Gov. Hochul calls for passage of bipartisan Congressional bill

ALBANY,N.Y. (NEWS10)-- Governor Kathy Hochul is calling on New York Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass bipartisan legislation on immigration reform, if it passes in the Senate.

"It is absolutely essential that we get these changes," Hochul said at a press conference on Monday.

According to Hochul, the bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate will make asylum laws tougher and provide states and localities $1.4 billion dollars.

"New York State would receive a share of this," said Hochul. "The City of New York would receive a share of this. We need the money right now, but also to shut down the border as President Biden said he would do."

She specifically called on NY Republican Representatives to take action.

"I want their commitment that they will vote for this, because I believe the Senate can get this done."

However, In a joint statement on X, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik along with the House Speaker and other Republican leaders said, “ Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is dead on arrival in the House.“

New York Congressman, Nick Langworthy, shared his thoughts on the legislation.

"This bill is worse than we expected coming out of the Senate," said Langworthy. "For the fact that we’ve been waiting months for this negotiation, this normalizes illegal immigration. It creates quotas on what is an acceptable amount of illegal immigration before the circuit breakers kick in and the border gets shut down. This is just not good public policy."