Washington, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33) announced that he is cosponsoring a comprehensive immigration reform bill, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, introduced in the House, by Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL) and other House Democrats.
This bill is designed to receive bipartisan support in the House. It contains the provisions of the commonsense, comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate in June by the bipartisan vote of 68 to 32.
“As a longtime supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of HR 15, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, introduced by my friend, Rep. Joe Garcia,” Rep. Veasey said.
Rep. Veasey said that the only way immigration reform passes in the House is if Democrats and Republicans compromise, “Back in June, the Senate acted in a bipartisan way to pass commonsense comprehensive immigration reform. Now it’s the House’s turn. My colleagues on both sides of the isle understand the need to strengthen our economy, defend our borders and fix a broken immigration system. This commonsense bill does that. The time to fix our broken immigration system is long overdue.”
This bill:
· For securing our borders, contains the provisions of the bipartisan McCaul-Thompson border security bill that received unanimous approval from the House Homeland Security Committee.
· Contains the same provisions from the bipartisan Senate-passed bill that protect our workers, unite families, and offer hardworking immigrants an earned pathway to citizenship.
· Also contains the same provisions from the bipartisan Senate-passed bill that reform our visa programs and our interior enforcement.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, enactment of the bipartisan Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill would reduce the deficit by $850 billion. CBO also estimates that the Senate-passed bill would increase economic growth by 3.3% in 2023 and 5.4% in 3033
