[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 85 (Monday, May 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5370-H5371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TERM LIMITS RULING BY SUPREME COURT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, as many people know, the Supreme Court 
just came down with a five to four decision on terms limits, saying 
that the [[Page H5371]] States could not impose term limits on Federal 
officeholders.
  I think it is a very interesting day to look at that decision, which 
I think was the correct answer, on the very same day that we are here 
memorializing Les Aspin. Had term limits been in effect, be they 8 or 
12 years, Les Aspin, who spent 22 years in this House, would not have 
been able to do the things that we were talking about today in which he 
contributed so much to this great Nation.
  I think also as we look at term limits, we look at something that is 
going to be coming up this week that concerns me a lot, about whether 
we do not jump into some things too fast and do not have people able to 
really understand some of the unintended consequences of policies that 
come in front of us. There may be a reason, Mr. Speaker, that some of 
us with gray hair are needed around here.
  I guess that is what I am doing today, as I salute the Supreme 
Count's decision and say, I think that we do need some people who have 
been around more than 8 years or 12 years to kind of guide this great 
ship of state and to have a little corporate memory.
  One of the things I particularly would like to address that I will be 
talking about later this week when we get to the foreign aid bill that 
will be coming to the floor is that the provision in that bill, I 
think, is very dangerous. I certainly hope it will be struck.
  There is a provision in that bill that I think on first blush sounds 
wonderful, as so many things do. But then let us examine it more 
carefully. The provision I am talking about is the provision that says, 
people in the world who live in a country that has a population policy 
that they think is oppressive can come to America. This is the new way 
to get to that Great Golden Gate in America and come in and become an 
American.
  Now, I certainly do not approve of immigrant bashing, and I do not 
approve of doing those kinds of inflammatory things, but let me say, 
are we really serious about this and have Americans thought about where 
this policy would lead if we put it into effect.
  In essence, what we are really targeting with this provision is 
China. People are saying that China and their one-child policy is very 
oppressive and that people who want to have more children or people who 
do not like the one-child policy, under this provision, if it becomes 
law, can then make themselves an immediate qualifier for immigration 
status to the United States. Now, the real problem is, I am sure, there 
are people who do sincerely feel very repressed and there will be other 
people who will find that these are magic words that you can utter and 
they you get to come to America.
  Let us be perfectly honest, thank goodness this is still a wonderful 
country where everybody wants to come. So we are talking about a 
country that has a population of a billion two, a billion two.
  Over the Easter break, I happened to be in China. I was there with 
the Committee on the Judiciary talking about the intellectual property 
issues, because, as you know, China has been ripping off many of our 
very important assets, such as movies, such as CD's, and so forth. They 
signed an agreement on intellectual property, and we were there to test 
the
 enforcement and see what was happening.

  But in being there, one of the things that transpired was I got to 
talk to many of our folks over there and many people on the ground, and 
they were very concerned about this policy that we are going to vote on 
this week. They were saying they were seeing any number of people 
getting ready to apply for this new immigration status should it 
appear, that large families were coming in and saying, because they had 
had a large family, they felt discriminated against in their village. 
Single people were coming in saying they might want a large family, 
just the very fact that that family, that one-child policy was in 
effect was there, they might want to come in. All of these people were 
lining up and beginning to line up, and the rumble was going on to come 
line up soon if this passed and this is how you get to come to America.
  We remember just a few years ago when many Chinese came here on boats 
illegally because they wanted to come so desperately.
  I as an American, and I am sure every other American is terribly 
flattered that people want to come to this country, but I think 
Americans who are here wonder how many can we let in reasonably and 
keep America at the same standard.
  I hope all of us take this very seriously when it comes to the floor, 
think about the unintended consequences and salute the Supreme Court 
who today said maybe some of us here with gray heads should remain to 
keep talking about these issues and make sure we do not get off the 
road.

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