I think this is an absolutely essential amendment to the bill. Really. this is the sort of amendment that will test how serious folks really are about enforcement. This whole immigration debate is pretty interesting. We have wildly divergent views and strong passions on the issue from one end of the spectrum to the other. Yet if you listen to speakers on this floor. no one is in favor of amnesty and everyone is in favor of border security. Of course. it depends on how you define "amnesty" and how you define "border security." In terms of border security. this amendment is a simple test on whether you are really serious in what you say. This is a gut check that the American people can understand very simply. If border security means anything. it surely means. among many other items. this 370mile fence. If a Member of the Senate votes against this really quite narrowly tailored. limited in some ways. modest amendment. I think the American people will get it. They will surely know that Member isnt serious in any way about border security. In closing. let me thank the Senator from Alabama again for this very necessary amendment. If border security is to mean anything. if it is to possibly workand I have serious reservations about whether the plan in this underlying bill will be allowed to work. will be enforced. if the appropriations will happen to make it work. but if it is to have a chance to work. surely it has to include this modest 370mile fence. the sort of fencing President Bush specifically talked about and the number of miles his Secretary of Homeland Security specifically mentioned in meetings with Members of this body. I yield the floor.
Keywords matched
border security immigration