Dan Kildee: “I thank the ranking member for yielding. Madam Speaker, it is really important that the American people understand what…”

“I thank the ranking member for yielding. Madam Speaker, it is really important that the American people understand what is happening here. It is pretty clear here. The Republican majority in the House and perhaps in the Senate disagree with the President on immigration policy. So they have two really clear choices. One would be to do what they somehow have been unable to do despite promises of a prolific period of legislation in the first couple of months here in Congress. Despite that, 7 weeks later we haven't seen anything that looks like an immigration bill. So rather than using this magnificent process of democracy that the Framers designed for us to determine policy, the Republicans in Congress--really the Republicans in the House--have decided to threaten the shutdown of an essential government function--national security and public safety--in order to extract concessions on policy that they are unwilling to submit to the legislative process. {time} 1145 Why not bring an immigration bill that determines for this country what our immigration policy ought to be and, in the meantime, fund the essential functions of government? To not do so, there are consequences. This is not an academic exercise. There are consequences. Three weeks of funding? Seriously, 3 weeks? After 7 weeks of coming to the floor of the House in session, why couldn't we come up with this compromise with the Senate, with whom you share partisan majority?…”