With respect to the forthcoming conference. I am far more optimistic than some of the speakers that we have heard. I promise this body that this Member. who will be a conferee. committed as I am to immigration reform. will not sign a conference report that does not make major changes in the agricultural labor provisions of the measure before us. Mr. Speaker. the risks of not going forward are too great. An immigration bill has been pending before the Congress in some form for the past several years. The Senate in three successive Congresses has passed comprehensive immigration reform. If we fail to enact reform in this Congress. I fear that when the day comes that a later Congress considers immigration reform. it will produce a bill that is narrow and restrictive. It will be driven toward passage by what will then be the pentup frustration of the American people. This is too large a risk for me to accept.
Keywords matched
immigration