Tomorrow, America will have a chance to see where some of their Representatives actually stand on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Along with Democrats on the House Committee on the Budget, I will force Chairman Paul Ryan to hold a vote during a markup of the potentially devastating Republican budget plan.
I intend to offer an amendment to the Ryan budget that creates the economic infrastructure to support H.R. 15, the House version of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. H.R. 15 has bipartisan support and lowers the deficit by more than $900 billion, while creating an additional 120,000 jobs each year. Already 172 Members of the House have signed a discharge petition to move H.R. 15 to the floor. This bill is similar to the bipartisan Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed last year with 68 votes.
The Ryan budget is potentially terrible for the United States. It would cut Medicare, destroy our social safety net and cripple education and infrastructure spending. However, it is also the only avenue we have been able to find to create a true debate, short though it may be, and hold a fair, majority-rules vote on comprehensive immigration reform.
We hear a lot of rhetoric from Republicans on their support for immigration reform. But this rhetoric has not been supported by action. Republican leadership has refused every attempt to bring this commonsense legislation to a fair debate on the House floor, or even in the committee of jurisdiction. They are letting a small minority in their party block reform that a majority of the House and an overwhelming majority of Americans support.
Tomorrow’s vote may be the only chance we have to vote on comprehensive immigration reform that will impact millions of families, while supercharging our economic future.
This isn’t just about immigrants though. It’s also about that $900 billion dollars. We are going to ask Republicans and Democrats alike to vote for cutting our deficit by nearly a TRILLION DOLLARS over twenty years. I don’t know about you, but I am curious to find out who will vote for cutting our deficit and creating jobs, and who will vote to continue to support our broken immigration system that waste billions every year and is crippling our economy.
Make no mistake, this will be the first vote in the House on comprehensive immigration reform. We must hold every member of the Budget Committee accountable for that vote.