Orlando Sentinel
Congressional reactions to President Obama's immigration reform announcement
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson:
“It’s a necessary step in the right direction, though ultimately we’re going to have to provide a path to citizenship and normality of lives for these people.
“The action was forced upon him. The Republican leadership in the House sat on the bi-partisan bill passed by the Senate for a year and a half. The bill passed by the Senate with 80 votes, with most Republicans voting in favor, and still the Republicans in the House of Representatives refused stubbornly to do anything about it, so they left the president with no alternative. The worst part is, if John Boehner had simply put up the Senate bill for a vote, it would have passed overwhelmingly. So what you have is one stubborn person in the House preventing progress in the lives of 12 million people.
“It’s going to be enormously beneficial [in his district.] The people whom the president is providing relief will now be able to report when they are victims of crimes, which they can’t do now. They will be able to get auto insurance. We have tens of thousands of people driving on our highways in my district who can’t get auto insurance, which is a danger to everyone. All these people will begin to pay taxes, the same way as everyone else is.
“And as these peoples’ lives become normal lives, they will help the entire regional economy. We won’t have the problem of undocumented workers undermining labor standards for everyone else.”
