Date: 2005-12-16
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I am going to support the rule. and I am going to support this bill. But there are a lot of things that are not included in this bill that I believe we. as Members of Congress of the United States of America. should include in this bill. representing the citizens of the United States of America. There has beer a lot of talk about unfunded mandates in this bill. Let us talk about the unfunded mandates in the States of our country that are educating illegals. that are providing health care. the judicial system incarcerating them. how much is thatcosting the economy? I have been in the construction industry for over 35 years. and I remember in the 1970s through the late 1980s. a man couldgo out. a woman could go out in the construction industry and make a good living. could buy a house. raise a family. In the late 1980s and early 1990s. especially during the recessions in the 1990s. that changed. You had labor coming into this country that some say are just going to work on farms until they get a call from their cousin whoworks on a construction site. or it might be a drilling company or a manufacturing plant. and says. You can make more money over here than you can over there. And I have watched the jobs in our construction industry be lost to American citizens because wages were cut so much that they had to do something else. Now you tell the guys who used to be able to work in this country. who do not want to go to work with a tie and a suit on. that their job went to someone else who is willing to undercut their labor costs. and they are not paid what they should be. why that has happened to them. why they can no longer afford to own a home. why they can no longer afford to have a family and send them to college. The wrath of the business people in this country was discussed. I am worried about the wrath of the citizens I represent who have lost their jobs. The number one issue I hear about in California every week is illegal immigration. why can you not do something about it? Eleven million people impacting our highways and freeways. congesting southern California roadways. is that acceptable to the guy sitting on the road spending 2 hours trying to get to work? No. it is not acceptable. There were some amendments that I offered that my good friend. the chairman. was unable to put in the -bill. and I respect that. There are reasons for that. Congressman DEAL had a great amendment that said. on "anchor babies." if they come here illegally and have a baby. that baby should not be a citizen of this country. I agree with that 100 percent. There are countries who advertise to have people come here on vacation. and they provide a house. the medical. the care for their child. to have their baby here so they can become a citizen of this country. then they fly back to their country and the kid has dual citizenship. Is that right? No. it is not right. It is wrong. And the people coming from Mexico and other countries are good people. Do not get me wrong. They are here just to better their life. I am not arguing that a bit. That is not the issue here. The issue is what responsibility do we have to the people of the United States of America. what responsibility we have to the workers of the United States of America who have lost their jobs or. instead of being paid $22 an hour are now having to work for $11 an hour? Tell that to that carpenter. I go to job sites in this country. and the guys are pouring concrete. they are framing. and nobody on the job site. except the foreman. speaks English. Now. you tell that to the carpenter who lost his job or had his wage cut in half. You tell that to the electrician or the plumber or the framer or the roofer who have had their wages cut in half and lost many benefits because somebody is willing to come here to better themselves. and. God bless them. I am not arguing that. but they took their job. Tell that to those people. And I am going to say once again not everybody wants to get up in the morning and put a suit and tie on to go to work. They want to get up and work with their hands. They are proud of what they did. They look at their work during the day. and when they go home. they can say. I accomplished something. We need to do more than we are doing here. but at least we are making a step in the right direction. Mr. . HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas .