Speech #1040203046

I think the only thing this rhetoric does is confhse the issue because people then make the Jump and say you have to combine the two issues. They are separate and distinct. Legal immigrants is a term of art. People who are herethat is not the problem. There are some people. a lot of them. who overstay the law. They came here legally but they were never legal immigrants. I think it is important to keep those two things in mind. The statement is also made that aliens use social services more than nativeborn Americans. Again. every statistic. every study that I have seen. as well as anecdotal evidence that I think most of us have seen in our home States. would indicate that you have to look beyond that statement. That statement may be technically true. but if you break out legal immigrants. people who came here legally. people who have become citizens. people who got in line the way they were supposed to get in line. people who are now naturalized citizens or who are legal resident aliens. in line to become citizensif you look at that group. and that is the group that the Simpson amendment is going to affect. what you find is statistically they are on welfare less than nativeborn Americans. less. Again. I think it shows the problem when we try to mix the arguments and when we try to combine legal and illegal. This vote is a vote not just on the merits of the Simpson amendment. It is also a vote on whether or not this Senate is going to take an illegal immigration bill that I do not think is perfectin fact. I have a couple of amendments. One amendment I am going to offer. another amendment from Senator ABRAHAM I am going to support. We are going to fight about those and vote on them. But it takes an illegal immigration bill that I think is a very good bill. a bill that addresses the legitimate concerns that honest Americans have that their laws be enforced. that we play by the rules and that people who come here illegally are dealt withit it takes that concern and superimposes on itthis is what the Simpson amendment does--a whole other issue. an issue that this Senate should debate. should talk about. But on a different day. It confuses the two issues. puts them together. and I think that is a mistake. For those of my colleagues who are concerned. and I think virtually everybody in this Senate is. about passing an illegal immigration bill and getting it signed and having it become law. the best way to do this is to defeat the Simpson amendment. Do not take us down the path of getting in the swamp. getting in the muck of all the other issues we are going to be into if. in fact. the Simpson amendment passes. Legal and illegal. they simply.