Jim Sensenbrenner: “This bill attempts to take a middle course. What is so wrong with 4 months? The provision in the omnibus appropriation…”

“This bill attempts to take a middle course. What is so wrong with 4 months? The provision in the omnibus appropriation bill which was signed by former President Clinton on December 21, 2000, established a period of 4 months and 10 days for 245(i) applications to be timely filed. A lot of people did not timely file their 245(i) applications because the Immigration and Naturalization Service waited until the middle of March in order to issue the regulations for the extension. That was not the fault of those who were eligible to apply; that was the fault of the Immigration Service, and I think most of us who have immigration cases in our own congressional office realize that this agency is probably more dysfunctional or nonfunctional than any of the other agencies of the Federal Government.”