Speech #980109056

If the Speaker has that information. I call upon the Speaker to make public this irrefutable testimony or evidence that he said in a press conference yesterday he had. The Attorney General today issued the following statement on the same subject: Speaker ONeill has announced he will not permit the House of Representatives to vote on the immigration reform bill. I am certain that the overwhelming majority of Americans will be dismayed by this decision. Speaker ONeill said Hispanics opposed the bill. that the bill has no constituency. and that the White House has given mixed signals. He is greviously wrong on every count. Polls show that most Americans. and that includes most Hispanics. favor immigration reform. There is an enormous constituency for the bill. including the leaders of organized labor and business and industry. Just two weeks ago. Lane Kirkland. who I am informed has some sort of representational responsibility for labor in this country. sent a letter to the chairman of the Rules Committee asking that the immigration bill be allowed on the floor and be voted up or down. But evidently from the Speakers remarks he does not represent any constituency. Returning to the remarks of the Attorney General. One has to look no further than Capitol Hill to find one of the most solid components of the constituency for the immigration legislation. A blue ribbon commission. chaired by Father Hessburg strongly urged immigration reform. The commission. including ranking Members of the House and Senate. both Democrats and Republicans. who served on a bipartisan basis. Twice in the past 2 years the Senate has passed the immigration reform legislation by overwhelming margins. and again on a bipartisan basis by 80 to 19 in 1982 and 76 to 18 this year. In the House. the immigration reform bill has been considered this year by four committees. They include the vitally important Committee on the Judiciary. Speaker ONEILL suggests there have been mixed signals from the White House. That statement is incomprehensible. It was President Reagan who directed that the immigration reform legislation be drafted and submitted to Congress 2V2 years ago. It was President Reagan who sent the measure to the Congress with a strong plea that it be approved promptly. His support has never waned and today is stronger than ever because the nature of the immigration problem has grown worse. We believe that issues of this magnitude should come to the House floor and be voted upon by Members of the House in the democratic tradition. The issues concerning immigration reform are among the most important facing this Nation today. We have lost control of our borders. Illegal immigration is massive and growing. Vast numbers of jobs that could be held by Americans are taken by illegal aliens. Illegal aliens constitute an enormous strain on our social and welfare services. Illegal immigration makes a mockery of our legal immigration system. and millions of illegal aliens. most of whom are Hispanic. have become an exploited class preyed upon by the unscrupulous. These problems can only grow worse if the House does not act on the bill. After long effort we have come to a clear decision point.