Thursday, March 08, 2007

House Democratic Caucus Leaders Comment on the Passage of the
Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007


Democratic Leaders of the House commented today on the passage of House Bill 1804, the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007. House Bill 1804 is 2007’s highly publicized immigration reform legislation.

“The members of the House Democratic Caucus applaud all of our colleagues in the House for coming together to try and find a solution for our illegal immigration crisis in Oklahoma,” said Democrat Leader Danny Morgan, D- Prague. “Illegal immigration reform is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It affects every Oklahoman across the State and I am glad that we are taking a bi-partisan approach to reforming our immigration system.”


“Today’s immigration reform is a result of the complete and utter failure of Washington’s leadership. The President and Congress have twiddled their thumbs, leaving Americans leaderless on the issue of immigration,” said Democratic Caucus Chairman Ryan McMullen, D- Burns Flat. “Today Oklahoma stepped up to the plate. I commend Oklahoma’s House Republicans for breaking with their Republican leadership in Washington by working with us to actually to tackle immigration reform.”

“We saw some cooperation, but there were other aggressive immigration reforms that were not even given a vote today in the House. House Democrats offered several sincere alternatives to improve the bill and better enforce illegal immigration laws in Oklahoma. But on several of these ideas, Democrats were cut off, limiting the quality of reform,” said Representative Mike Brown, D- Tahlequah. “One idea would have built upon our current drivers’ license system in implements a real Oklahoma ID Program. Instead, we’re punting on the program and sending it to some international corporation. Today we instituted reforms, but we also left several good ideas on the table.”

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