Pete Sessions: “I didn't expect to hear the Democratic leader talk about the immigration bill this morning and his and Senator Kennedy's…”

“I didn't expect to hear the Democratic leader talk about the immigration bill this morning and his and Senator Kennedy's desire to rush it through the House of Representatives, calling for action now. It is a very bad bill, and it impacts directly the issues we are talking about today--wages for working Americans. I am going to talk about that issue and ask our colleagues to give serious thought to the matters I will raise. With regard to our colleagues who claim they are concerned about poverty among American workers, I ask those Members--Senator Reid and Senator Kennedy--who proposed the immigration bill and tried to rush it through this Senate without any amendments to consider some of the concerns of their own allies, economists and professors, who believe that if passed, it would damage the wages of American workers. I agree that we have a troubling condition in our country. People have referred to it often as the wage gap, that higher income people seem to be doing well, but there has been a lag in performance among lower income workers. That has caused quite a bit of concern. I am not sure exactly what the economic numbers show on that, but repeatedly, we have been told often from our Democratic colleagues--but not so much lately--that there is a growing gap in income. Why is this occurring? I wish to share some thoughts about it because I believe it is important.…”