Political Quotes

“I just wanted to give a brief summary of a few points, both in response to some of the arguments that have been made by the last few speakers and also just to kind of put in perspective exactly what this all comes down to. First of all, a statement made earlier that this pilot program approach or the broader approach would not have any cost to employers is simply not the case for a variety of reasons, but the National Retail Federation has suggested that even the pilot program as conceptualized would probably work out to something in the vicinity of $7 per verification. That might not mean a lot to a business that does not have much turnover, but to those that have lots of employees coming and going it is a pretty big impact. In addition, it has been suggested that somehow because the 1986 legislation has not gone as far as people had hoped for, it is a mistake to resist this approach that is being proposed with the pilot program. I think that is actually counter-intuitive, Mr. President. The fact is, every few years people come along with a new, better mousetrap, it would seem, or they would claim, for addressing the problems of illegal aliens securing employment. Ten years ago we burdened the American economy and our businesses and employers with a lot of redtape--I-9 forms and other things--and they have not worked.”