Political Quotes

“let me thank my colleague from Illinois, who has been a clarion voice in this regard, a strong proponent of human rights and democracy in Venezuela and in other parts of the world, but in this case, in Venezuela; who has traveled there at a time when people could not travel--certainly from the Congress--in an effort to see if there was a pathway forward and to see the plight of the Venezuelan people. I really appreciate his cosponsorship with me on this temporary protected status for Venezuelans. His leadership is critically important, not only as the Democratic whip but also as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee that I hope can take up this legislation. I will say this: I regret that our colleague from Utah, No. 1, objected, and No. 2, left. I would just make two observations on his comments. No. 1, there was a strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives. So, no, there was not unanimity, but there was a strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives. Secondly, this legislation has been over here in the Senate for some time. We have offered it for some time, so it is not new. Thirdly, I would just say as to whether we get to legislate in this Chamber, that depends on the majority leader and his side of the aisle, who control the floor. We would like to see legislating take place. We would be happy to have a debate on the fierce urgency of this as it relates to this issue of TPS, temporary protected status.…”