Political Quotes

“I am pleased that after many months of debate, the Senate has finally passed S. 1360 today. This bill, "The Border Improvement and Immigration Act of 1998," will ensure that free trade and tourism continue to flourish along our nation's borders. It will preserve the status quo for our friendly neighbors to the north and will provide us with the necessary time to study and develop an appropriate way to monitor our nation's borders and sea ports. I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of S. 1360 and have spoken repeatedly about the need for this remedy. Without this type of legislation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service might be obligated to begin implementing an enormously expensive automated entry-exit monitoring system at all of our nation's borders this fall without having the opportunity to study the situation and develop a workable system. The passage of this legislation means the Attorney General will now have one year to study and report to Congress on the feasibility of various means of tracking the entry and exit of immigrants crossing our country's land borders. Over the past year, I have worked hard to ensure that this legislation does not negatively impact the thousands of people and the millions of dollars of trade which cross our borders each day. This bill preserves the integrity of our open border with Canada and ensures that no additional burden is placed upon Canadians who plan to shop or travel in the United States.”