Patrick Kennedy: “We should know what is going on here. It is nothing different from the welfare bashing that we saw in the last Congress.…”

“We should know what is going on here. It is nothing different from the welfare bashing that we saw in the last Congress. They are playing upon a perception here. They are bashing poor people just as they bashed immigrants. Make no mistake, if the immigrants had been Irish overstays, there would not have been half the impetus to pass that bill and go after immigrants. It was the perception of Hispanic-Americans coming across the southwestern border of this country, the anecdotal mythology about legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. They did not even want to make the distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. What I am saying, Mr. Chairman, is they are going to pass a policy here that says make the poor pay, because we know what the poor are. We are talking minorities here. Make the poor pay. OK? What they should be doing, if they really thought that people, the Federal Government, ought to be getting a little bit of return on its investment, then why not apply it to every other Federal contract and Federal program that is out there? They and I know why they are not doing it to defense contractors. They and I know why they are not doing it to farmers. They and I know, because that is not the same.”