Gerry Connolly

I strongly support legal immigration because we are a Nation of immigrants.

We have to fix that. That is the reality.

We have kept our asylum system so anemically underfunded that it is overwhelmed.

Asylum exists for an important historical reason. It is a legacy of World War II.

We need to modernize, and if we did, we would have a lot less people making this dangerous journey to access our asylum system at the border.

Now, Donald Trump's rhetoric has been dividing us and stoking anti-immigrant hate, I believe, since he first came down that escalator in 2015...

J.D. Vance and other Members of Congress have continued to amplify this xenophobic lie, and it is a shame.

Now, 2 weeks ago, during a bizarre debate performance, we saw, of course, the former President repeat manufactured conspiracies about immigrants.

It is because some folks in Congress, and certainly Donald Trump, think that bashing immigrants will win this election.

If you are going to have data sharing and data analytics that help us flag and ultimately prevent fraud, you need an IT platform that works.

I think this is one of the most substantive hearings we have had on this subject in the 16 years I have been here.

Did we provide money? Did we make investments to give states resources to upgrade their IT systems to manage unemployment?

What can go wrong with 50 different systems? And some did well and some did not.

I bemoan the fact that we do not seem to have made much progress.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And let me just say, I think this is one of the best panels we have ever had on this subject.

If I were to counsel her, I'd say, yeah, let's make a trip down there and, you know, get that over with.

I do think there is bipartisan ground to be had here, at least in focusing on process and structure that can help us ensure good outcomes.

There cannot be retribution because you are doing your job.

When we find wrongdoing, it ought to be investigated by CIGIE, and it ought to be acted upon expeditiously so that we can restore credibility and integrity.

For us to do our job and for the public to have confidence, two things. IGs have to be purer than driven snow, and that ought to be bipartisan.

He deserves respect and dignity and not drive-by shootings calling for him to step aside.

No, but I do believe the White House has a shrinking window in which to turn this around if it can be turned around.

I would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the letter from the Association of Union Constructors and more than 1,700 members in support of project labor agreements.

Certainly that was my experience. I mean, I literally had the experience of the Silver Line.

And is it further your testimony, if I heard you correctly, independent of your own company, though your experience would mirror this, that there is actually compiled data empirically demonstrating that PLA projects actually tend to come…