Speech #1000018340

I am pleased to note the report is still as timely and fresh as it was then. Its predictions were accurate. its concerns well founded. A few of its policy change suggestions have become lawsuch as employer sanctions to reduce illegal immigration which will soon become effectivebut adoption of the balance of its recommendations is long overdue. With its long list of specific action recommendations. the report is a good yardstick to measure the progress of the Congress toward enacting laws which. in sum. represent an enlightened national population policy. Progress has been made on immigration control. but there are many other sound population policy changes included that are even more imperative to adopt today than they were in 1972. The Commission foresaw todays domestic population growthrelated problems such as worsening urban sprawl and congestion. inadequate open space. increasing illegal immigration resulting in unemployment among our citizens. environmental deterioration. and expanding outdoor recreational needs. Even before the flood of illegal immigration in the 1980s. the Rockefeller Commission recommended a national policy to limit immigration. which now accounts for more than 40 percent of the Nations population growth. The SimpsonRodino bill passed last year was designed to curtail illegal immigration. but the problem of large numbers of undocumented workers entering the United States is expected to continue for years to come. especially if the Congress does not promptly give the Border Patrol the money and staff it needs to enforce the employersanctions law. and make our southern border real. Since 1972. the U.S. population has grown from 208 to 241 million. The Census Bureau predicts a net increase of another 2.2 million in 1987. with births in the United States projected to reach their highest annual level since the mid1960s.