Bob Menendez: “I rise to respond to a couple of suggestions proffered before the Senate as it relates to those Senators who have…”

“I rise to respond to a couple of suggestions proffered before the Senate as it relates to those Senators who have amendments to offer to the comprehensive immigration reform legislation. I am compelled to do so because the way they are characterized ultimately demeans what should be a clear process of what is the greatest marketplace of ideas, the Senate. The first item that I have heard several times is the suggestion that certain amendments are killer amendments. When one of our colleagues, particularly those who were part of constructing the bargain, suggests that a certain amendment is a "killer amendment," a killer amendment where the intention, the purpose, the main goal is to kill the legislation before us because they don't like it and they don't want to see it pass, maybe they are a part of the universe who believes we should just seek to deport everybody in the country, 12 million people, the greatest deportation in the history of mankind.”