Speech #980091660

I will not support this amendment. however. because this is another example of Congress ad hoc approach to a major issue that is before this Congress. And it is consistently before this Congress. I am not going to embarrass any Members who have spoken in support of this amendment by asking whether they will support a comprehensive immigration bill. This is not the place for that. Nonetheless. I find it rather ironic that some who have worked rather diligently in the past so that we would not have a final serious consideration of the immigration bill in a previous Congress come forward now and say this is a Federal responsibility. These people are here because the Federal Government has not done the job. We have not had an opportunity to deal with this question. therefore. the taxpayer must pay. and pay. and pay. and pay. I understand why we have not dealt with the immigration bill here. I have been beset by the many interests involved in it. There are certain members of the business community who do not want to have an immigration bill because they utilize the system of a sub rosa foreign job program where they use illegal aliens to their economic benefit. I understand why some labor unions do not want to deal with this. because they think that this will interfere with their ability to unionize workers. I do not believe that to be the case but they feel that to be the case.