Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Authorizing the Speaker to Appear As Amicus Curiae on Behalf of the House

Floor Speech

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Ms. DelBENE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying legislation. And I call on the Speaker to stop this political game and allow the vote on comprehensive immigration reform that we should have taken 2 years ago.

Everyone agrees that our immigration system is broken, but instead of voting on a solution, Congress is again wasting time on a political gimmick that does not address a single real problem.

The President took lawful action to help families being torn apart by our current system. If Republicans take issue with what current law allows, they should stop obstructing meaningful debate and get serious about comprehensive immigration reform.

As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I helped lead efforts last Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform by introducing the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, H.R. 15. I believe that bill would have passed if we had been given a chance to vote on it on the floor. We had 200 cosponsors and a chance to fix this problem then.

I won't blame the current Speaker for mistakes of the past, but he has a chance to lead now.

For too long, Congress has failed to take meaningful action to address our broken immigration system. As a result, we have a deeply flawed system that is not working for our communities, our businesses, immigrants, or families.

It will take Congressional action to truly repair our broken immigration system, so I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution and demand that Congress act.

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