Speech #1020225287

President. I want to express my understanding of the problem being addressed by the amendment which the Senator from Michigan has offered. I wish there were more time in this session to conSider it and to deal with other equally important immigration reforms. Unfortunately there is not. The Senator from Wyoming my distinguished colleague on the Immigration Subcommittee. also has an amendment he believes to be equally importantbut which is also controversial in many quarters. Both these amendments. and others. deserve the consideration of Congress. but time. and the pending appropria. tions bill. simply will not give us the opportunity to do so. I. too. would like to see a number of remedial reforms to our immigration laws--from the socalled consular affairs package recommended by the Department of State. to a number of overseas naturalization reforms. But. again. there is not sufficient time. Over the past several weeks the staff of our Immigration Subcommittee has attempted to draft a consensus bill reflecting all of these concerns. and the need for adjustments in our immigration laws. Unfortunately. those negotiations with our House colleagues and others were not successful. But for the record. Mr. President. I want to list some of the items that have been mentioned as possibly being included in an immigration reform package: Naturalization amendments . Elimination of sunset for G4s . Consular efficiency packageproposed by the administration. A program for temporary entry for spouses and minor children of permanent resident aliens--led by Senator RIEGLE. Expansion of Immigration Commission by four. two for House. two for Senate. S. 3090. Immigration judge pay increase . Battered spouses . A program for expedited exclusion of those abusing the asylum processSenator SIMPSONs proposal. Airport inspections . Adjustments to the Investor Visa Program. and Authority to consular officers to make refugee determinations. Although. our effort to achieve a compromise was not successful at this time. I believe we must deal with these issues early in the next Congress. I simply want to express to my colleagues my commitment. as chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs. to pursue them next year. So I want to assure the Senator from Michigan and my colleague on the subcommittee. the Senator from Wyoming . that I will schedule a subcommittee hearing on these immigration proposals early in the next session of Congress. They are deserving of urgent consideration and review.