U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar pointed out with some satisfaction Thursday night that the Senate had passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill – but he wasn’t one of the 62 senators who voted for it.
After spending weeks working to win passage of the bill, Salazar skipped the vote on the measure Thursday to return to Denver to speak at the graduation of his daughter Andrea from Denver’s North High School.
“It was hard for me to leave,” Salazar said. “I worked very hard on this bill and had to choose between casting the vote on the final passage of the legislation or my daughter’s graduation.”
Salazar said he waited so long to leave Washington, “I got on the airplane with one minute to go before they slammed the door on me.”
“I’m comfortable with my choice because I love my daughter very much … and being a part of her graduation tonight, where she had anticipated she would be introducing me as her commencement speaker, was very important to me,” he said.
Salazar told the more than 200 graduating seniors that there are serious issues facing the United States and the world, and he implored them to get involved.
“We live in some very troubling times,” he said.
“If you think of the hatred that we have seen with regard to this immigration reform debate,” and see the violence in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, all over the Middle East, and what is happening in Latin America, Salazar said, “there are tough, tough challenges that we face.”
Only with everyone’s “active” involvement can America find energy independence and find a way to develop the potential of every human being by having an educational system that makes sure that no child is left behind, he said.
“So it’s going to be very important for all of you who are the graduates of 2006 to help us in addressing those issues in the future,” Salazar said.
“It’s only with your involvement that we can assure ourselves that we can create a safer and more secure world for all of the people, not only of these United States but the people throughout the world.”
The Democratic senator told the graduating class, “I am eager to follow your paths to service because North has prepared you well.
“With your service to each other, to your community, and to your country, we can be certain that our community will continue on its path of progress.”
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
