In Tea Party response, Sen. Paul will urge immigration reform

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will urge Republicans to embrace immigration reform in his Tea Party response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

“We are the party that embraces hard work and ingenuity, therefore we must be the party that embraces the immigrant who wants to come to America for a better future,” Paul will say according to excerpts. “We must be the party who sees immigrants as assets, not liabilities. We must be the party that says, ‘If you want to work, if you want to become an American, we welcome you.'”

{mosads}Paul’s comments come as legislators continue negotiations over passing immigration reform. While legislators have expressed strong interest in passing a big immigration reform bill in 2013, Democrats and Republicans are yet to agree on whether to include a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally. A number of top Senate Republicans, alongside some of their Democratic counterparts, unveiled a framework for passing immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.

Besides immigration, Paul will also touch on federal spending. He will also criticize the federal government for borrowing and spending too much. 

“Both parties have been guilty of spending too much, of protecting their sacred cows, of backroom deals in which everyone up here wins, but every taxpayer loses,” Paul will say. “It is time for a new bipartisan consensus. It is time Democrats admit that not every dollar spent on domestic programs is sacred. And it is time Republicans realize that military spending is not immune to waste and fraud.”

The junior senator from Kentucky will urge for sequester cuts to take effect.