Speech #1010042204

I think that few people are aware that Senator KENNEDY has been working on these issues for 27 years. Senator KENNEDY came to this Chamber the same year my father came to this Chamber and. yet. he and I are the same age. He has worked on this issue in a singular manner. often times without assistance from either side of the aisle. as he has placed upon the books the 1965 amendments to the Immigration Act. Those are the amendments that we are now readdressing and fine tuning. There are some unintended consequences. Some countries were adversely affected. as the phrase is used. But in any event. it was Senator KENNEDY that was involved. It was Senator KENNEDY that put the Refugee Act of 1980 on the books. It was Senator KENNEDY and myself and Senators MATHIAS and DECONCINI who served on the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. I was appointed to that Commission by President Carter. I asked him one time why he would do such a thing to a freshman Republican. He said because. you are a freshman. you are going to have the job. President Carter supported me fully in our work as we created a large body of material which slowly we are placing on the statute booksin the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. and in the proposal we passed last year which I think now has matured even more. Indeed. there are some things in this bill that are painful to me. and there are some things that perhaps are painful to Senator KENNEDY and. yet. that is what legislating is about. It is about informing yourself. and educating yourself. and compromising an issue without compromising yourself.