Speaker. this conference report is truly and genuinely bipartisan. In all respects it serves the best national interest. Its bipartisanship is reflected in the unanimity by which its basic provisions passed the House Subcommittee on Immigration and the strong vote of confidence given to it by the full Judiciary Committee. When this subcommittee bill was before the full committee not one single syllable was changed. and I want to commend the distinguished chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. the gentleman from New York who graciously accepted the new immigration bill. The Senate abandoned consideration of any pending Senate bill and considered solely and adopted the House subcommittee bill with only one major change. namely. placing a ceiling of 120.000 on immigration from independent republics of the Western Hemisphere. It added also other minor provisions which were resolved in conference. The distinguished gentleman from West Virginia has stated that the conference changed the composition of the select Commission to study immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Under this conference report. the Commission will consist of five Members of the House. five Members of the Senate. and five members appointed by the President. This change clearly recognizes the primary duty and responsibility of the Congress to regulate immigration into the United States. That congressional responsibility has been affirmed by the Supreme Court in the interstate and foreign commerce decision and which has been reaffirmed many times since. I want to commend the Senate conferees for their acceptance of this change which removes any doubts that responsibility for regulating immigration into the United States rests with the Congress. That fact is restated in the conference report. The responsibility remains in the Congress where it properly belongs. I would like to pay tribute also to the Members of the House subcommittee for the arduous work they have performed. I would just like to read a pertinent sentence from the Senate report: We owe a great debt to the House Immigration Subcommittee and its staff for the creation of this system. I pay special tribute to the very able and distinguished ranking Republican Member of the House subcommittee. the gentleman from West Virginia for the steady and sturdy role that he played in the long and hard struggle to produce this immigration bill. The distinguished Member from Kentucky gave our work the full benefit of his wisdom gained by 18 years experience as a member of our subcommittee. It has been my pleasure to sit next to him in committee meetings for all those years and I take this opportunity to thank him for his great service in guiding some of our most difficult deliberations to a happy conclusion. I feel the House can take justifiable pride in this bill because its genesis was in the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality. One can sup-. port this bill on the basis of sound logic and reason. devoid of any emotion. I urge all Members to support this conference report.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration