which is the balance of the 113th Congress that we are in, Mr. Speaker. The discussion, invariably, came around to the immigration issue. Now, the immigration issue is a political issue. It is, perhaps, the most complex issue that we have dealt with in the time that I have been here in Congress. It has implications and ramifications that go well beyond things that seem to be simplistic on their face. In that discussion, it became very clear that House Republicans, at least, didn't want to move on anything that would give the opportunity by the majority leader in the Senate--Senator Harry Reid--and those who advocated for the Senate Gang of Eight bill to be able to attach any of that language on any bill that might emerge from the House. The consensus clearly--and it was 3 or 4-1, Mr. Speaker--was not to take up the immigration issue this year because the very sovereignty of the United States was put at risk, and there was no upside.…”