Political Quotes

“Madam President, first, I appreciate the spirit in which the Senator from Arizona has talked about the proposal. Let me try to be in the same spirit. I always said I believe in comprehensive immigration reform. I know my colleague from Arizona has focused on this issue for at least as long as I have. I was involved in the original legislation back in the late eighties with a great deal of care, a great deal of concern, and a great deal of focus. I hope, even though I cannot accept these amendments, that maybe we could come together on something that we could bring back in September because I do believe we have to secure the border. Even in the comprehensive proposal that we made, we said we have to secure the border and do other things as well. It is my belief that securing the border alone will not solve our immigration problems; that until we have comprehensive reform, particularly in making sure employers do not hire illegal immigrants--which they now do, even though they do not know they are illegal immigrants because documents are so easily forged, that we have to do comprehensive. But we should do the border. To say we have to do comprehensive does not gainsay that we have to work on the border and work on it quickly and soon. My problems with the amendments are as follows: First and foremost, taking funds from the stimulus is something I could not support. The reason is very simple. In my view--and it may be different than my colleague's--the stimulus creates jobs.…”