Bill Lee: “I have come to the floor today to talk about some of the spending requests--known as earmarks--that are placed in this…”

“I have come to the floor today to talk about some of the spending requests--known as earmarks--that are placed in this legislation. Earmarks have long been used by Members of Congress as ``sweeteners,'' as things that make the bill package go down more smoothly, more easily, than perhaps it would otherwise-- special interests give-outs, handouts to business entities, nonprofit entities, or otherwise that individual Members request, sometimes successfully. One of them involves a significant sum of $850,000--just shy of a million dollars--to a leftwing organization known for publicly calling for the granting of citizenship to illegal immigrants, persons who have entered our country, whose common characteristic that they hold in common--that unites them--is the fact that they entered the country unlawfully, in violation of our laws. This arises during a significant period of time; one in which we are experiencing the worst immigration crisis that we have ever known. And Congress wants to send $850,000 to an organization that is interested in enabling and inflaming it. Why, exactly--even if you agree with the objectives of this organization called the New Immigrant Community Empowerment organization--or NICE--even if you agree with that entity, which many Americans don't, why exactly is it that we are going to take money away from U.S. taxpayers and use that to fund this organization that actively assists in helping illegal aliens get American jobs?…”