Russ Feingold: “today I voted in favor of cloture on the Hagel-Martinez compromise on the immigration bill. I did not like the changes…”

“today I voted in favor of cloture on the Hagel-Martinez compromise on the immigration bill. I did not like the changes that this compromise made to the Senate Judiciary Committee bill, and I would vastly prefer that the Senate pass the committee bill intact. But we lost the cloture vote on the committee bill yesterday, and I saw this as the only way to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform this year. I remain hopeful that after this coming recess, we will be able to come to some agreement on meaningful, comprehensive reform. This issue is too significant to put off--too important to our national security, to our economy, and most importantly to the millions of people whose lives will be affected. Like so many of my colleagues, I am willing to work on a bipartisan basis to address the critical problems facing our Nation with regard to immigration, just as the Judiciary Committee was able to do. I do want to lay out some of my concerns about the Hagel-Martinez substitute. But first, I should note that this compromise leaves intact most of the committee bill, including very important provisions like the guest worker program for foreign workers who want to enter the country in the future for jobs that Americans are not filling, the family reunification provisions, the AgJOBS title to help agricultural workers, and the DREAM Act to provide higher education opportunities for children who are long-term U.S.…”