Speech #1040191476

No. I will support the chabot amendment to strike this system. Another major national obligation is to screen wouldbe immigrants and admit those whose relationships to American citizens or legal permanent residents the Nation wants to foster or whose skills the Nation needs to prosper. as well as refugees fleeing their homelands for valid reasons. Immigrants. despite faulty statistics that have been used during this debate. are a net plus for this country. working. creating jobs. paying taxes. becoming Americans. H.R. 2202 turns its back on this tradition by sharply reducing the numbersand even the kinds--of legal immigrants permitted to enter the United States each year. Particularly with familybased Immigration. when did children and siblings cease to be parts of the nuclear family? Why should we deny American citizens and legal permanent residents the opportunity to bring these close relatives together? H.R. 2202 would also increase the income a family must have to bring a family member into a level that would deny 40 percent of Americans the change to reunite with loved ones. H.R. 2202 would also cut the number of refugees admitted each year by almost onehalf from the 1995 level and change our system of determining eligibility for asylum that would make It impossible for most bona fide refugees to qualify. This is both in conflict with international law and immoral. H.R. 2202 would also unfairly deny public assistance to legal immigrants--in some cases. legal immigrants would be denied assistance that undocumented immigrants would remain eligible for. because Congress has recognized the benefits to the public health and safety when everyone living here is served. Mr. Chairman. in closing. I must assert that this bill is most definitely not in the national interest. The list of its defects goes on and on. and. worst of all. the Rules Committee and the Republican leadership have denied this House the opportunity even to debate changes in important areas of the billespecially the public assistance provisions of title VI. I urge my colleagues. at a minimum. to vote to remove the provisions reducing the number and categories of legal immigrants and to the employment eligibility verification system. But the better response is simply to reject this misguided bill. Vote no In the national interest.