Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Montana. There was some discussion, both by Senator Leahy--who actually was complimented earlier in his absence about the way he handled this bill in committee, by Senator Grassley, because of the amendments he did offer and allowed Republicans and Democrats to offer. To my friend, the majority leader, and to the Senator from Vermont, yes, we were offered, Senator Tester and I were offered the opportunity to put the legislation into the Hoeven-Corker amendment. By the way, the idea there was that we had to cosponsor that amendment sight unseen, which ended up being about 1,200 pages. We chose not to do that, Senator Tester and I, for a very simple reason, which is we wanted to have a debate and a vote on this issue. I have discussed this on the floor now three times, and I will discuss it once more. Apparently the Senator from Nevada wasn't there to hear it. We believe--and I am passionate about this, as you can tell--that if we don't fix the workplace we cannot have an immigration system that works. It is as simple as that. And to not have a separate debate and a separate vote on this amendment, on this issue, does not give us the possibility of sending this over to the House with a strong message and maximizing the chance the House of Representatives will see that strong bipartisan vote on this important issue of workplace enforcement to ensure it is part of the final package. It is that simple.…”