Political Quotes

“I have been here on the floor before, joined by Senator Grassley, to share my frustration with the EB-5 Regional Center Program. Senator Grassley and I have been working for years to improve this flawed program that is set to expire tomorrow, but, once again, unfortunately, the congressional leadership on the other side has rejected our bipartisan reforms and the program will be extended in the continuing resolution. We have done this in a way, as has been pointed out, as a Republican and as a Democrat--two of the most senior Members of this body--who have introduced real reforms, but time and again leadership has caved behind closed doors to narrow corporate interests. I believe that is a serious mistake. The EB-5 Program I once championed seems like a distant memory. The program was designed to bring jobs to underserved rural and distressed urban communities. For some time, it did just that. Communities in Vermont, like Warren and Vergennes, once used EB-5 to create and save jobs during difficult economic times, but that is EB-5 of yesterday. Today EB-5 is mired in fraud and abuse. It suffers from obvious and outrageous flaws. It is a magnet for fraud, security violations are rampant, and the incentives Congress created to promote investment and create jobs in rural and high unemployment areas--the sole reason I championed the program--have been rendered obsolete through economic gerrymandering.…”