Biden hopes federal immigration reform will be law by end of summer

WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says he hopes Congress will pass immigration reform legislation by the end of the summer.

Biden made his comments to the descendants of Asian American immigrants at a gala for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, ABC News reported Thursday.

The vice president said he was "optimistic" that "Congress will show the wisdom to pass the bipartisan immigration bill by the end of the summer."

"What are we about as a country?" the vice president asked. "We are all about possibilities. That to me is the defining feature of America. It's about possibilities. The same possibilities that brought my family and your families here in the first place but that means not only dealing with the millions of people who are undocumented in this country, including 1.2 million Asians, it means fixing and modernizing our legal immigration system."

The gala honored the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, and Biden said the work "Danny and so many of his generations did among all of you paved the way for everyone but you know the job's still not over."