Political Quotes

“there are two other aspects of the policy shifts in this legislation. The immigration bill contained the shift in eligibility, the constriction of eligibility based on deeming for legal aliens in order to generate funds that would then be used to finance the programs that were authorized in the illegal immigration sections of that bill to better protect our borders. What we are about to do here is to take all the money that is in the immigration bill that is intended to be used for border enforcement and divert it for the purposes of this welfare reform bill. So all of the promises that we made, for instance, to the people along the Southwest border, that we are going to have more Border Patrol agents, fencing, and other steps to enforce our borders against illegal immigration are going to be ashen, because we, by this action, have taken all the money that we have provided to finance those enhancements to our borders. It is, in part, for that reason, I suspect, that Senator Feinstein, who has been such a leader in the efforts to protect our borders, is a cosponsor of this amendment. Finally, I suggest, Mr. President, that this is a very clear back-door way to accomplish the same objective that this Senate on several occasions rejected when we were debating the immigration bill, and that is a sharp reduction on the rights of legal immigration into this country which we know is primarily the right to reunify families.”