Joe Barton: “Mr. Speaker, we have spent most of today actually trying to read the bill. I have the bill in front of me. In this…”

“Mr. Speaker, we have spent most of today actually trying to read the bill. I have the bill in front of me. In this 2-minute period, I want to discuss section 605 of the bill. Section 605 of the bill has the title: ``No Federal funding for illegal aliens.'' It is a very brief section, two lines: ``Nothing in this act allows Federal payment for individuals who are not legal residents.'' That is it. So the title of section 605 would have you believe there's going to be no Federal funding for illegal aliens. When you specifically read the section, it just says nothing in the act allows payment. It doesn't prohibit it. Now, if the authors of section 605 really don't want illegal aliens to receive funding under this bill, this section ought to read something like this: ``This act prohibits Federal payments for individuals who are not legal residents or citizens.''”