Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to continue this debate on one of the great issues of our time, immigration, the bill that is before us. I thank the ranking member Mr. Grassley for allowing me to jump ahead of him in the schedule. I have a markup in the Armed Services Committee, and I need to get back. Let me say that in the next few weeks the Senate will have an opportunity to discuss, clearly and resolutely, America's broken immigration system. Part of that means seeking policy solutions that will not only make our country stronger for decades to come but make our country safer going forward. Partisan politics should not derail the pursuit of an honest and good-faith approach to solving national problems, problems such as our broken immigration system. Americans are right to demand better from their elected representatives, and there is merit in allowing this legislation to proceed in an open and transparent manner. In doing so, we rightfully recognize that there is widespread and bipartisan consensus for lasting immigration reform. That consensus exists in this Chamber and it exists across the country. For that reason yesterday I voted in favor of cloture on this bill and in favor of the motion to proceed. So here we are, about to consider, I hope, amendments that would improve the bill. We cannot ignore the reality that there are 11 million undocumented immigrants in America today. We cannot dismiss the economic implications of a failed immigration system.…”