Providing for Consideration of H.R. Securing America's Future Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, these rules would mark the capitulation by a large number of Republicans who, for a time, reflected the views of 86 percent of the American people and the hopes of the Dreamers those Americans support. If they vote for this pretense of reform and security, they will have abandoned the principles they mouthed and the people who relied on their courage.

Contrary to the Speaker and majority leader, the test for bringing bills to the floor must not be whether the President, untethered to principle, would sign them, but whether they reflect the will of the people and this House.

The Speaker refuses to put options on the floor supported by, at one time, 247 Members of this House. Now, 240 Members have supported a rule to give us four competing options to address the Trump-caused crisis. That number may not comply with the Hastert rule, but it does comply with democracy.

And it would give the Speaker his option as well. The Speaker clearly fears that his alternative will fail. As a result, he has opposed an open process. So much for the leadership that claimed--falsely--to pursue transparency, openness, and a willingness to take the tough issues head on and individually.

The bill it would bring to the floor, contrary to what Speaker Ryan and Leader McCarthy claim, is no compromise. A compromise, by definition, requires both sides to come together and meet in the middle. We did. And we built a majority of support for a bill.

The Ryan bill is a capitulation by those who have professed support of the Dreamers. Indeed, the only compromise in this bill is how it compromises our values, our principles as Americans, and how it compromises our economy and national security.

The conservative Cato Institute has said that only 12 percent of Dreamers would ever actually attain citizenship under this hoax of a bill.

For those seeking refuge from fear for their lives and from assault, and from having their children torn from their arms and separated--as Laura Bush pleaded, ``immoral''--this bill does not provide a solution. Instead, it provides for locking up those children in prison with their parents. Isn't that a wonderful option?

The American people are overwhelmingly outraged by what is happening at the border and want to see Congress take real action. As John McCain stated, such a policy that is being promoted by the President and the Republicans in Congress ``is an affront to the decency of the American people.''

In addition, the Ryan bill imposes new restrictions on legal immigration. Democrats will strongly oppose this noxious bill.

Mr. Speaker, please summon the courage to let the people's House work its will and demand that the President return to a policy of treating these children as we would want our own children to be treated. That is not what these bills do. Reject these bills. We are America. We are better than these bills.

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