Political Quotes

“Madam President, I honestly respect and value the work the so-called Gang of 8 has done on this legislation, as well as the contributions made by my colleagues from North Dakota and from Tennessee. I think they have moved this bill in a constructive direction to give people more confidence that we are actually serious about dealing with border security. But I want to ask them to distinguish, if they will, between the provision I know they both supported in my amendment that was tabled earlier which makes the progress from probationary status to green card contingent upon 100-percent situational awareness of the border and a 90-percent apprehension rate which is defined as operational control. How does their amendment differ from that? I know it hasn't been completed yet, but my understanding is Senator Schumer and the Democrats would not agree to that. I know they object to it. Senator Schumer has been quite clear in his telling me that. But my impression is this is a promise of future performance, and there is no contingency in the same sense that there was a trigger that prohibited the transition from probationary status to legal permanent residence. Could the Senator please clarify?”