Speech #920308493

Mr. Speaker. as in the past I feel it incumbent upon me to report to my constituents on my most important legislative activities in this Congress. In January 1971 I became chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality. which in addition to these matters is responsible for other important legislation. The House has passed several of my bills to eliminate inequities and relieve unintended hardships and suffering for many people. These are: Allowing citizens of countries such as Ireland and Italy to compete fairly with other nations for visas. changing the age for childrens citizenship from 16 to 18. and waiving the language requirements for persons over 50 with 20 years residence. Action is expected this week on my bills to permit early citizenship of parents of servicemen slain in wars and hostilities and to reduce to 2 years the U.S. residence requirement for children born abroad of parents one of whom is an alien. For almost 2 years my subcommittee investigated the major problem of illegal aliens. during which we held hearings throughout the country. We discovered that there may be as many as 2 million aliens illegally here. working at jobs needed by jobless citizens or legal aliens. and even in some cases receiving Federal Job training and welfare payments. My subcommittee developed a bill to deal with the problem realistically and fairly. and it recently passed the House.