English subtitles for clip: File:President Trump Makes an Announcement with Senator Tom Cotton and Senator David Perdue.webm

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The President:
Thank you very much.

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It's great to be
here today to unveil

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legislation that would
represent the most

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significant reform to our
immigration system

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in half a century.

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I want to thank Senators
Tom Cotton and David

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Perdue for their
tremendous work in putting

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together this historic
and very vital proposal.

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As a candidate, I
campaigned on creating a

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merit-based immigration
system that protects U.S.

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workers and taxpayers --
and that is why

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we are here today.

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Merit-based.

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The RAISE Act -- R-A-I-S-E
-- the RAISE Act will

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reduce poverty, increase
wages, and save taxpayers

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billions and
billions of dollars.

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It will do this by
changing the way the

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United States issues Green
Cards to nationals from

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other countries.

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Green Cards provide
permanent residency, work

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authorization, and fast
track to citizenship.

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For decades, the United
States was operated and

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has operated a very
low-skilled immigration

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system, issuing record
numbers of Green Cards to

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low-wage immigrants.

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This policy has placed
substantial pressure on

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American workers,
taxpayers and

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community resources.

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Among those hit the
hardest in recent years

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have been immigrants and,
very importantly, minority

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workers competing for
jobs against

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brand-new arrivals.

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And it has not been fair
to our people, to our

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citizens, to our workers.

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The RAISE Act ends chain
migration, and replaces

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our low-skilled system
with a new points-based

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system for receiving
a Green Card.

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This competitive
application process will

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favor applicants who can
speak English, financially

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support themselves and
their families, and

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demonstrate skills that will contribute to our economy.

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The RAISE Act prevents
new migrants and new

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immigrants from collecting
welfare, and protects U.S.

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workers from
being displaced.

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And that's a
very big thing.

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They're not going to come
in and just immediately go

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and collect welfare.

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That doesn't happen
under the RAISE Act.

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They can't do that.

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Crucially, the Green Card
reforms in the RAISE Act

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will give American workers
a pay raise by reducing

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unskilled immigration.

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This legislation will
not only restore our

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competitive edge in the
21st century, but it will

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restore the sacred bonds
of trust between America

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and its citizens.

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This legislation
demonstrates our

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compassion for struggling
American families who

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deserve an immigration
system that puts their

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needs first and that
puts America first.

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Finally, the reforms in
the RAISE Act will help

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ensure that newcomers to
our wonderful country will

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be assimilated, will
succeed, and will achieve

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the American Dream.

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I'd like now to invite
Senator Cotton and Senator

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Perdue to say a few words.

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Thank you.

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Thank you very much.

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Senator Cotton: Thank
you, Mr. President.

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I'm very excited to be
here with Senator Perdue

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and President Trump to
be introducing the new

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version of the RAISE Act.

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Our legal immigration
system should accomplish

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two main goals: One, it
should help American

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workers get a decent pay
raise and have a higher

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standard of living.

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And, two, it should help
promote economic growth to

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make America more
competitive in the world.

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Our current system
simply doesn't do that.

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It's over a
half-century old.

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It is an obsolete
disaster.

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And it's time
for it to change.

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So, first, we bring over
a million immigrants into

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this country a year.

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That's like adding the
population of Montana

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every single year; adding
the population of Arkansas

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every three years.

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The vast majority of
those workers -- or those

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immigrants come here
not because of their

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English-language abilities
or their job skills, or

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their job offer, or their
educational attainment.

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In fact, only 1 in 15 --
only 1 in 15 out of a

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million new immigrants
come here because of their

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job skills and their
ability to

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succeed in this economy.

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That means it puts great
downward pressure on

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people who work with their
hands and work on their feet.

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Now, for some people, they
may think that that's a

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symbol of America's
virtue and generosity.

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I think it's a symbol that
we're not committed to

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working-class Americans.

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And we need to
change that.

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Second, we also lose out
on the very best talent

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coming to our country
-- the most ultra,

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high-skilled immigrants
who can come here and

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bring their
entrepreneurial spirit and

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their innovative
capabilities, and make a

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higher wage, create new
jobs for other Americans

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and new immigrants, speak
English, and contribute to

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our economy, and stand on
their own two feet, and

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pay taxes, and not receive
welfare, and not drive

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down wages for
working-class Americans.

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The RAISE Act will
change all of that by

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re-orienting our Green
Card system towards people

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who can speak English,
who have high degrees of

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educational attainment,
who have a job offer that

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pays more, and a typical
job in their local

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economy, who are going to
create a new business, and

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who are outstanding in
their field around the world.

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And I'm excited, and I
look forward to working

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with Senator Perdue and
President Trump to pass

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this legislation through
the Congress and make this

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kind of very fundamental,
sweeping change for the

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first time in over 50
years to our

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immigration system.

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Thank you.

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Senator Purdue:
Thank you, Tom.

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Thank you, Mr. President.

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Good afternoon, everyone.

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First of all, Mr.
President, I want to

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thank you for your
leadership on this

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immigration topic.

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I think this is extremely
critical for our country.

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You talked about it often
on the campaign trail.

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You said job one was
growing the economy.

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That is part of why I
believe you're standing

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here and why I'm
standing here.

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You've also said that --
as a Fortune 500 CEO --

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I'm the only Fortune 500
CEO in Congress, and I've

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lived around the world
much of my career.

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And I can tell you,
nothing that we're going

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to do right now is more
important than this in

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terms of growing
our economy.

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The reason we need to do
this is very simple: Our

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current system
does not work.

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It keeps America from
being competitive, and it

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does not meet the needs
of our economy today.

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Today, as Tom said, we
bring in 1.1 million legal

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immigrants a year.

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Over 50 percent of our
households of legal

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immigrants today
participate in our social

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welfare system.

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Right now, only one 1 out
of 15 immigrants who come

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into our country come
in with skills

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that are employable.

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We've got to change that.

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As business guys, Mr.
President, you and I

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understand we need we need
a new approach: We need to

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fix this
immigration system.

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So we took a look
at best practices.

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We looked at countries
like Canada, Australia,

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and others.

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What we're introducing
today is modeled on the

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current Canadian and
Australian systems.

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It's pro-worker, it's
pro-growth, and it's been

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proven to work.

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Both have been extremely
successful in attracting

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highly skilled workers
to those countries.

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We can all agree the
goals of our nation's

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immigration system
should be to protect the

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interests of working
Americans, including

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immigrants, and to welcome
talented individuals who

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come here legally and want
to work and make a better

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life for themselves.

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Our current system makes
it virtually impossible

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for them to do that.

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If we're going to continue
as the innovator in the

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world and the leader
economically, it's

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imperative that our
immigration system focus

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on highly skilled,
permanent workers who can

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add value to our economy
and ultimately achieve

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their own version of
the American Dream.

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What we're talking about
today is very simple: It's

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measured, it's a rational
approach to immigration

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that will allow us to
finally fix once and for

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all this broken system in
a strategic way that will

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reposition America
as a global

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leader economically.

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Mr. President, I am proud
to stand here with you and

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Tom Cotton.

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I look forward to
passing this in U.S.

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Congress and making this
a law of the land, and

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letting it be a sweeping
change for America.

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Thank you.

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The President: I just want
to state that, as you

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probably have noticed,
the stock market hit an

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all-time record high
today -- over 22,000.

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We've picked up,
substantially now, more

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than $4 trillion in net
worth in terms of our

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country, our stocks,
our companies.

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We have a growth rate -- a
GDP -- which has been much

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higher than, as you know,
anybody anticipated,

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except maybe us.

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But it's going to go up.

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It's going to
go higher, too.

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We're doing a job.

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And you're going to see
jobs are pouring back

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into the country.

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The factories and plants
are coming back

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into the country.

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We're going to start
making product

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in America again.

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And that's
happening all over.

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As I mentioned yesterday,
Foxconn is going to spend

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$10 billion in Wisconsin
and other places.

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And I think the $10
billion is going to end up

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being $30 billion.

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They make the iPhones for
Apple and others,

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and it is a truly
incredible company.

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So we have a lot of things
happening that

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are really great.

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But again, today the stock
market hit the highest

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level that it has ever
been, and our country is

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doing very well.

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I just want to
thank you all.

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Tom and David are
going to be outside.

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They're going to speak to
you at length about what

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we're going to do with
respect to this

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aspect of immigration.

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I think it's going to be
very, very important --

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the biggest in 50 years --

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biggest change in 50 years.

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Thank you all very much.