[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11520-11521]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Gardner) for 10 minutes.
  Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman, the Speaker, for the additional 
time to continue this conversation, and thank you as well to Members 
for this opportunity to discuss what is truly one of the biggest issues 
this Congress, this Nation faces.
  I recently was talking to a reporter back home about the immigration 
debate taking place. They were asking about the Senate bill, asking 
about what the House was doing. And they said, Well, aren't you acting 
with speed? Do you feel no urgency?
  And my response was, Don't mistake the issue of speed with urgency, 
because I think the House feels every bit as urgent as this issue truly 
is and truly deserves the attention of how urgent the matter is before 
all of us. But because of that, because of the urgency to do it right, 
it is going to take time, a deliberative process through this body to 
make sure that we create that step-by-step opportunity for the people 
who are here legally, for people who want to come into this Nation 
legally, to create the border security, the border enforcement, and 
then to have answers for every person in this Nation. And so as we 
create this process, this debate, as it moves forward, every bit as 
urgent as any other American before us, any other person who's desiring 
to be a part of this country, the urgency that we all feel to make sure 
that this happens.
  And so to the gentleman from Illinois or Wisconsin or North Carolina, 
thank you.
  I yield to anyone who wishes to continue tonight.
  Mr. HUDSON. Well, I'm happy to jump in. I thank my colleague from 
Colorado for giving us this opportunity.

[[Page 11521]]

  I think the problem is just the general distrust in the way 
Washington does things, and you only have to look at the process we 
just went through to understand why; because any problem that we ever 
face as a Nation, Congress can solve it by very quickly passing a big 
piece of legislation with a great title and saying the problem is 
solved.
  Unfortunately, in 1986, when we passed immigration reform it didn't 
solve the problem. It gave amnesty now with a promise of border 
security later that we never saw, and I believe that's the same thing 
that happened with the Senate bill. We very quickly put out a bill that 
has a great title, thousands of pages that I doubt many folks have even 
read, and saying the problem is now solved.
  And then you immediately hear the pundits and the folks who talk on 
TV about what happens in Washington saying, Well, the House, since you 
aren't quickly moving a huge bill with a nice title, you don't care. 
But the truth is we do care, but we're here to represent the people of 
the United States of America that sent us here, and we're going to do 
this in a very thoughtful way, and we're going to do immigration reform 
the right way so that we don't have to do it again in another 20 years.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. The big picture of this is we're getting 
into a lot of the details we need to. But I want to just, as I give my 
last statement of the night, I just want to say this.
  You know, America is the land of opportunity. America is growing at 
less, frankly, organically, with folks just here, than we need to to 
continue to be a powerful economy in the world, so this is a discussion 
that we have to have. It is a discussion that is required if we're 
going to be, in 20, 30, 40, 50 years, the most powerful country in the 
world.
  I don't have kids yet, but I sure hope when I do that my grandkids 
can live in a world where America is unchecked, the power in the world. 
They never have to worry about some of the problems that previous 
generations have had to worry about.
  This reminds me, and as I've heard folks on, frankly, the other side 
of the aisle that have said many times, you know, they use very 
emotional statements to talk about what the Republican Party believes. 
I've heard us called the Party of No. I've heard us called, you know, 
taking food from the mouths of children, not caring about anybody but 
the rich. I've heard it all.
  Look, I'll admit this in some cases, in many cases, the Republican 
Party has not done a good job of messaging. I remember seeing an ad on 
television where a pizza company talked about how they used to do it 
wrong and now they want to do it right.
  Well, here's what we need do and here's what my passion is: to let 
the people know that, frankly, the Republican Party is the party of 
opportunity. We're the party that, as I mentioned earlier, believes 
that a kid born in the worst of circumstances should be able to pull 
himself out of those circumstances and be one of the most successful 
people in the world, including President of the United States if he or 
she wants to be. That's what we believe.
  That's, when we go forward in this debate and any other debates, 
that's the message that I think is important to get out. Let's quit 
calling each other names. Let's quit trying to use cheap shots. Let's 
just have a grown-up discussion and say we both, all sides of the 
aisle, want a successful America; we just see how to get there 
differently. And let's have a discussion as adults, as Members of 
Congress, and, frankly, as Americans should have a discussion.
  Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, I think it's important for all of us to stand 
strong, stand tall and lead, listen, communicate on this very important 
issue. And I know that's what we want to do here tonight is throw out 
ideas, but also prepare ourselves to listen to what our constituents 
want, what America wants and what's right for the country.
  I hear some folks on my side of the aisle talk about if you pass a 
border security bill, you're going to go to conference with the Senate 
and you're going to adopt the Senate bill. We don't go to conference 
unless we agree to it. That's not going to happen. Let me be very 
clear. We're going to do a step-by-step approach and get a solution to 
immigration and then we'll talk about going to conference, if that's 
the pathway forward. But it's not one phase of the bill, then to 
Congress.
  I've got others that say just enforce the current laws, and to those 
I would ask: How is that working for us? It's not working. We have to 
engage in this conversation and do what's right.
  I've got one more story for you. There's a family that came from 
Mexico over to Arizona, and they had an opportunity to work in the 
mines in Superior, Arizona, hard work, tough work. They were Catholic. 
They raised a lot of kids on not a lot of money. But one of their kids, 
as he grew up, he learned how to make pinatas and sell those pinatas. 
He learned how to get fruit of the desert, chop it up, slice it, dice 
it, and sell it as a delicacy within his community, a little 
entrepreneur.
  When he got older he had a shot to go work in the mines like his 
brothers, but instead he said, You know what? I want to serve my 
country. And he went into the military. He had a chance to serve under 
Ronald Reagan.
  And he came from a party that's not mine, but he had a chance to 
serve under Ronald Reagan, and he had to see what a party of 
opportunity had to offer him and his community and his family. He 
changed his vote. He said, This is who's looking out for me. This is 
who's looking out for my opportunity, and this is who's going to look 
out for my children and my grandchildren.
  He went on, got married to a woman in Spain who immigrated here 
legally, and they had four kids. And I was honored enough to meet their 
daughter and marry her and move her to northern Wisconsin from warm 
Arizona, where we now have six children together.
  That's my wife's immigrant story, whose father came here as a first-
generation American, who worked his heart out and has his shot at the 
American Dream. After the military, he became a schoolteacher, and now 
he works for a university. He's living the dream. His daughter is 
living the dream. All of us have those stories. My parents, my great-
grandparents came from Ireland. We all have the story of an immigrant.
  I'm here to say, let's open our hearts. Let's open our minds. Let's 
have a real discussion that works. But let's also first say secure the 
border so we don't deal with this again, and then do what's right by 
way of folks who have come here and want their shot at the American 
Dream.
  Mr. GARDNER. That, Mr. Speaker, is the story of America. And I thank 
our colleagues for joining us tonight and look forward to this debate 
and look forward to hearing from you, the people of this country, as we 
enter this important conversation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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