Political Quotes

“to be clear, my argument is that this is a redundant and inappropriate piece of legislation to be considering the issue of the eligibility of legal aliens for Federal benefits. That is exactly what we did in the immigration bill. We spent days on the floor and weeks in the appropriate committee considering the nuances of that legislation, including its impact on the communities, which would now have to carry the cost that previously had been a partnership between the States, the communities, and the Federal Government. I am suggesting what we ought to do is let that process come to fruition. The House has passed an immigration bill. The Senate has passed the immigration bill. They are in conference. They have been in conference since mid-May. Let that forum decide what should be the benefits that the Federal Government would provide for legal aliens. Do not do it in this welfare bill. I think the very fact that we are proposing to reduce those benefits by $23 billion, when just a few weeks ago we thought the appropriate level of reduction was $5.6 billion, ought to raise in our minds whether we really know what we are doing here.”