Speech #1100057080

Senator SPECTER. Senator GRAHAM. all of those people who came to the hot rooms and sat around a table and put forward something they hoped could be bipartisan and could pass. I think we all know the fact is that any immigration bill has to get 60 votes. Therefore. it is not going to be a Democratic immigration bill and it is not going to be a Republican immigration bill. it is going to be a bipartisan bill. Having said that. when you deal with one word. which is "comprehensive." which means all encompassing. you have to deal with a system that is huge. A visa system by the millions. a broken border. interior enforcement. employer sanctions. all of those things you need to do to fix a system that has existed are broken. Someone said earlier today: What we have now today in America is effectively amnesty. because people know you cant pick up and deport 12 million people. You cant hold 12 million people. Therefore. what develops is a kind of subterranean. fearful culture that never becomes healthy and part of the main culture of America. and it is so too bad. because it doesnt have to be that way. I think those of us who see that. who looked at the comprehensive picture. who struggled between a Democratic ideology and a Republican ideology and to put those things together that we could put together in virtually every area of immigration reform. found that indeed it was a difficult task. We also found another thing: that there are very strong feelings in this country. and secondly. this bill was misunderstood from the very day it was brought out on the floor. In many different ways. it was misreported. It is still being misreported to this very day. People never have understood the complexities of the bill. For example. if you sunset the point system after 5 years. you essentially say that agricultural workers cant get green cards because they have to wait for 8 years. or Z visas cant get green cards because you have to wait for 8 years. The agreement was that in exchange for being able to bring people out of the shadows. to put them through the hoops of becoming legalnot amnestyoh. and I must tell my colleagues. my hair goes up every time somebody calls it amnesty. because there are all kinds of hoops they must jump through. and they must show a dedication to the country. and they must work and they must pay a fine. and they must learn the language. and they have to do this over a substantial period of time. They have to work to hold their visa. There is a probationary period. They have to submit documents. Some people thought it was too strong. but the fact is. we had a workable program. The exchange for the Republicans for doing that was two things: the guest worker program. and 8 years down the pike. 8 years down. changing the family basis to a nuclear family for green cards--a nuclear family being a mother. a father. and minor children. with additional green cards to move people faster through. with hardship green cards where there was a hardship. I wish to share this with the Senator from Florida. and other Senators who are here. that with every amendment put on the floor. it drove the sides not closer together but further apart. I watched as we sat here late last night.