Pete Sessions: “once again Senator Bingaman is correct and has a very, very important amendment. My staff was the first to alert the…”

“once again Senator Bingaman is correct and has a very, very important amendment. My staff was the first to alert the country to the huge numbers that are involved in this bill and the extraordinary increases in legal immigration that will occur. We ran the numbers also. Senator Bingaman's previous amendment helps fix some of those problems. This one will further help. Under current law for employment-based green cards, 140,000 people are allowed in the country each year, and spouses and children count against that 140,000. Under the bill that is on the floor today, that number goes to 450,000, and spouses and children do not count. Utilizing the numbers of the Congressional Research Service, as the Senator said, 1.2 children and a spouse per worker coming in, that would total 990,000 under this simple provision alone. It goes from 140,000 to 990,000. It could be more that come in under the spouse and family provisions. Let's just say go to 650,000. That is about four times the current rate. How reasonable is that? I have not seen any economist, I have not seen hearings in which we have ever had official testimony that increasing by fivefold or sixfold the amount of legal immigration in this country is the right approach to take. So we don't have a necessary basis to assert this. There is not really a tenor here. It is not a question of evocative, emotional feelings. It is a question of what does this bill do. It is fatally flawed, and the Senator is correct.…”