Arlen Specter: “I regret being absent for part of this debate on the issue, but the Judiciary Committee has been meeting in a rather…”

“I regret being absent for part of this debate on the issue, but the Judiciary Committee has been meeting in a rather heated session to decide what to do about getting information from the telephone companies on the NSA program. I want to comment very briefly in opposition to the amendment by the Senator from New Mexico. This amendment will substantially limit the ability of members of a family to accompany those who come into the United States and take jobs where they will be productive. I believe having family present is a very high value. This amendment, in putting a cap on, leaving no flexibility for family members to accompany the immigrant, is just basically a bad idea. We have sufficient room to accommodate the immigrants who are permitted to come in under the guest worker program, and accommodating the guest worker ought to include their family. They ought not to be separated from their family. We ought not to have a statute on this important subject which has that very undesirable family result. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.”