Pete Sessions: “I say to Senator Martinez that I thank him for that, but he was one of the people who stood firm on this issue of a more…”

“I say to Senator Martinez that I thank him for that, but he was one of the people who stood firm on this issue of a more merit-based, competitive system of immigration, like Canada. Without his leadership, I know it would not have happened. In fact, his personnel leadership was pivotal in a number of areas in this legislation that made it better than it would otherwise have been. I appreciate that. My concern on the bill is that by saying the backlog gets approved, we delay about 8 years moving to the full implementation of a merit system. I know, when you are in a meeting and you have to negotiate with people--I know Senator Kennedy didn't want to do this at all.”