Arlen Specter: “the Judiciary Committee has just concluded a markup on the immigration bill. For those who may be watching on C-SPAN2, a…”

“the Judiciary Committee has just concluded a markup on the immigration bill. For those who may be watching on C-SPAN2, a markup means we take a bill, which was the chairman's mark in this situation, a bill which my staff and I have constructed, taking parts of legislation introduced by Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy and legislation introduced by Senator Kyl and Senator Cornyn, and amalgamated it into one bill with some other provisions which had been suggested by other Senators. We had hearings on the issue. As is customary, we heard both from the administration and from outside witnesses. We had a series of markups. Then, today, in an unusual Monday session, we convened at 10 o'clock this morning, and had a working quorum present by 10:10. We concluded right at 6 p.m. this afternoon and reported the bill out. It is a very emotional issue. It is a very contentious issue. The President called for a civil debate, and we reached that objective. We had a very civil debate. It is expected that there will be considerable controversy when the bill reaches the Senate floor. That is to be expected on a matter as charged and as controversial as is this bill. It is my expectation that the Senate will work its will and will enact legislation. Then, under our bicameral system, we will go to work with the House of Representatives, which has a substantially different approach, having passed a bill that is an enforcement bill.…”