It has passed in the other body overwhelmingly. yet this is not the outcome desired by a small group in this body who seem to have the clout to hold up a reform bill until they get their way or until the bill is stillborn. I do not wish to question anybodys motives. Yet. while it is clear that some of those who hold the immigration bill hostage would like to murder it. those who would talk it to death for their own reasons do a similar disservice to this body. The problem of illegal immigration is not going to just disappear. As we mentioned before. the magnitude of the problem continues to mount. I fear that if we delay the action further. somewhere down the line the problem may reach such a magnitude that the legislative atmosphere is less conducive to a reasoned consideration of the issue. U.S. immigration policy is replete with examples of ad hoc responses to intermittent crises as they have arisen throughout our history. As policymakers. we must avoid future reactive responses to the adoption of a prospective formulation of comprehensive reform. I know several Members are here and would like to talk and I will be happy to yield to them any moment. in fact. two of them served with me on the Judiciary Committee. Let me first just say I feel that what is happening with immigration is what happened with the gun bill. The Judiciary Committee kept it in the dark so long that we reached a boiling point and the bill that passed on the floor perhaps was not the bill that would have been created if there had been the opportunity to work on it for a long period of time. People got frustrated because they were denied their opportunity by the full committee and then they said. "We are not going to compromise and you are going to accept what we put on the floor." The Judiciary Committee has been criticized for not allowing the omnibus crime bill. the Comprehensive Crime Control Act on the agenda.
Keywords matched
immigration illegal immigration