Arlen Specter: “I am always fascinated by Senator Domenici's floor statements, about his immigrant parents. I will take just 60 seconds…”

“I am always fascinated by Senator Domenici's floor statements, about his immigrant parents. I will take just 60 seconds to talk about my immigrant parents. My mother came here when she was 6 years old in 1906. My father came in 1911 when he was 18. The Czar wanted to send my father to Siberia. He lived in Ukraine. That is where the Czar wanted to send all the young Jewish men, to Siberia. My father didn't want to go to Siberia because he heard it was cold there. He wanted to go to Kansas instead. It was a close call, and he got to Kansas where I was born. They didn't have enough money to hire a lawyer, but, fortunately, they didn't have any problems either. In Wichita, there weren't many big black cars, so the family lived happily ever after. On the issue before the Senate, I urge my colleagues to vote for cloture to proceed. We have been engaged for the better part of 3 months in extraordinarily extensive and complicated negotiations. Every week from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we would meet. Those hours were extended. We are trying to tabulate the total number of hours we worked. So far, nobody can count that high. But we had 10 Senators working almost full time, and we came to a compromise and a combination, which is the way we work around here. I knew at the outset that working on immigration was going to be the third rail. The third rail is that rail that electrocutes you.”