mr. chairman , i move to strike the last word . 
mr. chairman , this amendment is misdirected , misguided , and stupid . 
if you are out in the woods with a rifle and you are hunting and you shoot at something , it would be nice if you are shooting at the right target . 
this amendment does not do anything about illegal immigration . 
this amendment simply shoots the victim of illegal immigration by damaging the local hospitals . 
if we have illegal immigrants in this country , it is because of a failure of the federal government to effectively enforce its immigration laws . 
that is the problem . 
the problem with the gentleman 's amendment is that because he does not like the fact that the federal government has been ineffective with respect to immigration , he wants to take it out on the local hospitals . 
the local hospitals when someone shows up on their door , they have an obligation under the law to treat that patient . 
if the federal government does not pay for the treatment of that patient , then local taxpayers and local hospitals get stuck with the bill . 
i have a similar situation in my district . 
i have a huge percentage of hmong who have come to this country since the end of the vietnam war . 
they came because of a decision of the federal government . 
yet after they come to my district , after a very few months of federal support , the financial cost for maintaining them , for educating them and for dealing with their medical needs winds up being assumed by the local government . 
that is not fair . 
local governments do not make the foreign policy decisions that determine who our refugees are , and local governments do not have anything to do with what policies the federal government follows with respect to immigration . 
i would suggest to the gentleman if you do not like federal immigration policy , shoot the right messenger . 
this one shoots the wrong messenger . 
this amendment deserves to be roundly defeated , unless you believe that somebody should pay for somebody else 's mistakes . 
mr. chairman , i yield to the gentlewoman from california ( ms. linda t. snchez ) . 
