[StBernard] Landrieu Votes No on Immigration Bill

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu Votes No 

on Immigration Bill 

 

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today released
the following statement after voting against a cloture motion on S. 1639,
the immigration bill, which failed 46-53. This procedural motion ended
debate on the bill, signaling the Senate's opposition.

Sen. Landrieu said:

"Today, for the fifth time, I voted against this immigration bill because it
would take our country down the wrong path. The guest worker program
encouraged people to break the law and did little to help our employers.
Illegal immigrants would all too easily gain citizenship while legal
immigrants and their families were not afforded the same rights.

"This bill was also supposed to be carried out by the Department of Homeland
Security, which already struggles with its current responsibilities and
botched, in so many ways, the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There
is no way this agency could have shouldered its responsibilities under this
bill.

"Congress does need to find a way to realistically and methodically secure
our borders. We also need to ensure that businesses have enough available
workers, particularly as the Gulf Coast recovers from the 2005 hurricanes.
But this bill was not the way, and would have done little to solve the
illegal immigration problem in the United States."

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