Speech #980091631

I would just simply like to say to the gentleman that I think he has made a very persuasive case. and he obviously has strong support for the amendment. But to me it seems like this is putting the cart before the horse. because with the gentlemans amendment we do attend to a problem but we do not solve the underlying cause of that problem. The underlying cause is that we do not have a national immigration policy. The underlying cause is that we have a border which is honored more in the breach than in the observance. It is porous. it is open to passage back and forth. and I think until this Nation and this Congress are willing to take up the nettlesome topic of immigration reform which has been pending for the last 3 years we are going to have more and more opportunities for the gentleman to offer amendments to other bills. trying to solve problems which affect his State and other States in the South and the Southwest. It seems to the gentleman from Kentucky that a much more orderly process would be to take up the immigration reform bill which offers some hope and some opportunity to curtail the illegal flow into the States like the gentlemans State. That to me would be the orderly process. Again let me say that I do not have any illusions about the gentlemans amendment and its popularity. but it does strike the gentleman from Kentucky that at some point this Congress. whether it likes it or not. and whether it seeks to avoid controversy or not. will have to take up the bill which is pending before the Rules Committee in order to give some comprehensive solution to the problem of the illegal entry into this Nation which has become an absolute flood.