[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[April 25, 2006]
[Pages 808-809]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Meeting With Members of the Senate
April 25, 2006

    I want to thank the Members of the United States Senate for joining 
on a very important discussion, and the discussion was how to get a 
comprehensive immigration bill out of the United States Senate.
    I will report to the American people that there is a common desire 
to have a bill

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that enforces the border, a bill that has interior enforcement--in other 
words, a bill that will hold people to account for hiring somebody who 
is here illegally but a bill that also recognizes we must have a 
temporary-worker program, a bill that does not grant automatic amnesty 
to people but a bill that says, somebody who is working here on a legal 
basis has the right to get in line to become a citizen.
    I thank the Members, both Republicans and Democrats, for taking on 
this really hard, hard assignment. It's important that we reform a 
system that is not working. It's important that we uphold the values of 
the United States of America. It's important that we treat people with 
dignity.
    And I strongly believe that we have a chance to get an immigration 
bill that is comprehensive in nature to my desk before the end of this 
year.
    And again, I want to thank both the Republicans and Democrats for 
the spirit of hard work. I particularly want to thank Senator 
Kennedy and Senator McCain for taking the lead on this important bill on the floor 
of the United States Senate. And I assured the Members that I look 
forward to working with them as they try to get a bill out of the Senate 
by Memorial Day and into conference.
    Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 4:23 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.