Speech #890120608

Mr. Chairman. I urge that prompt and favorable action be taken by the House today on H.R. 2580. a bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. I wholeheartedly support this bill because it would repeal the outdated national origins quota system now in the existing law. It would end discrimination among our minority groups who have every right to U.S. citizenship. Our late President Kennedy advocated this change in our immigration laws. President Johnson and his administration favors a more liberalized policy. A majority of the citizens support such legislation because they. like I. share the belief that families in America should be united. During my 20 years in Congress I have sponsored many immigration bills designed specifically to unite families. I have been particularly Interested in legislation that would alleviate the quota restrictions in Italy because many of my very close friends in South Philadelphia have come to me pleading for help for their relatives now living in Italy. It is heartbreaking to listen to their pleas and not be able to offer them immediate help. They cannot understand why their husbands and wives. their sons and daughters or their brothers and sisters are barred from entering the United States when they have been registered on the quota waiting list for many. many years.