Political Quotes

“And Members of the House, as we stand here this evening and debate this terribly misnamed bill, the American people face not a dream but a host of unmistakable realities: double-digit unemployment; a social service delivery system--most particularly, Social Security--that is terribly broken; their children and their grandchildren who simply cannot afford to go to school; and a national debt of over $14 trillion and growing by the hour, which really jeopardizes our collective future; and a Nation, Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, where too often the rule of law yields to self- term expediency. I respectfully have to comment and respond to a number of the comments that were made on the other side of the aisle, not the least of which is the attempt to portray these individuals as somehow innocents and those who would be free of any lawbreaking. The fact is the law, the bill doesn't deal with that. It only deals with it indirectly. Secondly, we have the clear reality that people can be 15, 15\1/2\ years old and break the law, come over here and then bootstrap their families into citizenship, which deals with all the realities that couple and aggravate on top of that. The reality is this is a very bad piece of public policy. It's, I think, well-intended. I respect the sponsors, as I said in my comments on the rule. But at the end of the day, this is a bill that America cannot afford.…”