[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 12912]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      KEEP IMMIGRATION ISSUE ALIVE

  (Mr. COSTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues to keep the 
immigration issue alive today. In spite of extraordinary efforts by our 
President and the Senate, the House majority is stalling any real 
negotiations by insisting on time-consuming hearings aimed at taking 
the temperature of the American public.
  We know a clear majority of Americans want action and reform. Should 
we attempt border security first, which I believe we should, we still 
need to face the fact that comprehensive reform is necessary. This must 
include a guest worker program and dealing with the 11 million people 
who are here today that are contributing to our economy.
  Need I remind my colleagues of the difficulty we had in just moving a 
few hundred thousand people from the gulf coast during the Katrina 
hurricane? Let us convene now the conference committee on immigration 
and deal with the issue and develop a bipartisan solution.
  Delaying the conference committee with this proposed dog and pony 
show does the Nation no good. Further discussions need to begin. 
Delaying the difficult decisions will not make it go away. The American 
public wants and deserves action, not the politics of division.

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