Speech #1010216539

It shows that the Committee on Rules can craft a rule that Is fair to both sides of the aisle on a complicated issue and allows Members to have their day before their colleagues to make their case. This legislation is important legislation. I thank the gentleman for New York for pointing out how long it has been since our legal immigration system was reviewed and restructed to take account of changing times and suggestions that have been made by experts who have studied the system. This legislation accomplishes three important goals. First. it strengthens our system of family reunification. and it does it by focusing most on the most immediate relativesthe spouses and minor children of permanent residents of the United States. who under current law are separated year after year after year. This is not a profamily policy. We want to change the immigration law to reflect a profamily policy. Second. it provides to the employers and the employees of this country a system of legal immigration for permanent residents of individuals who are needed in our economy. needed to save American Jobs. needed because skilled workers are not available among American workers and their absence is causing factories to close and factories to go out of the country. This is not Just for the benefit of employers. it is for the benefit of all. because it allows for growth in our economy and growth in American jobs. Third. and also important. it ensures longterm diversity in our flow of immigrants from around the world. It is in the interest of the United States to be a beacon to people from all over the world. Lnd it is absolutely key to political support for our immigration system that all of the diverse groups that make up our country know that our immigration laws understand their interests and the concerns that they have that people from the parts of the world that their ancestors have come from will also be fairly considered under our immigration system. This is legislation which will enhance and strengthen our immigration laws. The gentleman from New York suggested that scmehow this legislation was not going anywhere because we had heard one of those vague veto threats that too frequently flows across his Chamber. The truth is that as the Wall Street Journal said yesterday. this is legislation that most Republicans should want to support because it is good for the American economy.