Speech #1040267450

Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 4134. This is a modified version of the original Gallegly amendment which passed this House by a vote of 257 to 163 during the debate of the immigration reform bill just this past March. I might remind my colleagues that the entire immigration bill. which at the time contained the original Gallegly amendment. passed this body by a strong bipartisan vote of 333 to 87. Like the original amendment. todays bill does nothing more than ensure that the Federal Government will no longer be able to force the States to educate those who are in this country illegally. This legislation will allow all States full discretion in the way they want to handle public education and illegal immigration. However. unlike the original Gallegly amendment. this bill has been modified to ensure that it impacts only prospective illegal immigrants. In other words. all we are trying to do through this legislation is stop an entitlement that would otherwise exist in perpetuity. This modified version of my amendment does not kick one child out of school. but it does serve notice to those who have not yet come to this country illegally. using education as a magnet. that public school may not be available. It does not offer the States the option of closing the school door to those who have arrived there currently. Today this education represents an enormous unfunded mandate the Federal Government imposes on the States. California alone spends an estimated S2 billion annually providing education to illegal immigrants. That is enough to hire 51.000 new teachers or put 1 million new computers in every classroom. If we fail to act. States will be forced to provide a free public education to illegal .immigrants until the end of time. and that is not right. As the primary funders of public education. State lawmakers and the State taxpayers they represent should have the ability to decide whether illegal immigrants should continue to receive a free public education. This Congress must continue to dismantle the system of public benefits that convinces those in foreign lands to come here illegally. It must also continue to decentralize the Federal Government and shift the power to the States.