“It cannot be easy for a decent man to be the head of what is becoming the New Know-Nothing Party of anti-immigrant policies and intolerance.”
Washington, DC –-(ENEWSPF)–September 25, 2015. Today, Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) issued a statement in reaction to the news that Speaker John Boehner would be stepping down.
Rep. Gutiérrez represents the Fourth District of Illinois, is a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is a Member of the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, and is the Co-Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Statement by Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez:
“First, I want to thank Speaker Boehner for his many years of service to his country and to the House of Representatives. He is a good and decent man and someone for whom I have a lot of affection. We do not agree on many issues and I disagree with almost everything his Caucus does, but the Speaker has been in a very difficult position for years. What his Caucus wants and what the Speaker and the country want are almost always in conflict. It cannot be easy for a decent man to be the head of what is becoming the New Know-Nothing Party of anti-immigrant policies and intolerance.
“Receiving the Pope to speak to America from the House of Representatives was a crowning achievement in Speaker Boehner’s career, but he has left so much undone in the House. Despite Senate passage of an immigration reform bill last Congress, a small group of Republicans who oppose immigration were able to hold the rest of the House — and the country — hostage and prevent a House vote on immigration reform. There were sufficient House votes to get a bill to the President’s desk for signature, but they literally threatened Boehner’s job if he called the vote. With Speaker Boehner stepping down and his job no longer on the line, there is no reason not to have a vote. He should call a vote on immigration reform, and I think in my heart that Speaker Boehner would stand with us, with his country, and with the immigrant and Latino community. Speaker Boehner now has the opportunity to respond to the Pope’s moral call and rise above the racism and the xenophobia that is gripping the Republican Party and call the vote.”
Source: www.gutierrez.house.gov
