Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I am a very fortunate man. I am the son of immigrants. My parents came here at the ages of 17 and 18, respectively. Through the great fortune that we had, they were adjusted, and they were part of this great Nation, but since then, many more have come after. In particular, I represent a community that is almost 69 percent Hispanic, the majority of which were born in a foreign land. The reality is that our immigration system for years has worked and has worked efficiently to make what we do better than any other nation in the world: we make Americans. In the last decade and a half, this system has ground to a halt. In the last few years, our President has moved steadily to use his executive power to try to make the system work a little bit better. I believe that is an important step. But we had an opportunity. We had an opportunity in this House to pass the Senate version that received 68 votes, something that would have made the system function better, brought more investment into America, more dollars into Federal revenue; yet the House punted. I am appreciative of the President's action because he is well within executive power. If the other side does not like the President's action, they can bring up the Senate bill. There are enough votes in this House to pass it. We will have an orderly process. It is not a perfect bill, but it does do the right thing, which fixes a broken immigration system.…”