Jerry Moran: “I will try to be judicious in using that time. I very much thank my good friend from Memphis for yielding me the time.…”

“I will try to be judicious in using that time. I very much thank my good friend from Memphis for yielding me the time. This legislation is modest in scope, but it is very important because it puts this country in the right direction of economic growth. Now, I want to say I wish we would set our ambitions higher in the whole area of immigration. Our immigration system is broken; it needs a fundamental overhaul. We ought to have comprehensive immigration reform that makes strategic investments in border security, improves workplace verification of employees, and establishes a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants currently in the country. But maybe we can use this kind of a debate to reflect upon the much broader benefits to our country that would accrue by improving our immigration system and continuing to pursue a comprehensive solution. But regardless of whether we can get the more ambitious legislation, the bill before us today fixes a real problem that today harms our Nation's competitiveness. That's why it has bipartisan support; that's why it's the right thing to do; and I think it's terribly important for the area of our economy which is going to produce the most jobs in the future, the most competitive jobs, with the highest profit margins that we can then sell to the rest of the world. So, Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the sponsors of this legislation and would hope that we would get unanimous support for it.”