Speech #1130121422

But instead of doing that. the Speaker sided with the Tea Party and refused to move our country forward. He has made it very clear that the House will refuse to act this Congress and ignore the historic opportunity we have. For years and years millions of immigrant families who have played by the rulespaid their taxes. raised their children in the United Stateshave waited and waited for action. They have organized. they have hoped and they have prayed and they have trusted the system would eventually work. The system has failed. So now it is time to act. President Obama has made it clear that because the House refuses to actbecause the House refuses to acthe will take administrative action before the end of the year to improve our immigration system. and I support his decision to do that. The Presidents authority to take action is well established. In fact. every President since Eisenhower. including Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. has used his authority to improve the administration of our immigration system and to focus enforcement resources on serious criminals rather than on hardworking immigrants with deep roots in our communities. When the President does act. I have encouraged him to do several things: expand the already successful implementation of deferred action for DREAMers to include people with strong ties to the United States who have not committed serious crimes. to change implementation of our laws to make immigration and border enforcement humane. nondiscriminatory. and respectful of due process. and. finally. I have asked the President to improve the legal immigration system to keep immigrant families together. to protect our workers. and to provide employersfrom agricultural producers to hightech firmscertainty in a system that has often left them without answers. But I also want to be very clear that administrative action is not a longterm solution. Plain and simple. the only way for us to permanently and effectively fix our broken immigration laws is through comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Administrative action is a bandaid. but it is better than nothing. and nothing is what the House Republicans are offering. So I also wish to say it has been deeply disappointing to hear that some of my Republican colleagues are now threatening to shut down the government just to keep families from getting some initial relief from the pain our broken immigration system is causing. That is the latest example of extreme Republicans creating uncertainty and threatening to hurt our economy if they dont get their way. and it is the exact opposite of the approach Congress needs to take going forward. We all know what happens when Tea Party Republicans go down this road.