Speech #980210341

Speaker. nothing is more important to the United States of America than a national defense policy. That goes without saying. Second to it. it seems to me. is to have a sound immigration policy. Both of these policies are really the basic reasons why we have a National or Federal Government in the first place. that is. to secure our borders and to provide for the common defense. That is why it is so important that we embark on this debate. that we adopt the rule and that we adopt some kind of national policy. We have spent weeks already determining the extent and the nature of the defense of our country. We owe no less to determination and to the debate on how best to secure our borders. The American people. whether we recognize it or not or whether we want to recognize it or not. do take into consideration what we do here on the floor of the Congress. especially with the teeming problem of the populations that are flooding into our country without an immigration policy determining the full rights of everyone concerned. I urge adoption of the rule and eventual adoption of a sound immigration policy with or without some of the amendments that are to be proposed. but the American public deserve it and want it.