Six House Reps. Denounce Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was joined by five other House Members on Tuesday denouncing the Senate Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, S.744. Rep. King was joined on the steps of the Capitol by Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama, John Fleming of Louisiana, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Steve Stockman and Louie Gohmert of Texas. The six Congressmen said they were concerned about the huge negative impact an amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens would have on the national debt, and they said they stood by the rule of law.
The press conference took place as the Senate Judiciary Committee was continuing its markup of the Gang of Eight's bill.
"The 844 page bill, over in the Senate, whether amended or not, in what ways we can anticipate it might be, is still a terrible idea if you look at it from an economic perspective," said Rep. King. "At no stage in their lives does the Universe of those who would receive amnesty make a net financial contribution to this country. At no stage, not a single year, out of all those years. That's off of The Heritage Foundation's Report, Robert Rector's Report, which many of you will be familiar with.
"It destroys the Rule of Law. And the Rule of Law is an essential pillar of American exceptionalism. Many people come here because of equal justice under the law. If we reward people who break the law, they are unlikely to raise their children to respect it. The Rule of Law, at least with regard to immigration, would be destroyed."
While the Senate Committee was overwhelmingly opposing an amendment offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that proposed to reduce the massive increases in green cards that would be granted under the Gang's bill, Rep. Brooks was saying that the U.S. couldn't open it's doors to every person in the world.
"In each of the past five years, 620,000 to 1.05 million foreigners have been given American citizenship," Rep. Brooks said. "No country on earth comes close to being as generous as America is with its citizenship.
"The immigration issue is not about whether America is compassionate and generous. We are. The immigration issue is about whether America has the financial resources to accept all the world's immigrants into America. There are hundreds of millions of foreigners who, if they could, would immigrate to America."
To watch the full press conference, click here.