ms. lofgren: mr. speaker, in the committee report from the -- that accompanies these bills, on page 13 and 14, there are three items that the majority says that the president can't do. one is to defer action for the dreamers, young people who are brought here innocently in violation of immigration laws. three, to allow the wives of american soldiers who are undocumented to stay and not be deported. and finally to allow parents who've been arrested for immigration to try and preserve their parental rights. is it legal for the president to take these actions? certainly it is. in the heckler v. cheney as well as in the arizona vs. the united states court decision, the supreme court makes clear that in immigration, the ability to enforce or decide not to enforce is part of the broad executive authority. and further, the united states congress' actually delegated to 6 u.s. utive branch code 202 of the national immigration enforcement and priorities policies to the president. now, is this anything new? no.

ms. lofgren, for five minutes. ms. lofgren: madam speaker, i think what we are engaging on today has the potential of being truly historic. we need a vote on immigration reform. you know, several weeks ago i was home in the district i represent. i go home every week, and the secretary of commerce was visiting in silicon valley. she gave a goods speech. after she fin -- she gave a good speech. after she finished her speech she invited questions. the first question was a young man, a scientist who said this. i started a company. i'm about to hire four americans, but my visa is up next month. what am i supposed to do? as i was talking to that young man, another young man came forward, another scientist who's just formed a company, is about to go into a hiring mode, but his visa was about up. and so when you take a look and listen to the people in silicon valley, the jobs that we are going to lose in america because we have a dysfunctional immigration system, it shows the problem that we have allowed to fester. recently i m