John Hope Bryant: “every American, every American, should despair of our ability as a Congress to act in any significant way in a…”

“every American, every American, should despair of our ability as a Congress to act in any significant way in a bipartisan fashion after that speech by Mr. Gingrich, the Speaker of the House. We have tried to bring a bill out here that would address the problem of legal and illegal immigration in a bipartisan fashion, Mr. Smith and I did, and we worked very hard on it. We have Members of both parties trying to make it pass. There are about three things that will kill this bipartisan consensus, one of which is this pernicious proposal, which is also unconstitutional, to provide that States can deny education to kids they think happen to be the children of illegal immigrants. Mr. Gingrich knew that when he came to the floor. He asked a question. He said, Should the States have to pay the costs of what is the result of the failure of a Federal responsibility? I agree with the answer. No, they should not. But, Mr. Gingrich, if you really believe what you said, and you do not, if you really believe what you said, you would not have instructed your Committee on Rules to forbid the offering of an amendment that would do exactly that. It is an outrage that the Speaker of this House would come down and seize upon this bill to make partisan gain. We have tried to put together a bill that is in the interests of all the people and that can pass.…”