Thursday, January 18th, 2007...6:13 am
Giffords’s Debut Speech
As I wrote earlier, Gabrielle Giffords made her first remarks on the House floor last Friday. She made them during Special Orders on the topic of immigration:
(Ms. GIFFORDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Ms. GIFFORDS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak for the very first time in this distinguished Chamber representing the Eighth District of Arizona.
Mr. Speaker, we have made some major accomplishments this week, but one area that particularly pertains to my district and to the State of Arizona has not been addressed, and that is the crisis in illegal immigration.
For too long, Congress and Washington have failed to act. We must secure the border now. My district and the State of Arizona have paid a heavy price for this burden. We know it in our schools, our hospitals and our law enforcement agencies.
We must move this year with a sense of urgency to pass a comprehensive immigration reform package that is tough, effective, and practical. We need to increase border security using modern-era technology, radar, drones, electronic surveillance. There must be more Border Patrol agents and more support for those Border Patrol agents.
We also need tough employer sanctions for those employers who are knowingly hiring people illegally, and a guest worker program, so that people can come in and work legally, safely, and return back to their home countries.
Working to pass such measures will be my priority in this 110th Congress, and I look forward to working with Members on both sides of the aisle on this important issue.
As I noted before, the Arizona Democratic Party posted Harry Mitchell’s coming out on YouTube. This one still hasn’t been posted. Come on guys, where is the love for us Bajados?
3 Comments
January 18th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Frankly, I have such a total lack of respect for Gabby that I probably shouldn’t say anything. But what the heck.
We need a “sense of urgency” huh? Need to work with the other side huh? Wow.
I guess it’s easier than thinking. Or doing. Neither of which have ever been her strong suit.
How the hell did this happen? I still can’t say Congressman Giffords without feeling slightly ill.
January 18th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
rob f,
You’re worse than I am. I was thinking of making some smart alecky remark like, “now we can all sleep better at night knowing that our newly elected representative is all over this immigration problem.”
I guess that whoever the handlers are in what one blogger called the “incumbent protection program” decided that paying attention to the immigration issue will convince AZ CD8 voters in 2008 that Giffords has done well for them. Maybe they’re right, who knows?
At least I know now that I could actually be represented in Congress if I move to Rep. Grijalva’s district. His recent statement about Iraq is a very profound example of what I would like to hear from every Democrat in Congress.
January 18th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Well, gee, I have to apologize for my previous post. I just read the article in the Tucson Citizen where Rep. Giffords does have an opinion about the troop surge in Iraq. To quote the article, “Giffords said she is skeptical of the president’s plan because it does not include benchmarks for success or represent a new strategy.” And this, “Giffords also said she will likely visit troops in Iraq and see for herself what needs to be done.”
This is great. What we need here is a fresh pair of eyes. Hang in there, Baghdad, help is on the way.
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