I thank him for his kind words. and more importantly. I thank him for offering this amendment because. let us make it clear. what this amendment does is it recognizes the priority of funding. Before we start appropriating funds for new prison construction. we deal with reimbursing the States and localities for the costs they are now expending incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens who are convicted of felonies. who would not be in those States were it not for the Federal failure to enforce the immigration policy. So the gentlemans amendment. while I would have preferred the amendment I drafted and had preprinted in the RECORD. because that was not tied in any part to the Truth in Sentencing Act. the fact is the gentleman. by giving preferential treatment to the States that do not comply with the Truth in Sentencing Act for the money appropriated under last years crime bill. and then reserving no less than a total of $650 for this cause. has accepted the preeminent priority of funding this unfunded consequence. if we want to call it that. that now exists in an unfair fashion. So I compliment the gentleman.
Keywords matched
undocumented immigration