The worst thing that we can do as policymakers: sit on the sidelines and watch this happen.

I have to say we are making good progress. I am pretty heartened by how it is going.

We are sitting on our hands, and other countries are trying to gobble up the field.

We need to compete with that, so we need to keep up with those changes.

I thank my colleague from Minnesota for his outstanding remarks. I want to rise to make one thing clear in this debate. My friends on the other side of the aisle once again have taken up the cause of special interests at the expense of…

Instead of passing the bipartisan compromise that would have fixed our immigration system, some of my friends across the aisle have preferred the status quo.

The bill was great for our economy, good for the country, tough on the border, and certainly not amnesty.

I was frustrated to see it fail to even get an opportunity for a vote in the House, where it surely would have passed with significant Republican support.

Jeff Sessions and I have disagreed repeatedly over immigration, but it has not stood in the way of him being, in the finest sense of the word, a southern gentleman.

It is tough on our border, tougher than anything I have heard the other side propose.

The Senate-passed bill from Congress, in my opinion, would fix our broken immigration system.

I feel confident we both believe our immigration system is broken.

What we saw was truly incredible.

Thank you. I really appreciate the courtesy.

We have not done enough to reverse the tide of illegal immigration and our legal immigration system is not calibrated in a way that befits our modern economy.

The most productive way we could use our time here is start to work again on comprehensive immigration reform.

I want to congratulate him on the assumption of the chairmanship, as well.

Your hard work, your dedication, what I believe is your sound judgment and timely decision making have been a driving force behind the recovery.

I will yield for a question when I finish my remarks, just as he was nice enough to yield to me a few days ago. First, without a bipartisan full-year bill, the Secret Service cannot move forward with the critical reforms recommended by an…

I thank my colleague from Texas for his good question. I agree with parts of what he said. First, I agree that we disagree on the President's Executive order. Second, I agree we ought not debate it in a hostage-taking situation. Our…

I would just ask the rhetorical question--and I thank my colleague--why did they attach these provisions, inimicable to the President, inimicable to us, to the Department of Homeland Security bill, which has nothing to do with it? It was…

I look forward to working with you. I am not surprised that the Committee is off to a fine, efficient start, even more efficient than under previous management.

I thank my friend for the question. It is nice to see him standing on the Democratic side. I hope he tries it again. If he likes it, he might do it more often. I would say this: We all know what Speaker Boehner did. The hard right in the…

Hey, being in the minority is not so bad, and being in the majority is not such a bowl of cherries, is it, Lamar?

we are running out of time until the Department of Homeland Security shuts down, and the majority doesn't seem to have any real plan to avoid it. There are 17 days left--with a week of recess in between--until tens of thousands of DHS…