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San Antonio republican Congressman Lamar Smith was in town today to meet with small business leaders. He outlined some changes republicans would like to make as the November elections approach. Texas Public Radio’s Terry Gildea reports.
August 4, 2010 · At the Barn Door Restaurant in northeast San Antonio, Congressman Smith had lunch with small business owners. He listened to their concerns as the economic recovery slows down and says he’d like Congress to focus on some relief.
“I think we need to lock in some tax credit for small businesses. We need to reduce the regulations. We need to make sure they’re not unfairly forced to compete with overseas companies who are shipping jobs offshore. They’re going to be the leader in any kind of economic recovery,” said Smith.
The topic of immigration reform also came up. Smith is among a growing number of republicans who are in favor of modifying the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution and changing the provision that endows citizenship to any person born inside the U.S.
“That has been misinterpreted today, so that basically it’s allowing individuals who are in the country illegally to have a child and the child is automatically a citizen. That just doesn’t make any sense for any reason. We’re the only industrialized country in the world, I think, that doesn’t require at least one parent to be in the country legally before their child is automatically a citizen,” said Smith.
Smith says congressional republicans are crafting what they call a “Commitment to America” that will outline for voters issues they want to fix. The plan is expected to be rolled out sometime in September.
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