Speech #1130122745

Mr. President. I come to the floor to speak about the Presidents Executive order on immigration. I have been listening to my colleagues. both here and on the other side of the Capitol. and I rise in amazement. It is almost incredulous that our Republican friends are against the President taking the same action Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush took to defer deportation to solve a critical problem that we all know exists in the countrya problem that impacts millions. When President Obama exercises the same Executive authoritythe samethey are on the air. on television. on talk shows. on Twitter. fearmongering. calling it illegal. calling it amnesty. a constitutional crisis. Where was all of that when Presidents Reagan and Bush did it? They hold hearings in the House titled "Open Border: The Impact of Presidential Amnesty on Border Security." which is a little ridiculous because we have more border security under this administration than we have had in the history of the United States. As a matter of fact. we spend more on border enforcement and immigration enforcement than we do in all of the other Federal law enforcement entities combinedcombined. The Republicans threaten to sue the government or even shut it down. The irony of that is laughable because a shutdown over conducting background checks and collecting taxes from undocumented immigrants would only cost current taxpayers billions of dollars. Certainly it would cost them billions of dollars if it is anything like the last shutdown that Republicans forced. So double standard? Absolutely. It is the very definition of "double standard." On immigration reform. our Republican friendsparticularly on the other side of the Capitolhave become the poster children for double standards. On the one hand. they know the political ramifications of the demographic reality. On the other. they refuse to catch up with history and fix our broken immigration system. They are sailing against the headwinds of history. and now they want to prevent the President from pulling them to shore. saving them from their own immobility. their own inaction. They are also sailing against the headwinds of what the American people want. In poll after poll we have seen that the American people want to fix our broken immigration system. and that which the Senate passedand I was honored to be one of the Group of 8 who put it together 112 years agoand passed with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. still has the highest rating among the American people. It has been sitting in the House of Representatives for the last 11/2 years. A new Gallup poll shows that the Presidents approval rating among all voters has not gone down since the Executive action announcement was made. as some predicted it would. but. rather. it has increased 5 percentage points among all voters since early November. In my view. any actionExecutive or otherwiseis movement in the right direction and it is what America expects of its leaders. Americans are expecting someone to act. someone to tackle the difficult issues. and immigration. particularly for our House colleagues. seems to be a very difficult issue they cant tackle. It is not difficult for me. and it is not really difficult for most Americans who believe in the power of common sense. not for those who believe in the need to secure our borders. to secure the country. to promote economic opportunity. and preserve our history as a nation of immigrants and that core value of family values. I cannot recall anyone coming to this floor and praising inaction. praising the President for not having done enough on a matter of consequence. but that is exactly what our Republican colleagues are doing. once again standing squarely on the wrong side of historyin fact. on the wrong side of their own historyinvoking the double standard and claiming what is right for their partys Presidents is wrong for this President. History. however. is a funny thing. You can choose to ignore it. but eventually it catches up with you. and it has finally caught up with my Republican colleagues. I repeat what I have said all along: The antidote to Executive action is passing immigration reform. Lets be clear. Regardless of how big or how bold the Presidents announcement may be. a permanent legislative solution continues to be our ultimate objective. Administrative relief will not grant anyone legal status or citizenship. but it will clear the way for many to come out of the shadows. register with the government. pass a criminal background check. get a work permit. and pay taxes as the rest of us do. Because of the Presidents Executive action. the nature of who is eligible is really people who have U.S. citizen families here. It will prevent needless deportations and give a chance at a better life to those who want nothing more than to keep their families together. We are talking about millions of hardworking people whoright now many are exploited. creating downward pressure on the salaries and wages of all Americans by virtue of that exploitation. We have an opportunity to change that. I would rather know who is here to pursue the American dream versus who is here to do us harm. but I cant know that unless I get people to come forward and go through a criminal background check. If our Republican colleagues are so concerned about getting immigration policy right. if they are so concerned about the President overstepping his authority. which is the same authority Republican Presidents have used. they can exert their own authority and push our bipartisan bill over the finish line with one voteone vote in the House of Representatives. The President himself has said he acted because there is a cost to waitinga cost measured in the thousands of parents of U.S. citizen children who are deported. husband and wives who are separated from their U.S. citizen spouses. and the economic consequences. I know there are some who suggest: Lets wait until the next Congress. Lets wait and see. Give them a little time. If not. we will act. This is the same Republican Partyparticularly in the House of Representativesthat blocked immigration reform in 2006. 2007. 2010. 2013. and 2014 despite a strong bipartisan bill here. So if they wish. they can join us at the negotiating table with their own proposals and their own solutions because doing nothing and maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. That is precisely why they didnt want the President to follow through on what he told them.