Cannon exchange with legislators becomes heated

A brief visit by Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, to the state Senate on Thursday turned heated when Cannon was questioned about immigration and the "out-of-control" spending of Congress.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, told Cannon that the recent shift of control in the House and Senate on the federal level is because people are "fed up" with the inability of Congress to "run the affairs on this nation." He then asked Cannon how he planned to deal with the issues of earmarks and illegal immigration, which he called an "unfunded mandate."

Cannon responded by saying that Republican leadership made a "huge mistake" with immigration by listening to people who were "xenophobic and tried to create a wedge issue." He then said that Congress is "going in the right direction and have been savaged by people, I think unfairly."

Other notes from Cannon include a reference to Utah Valley State College and his hope that the school would be turned into a full university.

"I like the name Utah International University," he said. "It has to be a regional college, calling it more than a university will not make it a regional college."

Cannon also said that he was hopeful lawmakers would look carefully at a bill that would forbid children of illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition. "What does it cost us to have an incremental student, then what is the cost to society to have an incentive?" he said.

After Cannon spoke, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, addressed the Senate. Stephenson asked Matheson the same question about immigration and spending. Matheson said he was confident the issues would be addressed.

"I think that the message you have voiced about the concerns that Congress is not functioning and is not doing its job is something that resonated in the past election and I hope that Congress gets it," Matheson said. "I sure heard it."

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