Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I just want to speak for a few minutes. I spoke at length earlier this week. I thank Senator Franken for his kind words and the work he has done on this bill, and also Senator Leahy, as well as all of those involved with this bill. Managing the bill this morning, it is, again, awe inspiring to see all the work that has been done on both sides of the aisle--whether people will vote for the bill. I expect we will have a strong bipartisan vote on this bill after the civil debate we have had. This is an incredibly big and important issue for this country. I have been involved in this debate since 2007. We have seen everyone come together from labor, business, farm groups, migrant workers, immigrant workers, and religious groups. We are finally going to get this incredibly important bill done. As Senator Franken noted, the piece that has been most important to me--in addition to the DREAM Act and all of the work that had to be done in law enforcement--was the work we have done to improve our legal immigration system. We are a country built on immigration. Thirty percent of our U.S. Nobel Laureates were born in other countries; 90 of our Fortune 500 companies were formed by immigrants. We cannot continue to compete in the global economy if we close our doors to those who think and make things and invent things. In part, that is what most excites me about this bill, the work we have done to improve the legal immigration system.…”