Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, the one important feature of this legislation which I support and which makes it stand out from all of the other provisions is that which has to do with tightening up on those who have overstayed their visas. As we know, many of the terrorists who hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were people who were identified later as having overstayed their visas, so that by itself attracts me to support this piece of legislation. But I have another reason why I may vote against this, even though I am one of the best friends that Mexico has and that the border control advocates have in this entire question; that is, I have a personal pique with the Government of Mexico. Right after September 11, I think in October, when our economy was reeling with the adverse effects of those attacks, OPEC, and I am talking about OPEC, they decided to cut production of oil, meaning higher prices down the line for the American consumer. They did this in the face of an economy that was losing strength by the minute. Now, I took heart when Mexico decided not to go along with OPEC, and I began to applaud our neighbor to the south. Then, all of a sudden, there was a change, and Mexico decided to join with OPEC against the United States in cutting oil production.”