Speech #980188977

I thank the gentleman from New York for his contribution. I just will make a comment in terms of the international ramifications of this. It is interesting that we just concluded. prior to the beginning of this debate on monetary policy. about 40 minutes of discussion on the immigration problem. Our colleague from Pennsylvania and our colleague from California spent a good deal of time discussing the failure of the House of Representatives to enact immigration reform legislation. The immigration problem. of course. is a growing one. But the immigration problem is directly related to the issue we are discussing right now which is monetary policy. It is estimated that between now and the year 2000 in Mexico. given normal rates of growth. there will be 7 million Mexicans added to the unemployment rolls. Now that means there is going to be increased pressure on those people to come into this country. legally or illegally. and ultimately there is no set of immigration laws alone that can solve that problem. only rapid economic growth will provide those people with some hope and some opportunity in their homeland is going to solve that problem. This is genuinely an issue that affects most other issues.