On the recordDecember 1, 2016
I am so grateful to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) and could not agree more forcefully with his words. In addition to these, again, inspiring examples of what the DREAMers mean to us as a country and what they mean to the gentleman personally, I also enjoyed hearing about how the community he represents is rallying around them and supporting them and ensuring that they know that they are not alone, despite the rhetoric, despite the changes that we might see in executive actions going forward. I am also deeply appreciative of the gentleman's reminder that it is this institution that really has the opportunity, the responsibility, and the power to correct this. In these 4 years that I have had the pleasure of joining you here in the House, I know that both of us and dozens of our colleagues have tried mightily to do that, but, unfortunately, to no avail. That does not in any way damper my enthusiasm to do this. In fact, these stories that we are sharing tonight only cause me to want to redouble my efforts and work with you and our colleagues to make sure that we do everything we can and, beyond that, that we are ultimately effective and successful in setting this country, when it comes to our immigration laws and it comes to the lives of these 750,000 DREAMers, in the right direction. So I thank the gentleman for being here this evening.…
