Horsford Demands Vote On Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Statement

Yesterday, Representative Steven Horsford (NV-4) urged his Republican colleagues to allow the House to vote on H.R. 15, a comprehensive immigration reform measure. At a House Democrats press conference, Horsford spoke about the overwhelming benefits of comprehensive immigration reform and insisted the time to act is now. Below is a transcript of his remarks:

"I am proud to stand here as a son and grandson of immigrants. My mother and grandmother came to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago, and like many Caribbean and African immigrants they came to the United States, like other immigrants, because of all of the wonderful opportunities that our country provides.

"And now, as a member of Congress, working with my colleagues, the 184 who've signed on to H.R. 15 to pass comprehensive immigration reform, we say to our Republican counterparts, "what are you waiting for?' This is the bill; it passed the Senate with 68 votes, Republicans and Democrats. This is the bipartisan commonsense reform that we need to fix our broken immigration system.

"And we're here today to make it clear that we will get comprehensive immigration reform done, and we're going to do it right. We're not going to allow this to be a do-nothing, shut-down-everything Congress. And as House Republicans recover from their flirtation with default, we're here to help find a way forward on the issues that the American public care about.

"We want to strengthen our economy and create jobs, and immigration reform is one way to do that. Estimates are that by passing immigration reform we would grow our economy 5% in two decades. That's $1.4 trillion in new economic growth. In terms of reducing the deficit, and it is already falling dramatically, the Congressional Budget Office found that the Senate's immigration bill would cut the deficit by more than a $150 billion over 10 years, and around $700 billion dollars over 20 years.

"On immigration, Democrats and Republicans agree we have to do something. President Obama agrees, Former President Bush agrees, the Senate, with the leadership of Senator Reid, passed a bill in a bipartisan fashion. And there are Republicans in the House who support comprehensive reform.

"So immigration reform is truly one of our best shots at a bipartisan effort to reduce our deficit and our debt. But the time to act is now. I've said it before: this is the civil and human rights issue of our time. I'm proud to be on the right side of history, but it's imperative that we pass this bill so that we can keep our families together and rebuild the American dream."

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