Debate opened on the House floor today on the pending bill to liberalize United States immigration laws and eliminate the discriminatory national origins quota system. Initial debate indicated strong bipartisan support for the measure and suggested the prospect of early passage, probably tonight or tomorrow.
Rep. Michael Feighan, Ohio Democrat and chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, called for adoption of the bill as recommended by the subcommittee. He said it would correct the inequities of the present law and bring the regulations into conformity with needs long overdue. He said the subcommittee had worked hard to reconcile sharp differences on questions involving immigration reform, and declared that the proposed legislation represented what was felt to be reflective of the national desires.
Chairman Emanuel Celler, of the House Judiciary Committee, recalled that, in 1924, he opposed the national origins quota system when it was adopted. A similar recollection was voiced by House Speaker John McCormack, Massachusetts Democrat, who noted that, in 1924, he had also taken part in the futile fight against the national origins system.
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