As House Republicans vote today to pass bills to keep out the
wretched refuse of your teeming shores, as we pass laws to pull up the
drawbridge and put a big ``Do Not Enter'' sign on the Statue of
Liberty, I hope my Republican colleagues who can trace roots back to
someone who came across the water and risked everything and bet their
lives on the United States, I hope all of us will reflect on those
ancestors as we deliberate laws and how we would have kept so many of
them out. His Holiness Pope Francis, who we all remember just spoke steps away
from where I am at right now, reminded us to always follow the Golden
Rule in all our deliberations. Pope Francis said just this past Sunday
that the nations of the world should continue to welcome refugees; and
each of us, as individuals, can learn a lot by meeting with, speaking
with, and breaking bread with refugees. His Holiness said: `` . . . personal meetings with refugees can
dissolve fears and distorted ideologies and become paths for growth in
humanity.''
Mr. Speaker, I hope my Republican colleagues have been listening, as
we have a Speaker who is both Catholic and Irish, but I fear they will
not.
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