Jeff Bingaman: “I am glad to respond. I can't give assurance of that. But I can say they are much more likely to get the green card…”

“I am glad to respond. I can't give assurance of that. But I can say they are much more likely to get the green card under my proposal than they were under McCain-Kennedy. McCain-Kennedy contemplated 400,000 guest workers every year coming in and said the total number of green cards we are going to issue to these people is 290,000, including family. What I am saying is, we should increase that to 650,000, including family, since we have half as many guest workers coming in each year under the bill that we have agreed to on the Senate floor. I think my proposal, frankly, is much more generous in giving green cards to people who have come here legally than was McCain-Kennedy. It is more than twice as generous. It is more than four times as generous as current law. But I am saying we ought to have some cap. We should not just leave it uncapped entirely. Mr. President, how much time remains? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico has 5 minutes 35 seconds.”