Scalise on FOX Business: I Want to See the Goodlatte-McCaul Bill Passed
Statement
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network's Varney & Co. earlier today to discuss the economic success our country has seen in the last two months because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as well as his efforts to whip support for the Goodlatte-McCaul immigration bill in the House.
On the economic success seen from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
"It's a great bill but it keeps underscoring the fact that we were strongly supporting tax cuts to get people more of their money back and you saw Nancy Pelosi and, unfortunately, every other Democrat voting against the bill because they wanted Washington to keep that money, and look at what is happening in the economy. Hard-working families are getting the benefits of this, they're getting bonuses, they're getting pay raises, and more people are getting hired, Stuart, and they still oppose what we did. So what does that tell you about what they wanted to see for hard-working families?"
On if the House has the support to pass the Goodlatte-McCaul immigration bill:
"We're going to find out shortly. Later today I'm going to be whipping the Goodlatte-McCaul bill which is our immigration bill that, number one, makes sure we're going to have the money to build the wall, to secure the border -- not just border security but also internally -- so we're going to have a very strong border security bill. But it also ends chain migration, it ends this ridiculous visa lottery program where they randomly pick people; let's make it a merit-based system. And then we addressed DACA, not through amnesty, but by saying you can be in the country, but if you want to become a citizen -- which not all would -- but if they want to become a citizen, they can get in line like everybody else and wait while they're here, but we also have to get rid of the backlog."
"[The DACA participants] would actually be able to stay here which is a real big win for a lot of folks because, number one, they really don't have a legal status right now. Barack Obama just said, "Come here and we'll ignore the laws.' That's not the way it's supposed to be, and yet now you have, according to [the Department of] Homeland Security, 690,000 young people who came here under that DACA program who we're actually going to address by saying you will have legal status, but if you want to become a citizen, you have to get in line like everybody else at the back of the line. You don't get a special path. But we unclog a lot of -- when you look at chain migration, that clogs up the legal system so we're also fixing the path for legal citizenship into this country."
On his efforts to whip support for the Goodlatte-McCaul bill:
"We've been having member briefings for weeks, getting feedback, there were some changes that were made to the bill to address that, and now we're going to find out today where we really start and what we can do to get the bill passed."
"I'd like to get the bill passed. This is probably one of the most complicated issues within the Republican conference because there are a lot of people who have different views, especially as it relates to DACA. We're going to find out over these next few weeks if we can come together and get a bill that we can pass. I want to see the Goodlatte-McCaul bill passed because Present Trump would sign the bill and it solves the problem, Stuart, and actually gets us back to rule of law by securing the border and building the wall and addressing the DACA problem."
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