This congress from decades. While the floor debate where can be tryingow and can actually be thrown offkilter by one more realtime tweets from the president , we have to keep our eye on the ball. Because as tough it may seem right here, the stakes are so much higher for millions of people who live every day in this country. Theyre trapped inn a a broken immigration system. They face the constant fear of deportation and they suffer the threat of being ripped apart fromie their families, their friends, and the communities that they love. So just like the deep divisions we saw on this issue across the country, i think a path forward in the senate, in the house and all the way to the white house is not going to be easy. Tackling the tough issues and engaging in a fair and honest debate is why we are here. Creating more Perfect Union is why were here. Finding a bipartisan pathe forward to both secure our borders and protect the futures many hardworking families is why we are here. Families first though we have to agree to spend basic truths. To start, trainers come hundreds of thousands of our friends and our neighbors, our teachers, our firefighters, our service members, our students, are not criminals. They are not ms13 gang members know or are they the shadowy figures depicted in discussing campaign ads in the president speeches. They are not a drain on our economy pick in fact, it dreamers are just the opposite. Contributing in countless ways to our communities and enriching the lives of so many others. So who are dreamers . Dreamers are determined, they are passionate, they are american in every way except on paper. They are fighting for the only lives theyve ever known. Lo they are fighting for their loved ones with everything theyve got, and theyre trying to do it the right way. A few years back when congress of fallen down on its job to fix a broken immigration system, dreamers stepped up to work in good faith with the federal government. Dreamers like Jose Manuel Vasquez who have been South Seattle turkey did know he wasnt a natural born citizen until he went to get a drivers license. Thanks to the daca program, joee manual was able to graduate from the university of washington. He started a tech business and the volunteers at local nonprofits. Another dreamers grew up in washington described being four years old when he was taken to the airport to fly to the United States. He was so young he said he didnt understand what was going on. He only recalls being confused about why he couldnt bring all of his toys with them to his new home in, america. Years later after he enrolled in daca he said he was able to quit working in manual labor and start working as a personal banker at wells fargo. You are hundreds of thousands of dreamers with similar stories. They came out ofws the shadows. They paid their taxes. They kept promises. They underwent background checks and did the hard work, even if only for a temporary shot at the opportunities so many others in this country have taken for granted. So what dreamers are is the embodiment of so much of what this country was founded on. Mr. President , thats truth number one. Truth number two we all want to keep america safe with strong group for scooted measures. For anyone to claim otherwise is both an attempt to muddy the debate so critics can retreat to their partisan corners and fall back on hateful rhetoric and try to stop a bipartisan bill from actually moving forward. Because the reality is the matter what Political Party you ascribed you, protecting and defending the safety of fellow citizens and preventing those who could do a song from entering this country is something we all believe in, and something we are all working for. Which leads me to truth number three. And that is despite failed attempts to pass, today is a aw day and a new chance to finally fix our broken immigration system for the dreamers who call our country home. A new chance to honor our countrys rich tradition of welcoming people from around the world who add to the rich tapestry of our nation, who enrich our communities and it will write the next chapter of our nations history. Its a new chance for my republican colleagues to stand by their word and do what they said. Put democrats in good faith to find a bipartisan path forward that will t allow dreamers to sy here in the country they call home. I Hope Congress finally has the will to see, this through. To be a nation of laws and a land of opportunity with the right piece of legislation we can be both. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. President . Majority whip. Mr. President , are we in a quorum call . The senate is not in a quorum call. The senate is in a quorum call. I ask consent to be dispensed with. Without objection. Mr. President , yesterday we begin floor debate on something we literally have been talking about for years. I remember after the election of 2012 meeting at the white house with then president barack obama with speaker of the house john boehner, leader mccarthy and others, senator mcconnell of course and the president was prepared to do something he a threat to do but we actually asked him not to do. And that is to try to take unilateral executive action to deal with the issue of these young adults who came with her parents when they were children into the United States in violation of our immigration laws. And we said please, president obama, give us a chance to work with you and come up with a solution. And he listened, said no. Im going to do, im going to sign an executive order or action and a going to go this alone. Unfortunately for the young people who were the beneficiaries of this daca executive order, the court struck it down and so they were left in doubt and in some jeopardy wondering whether now that they n been granted a deferred action or against deportation by president obama, what the future would look like. And so President Trump at, upon the advice of general kelly who was then secretary of Homeland Security said give the congress some time to deal with this. And, indeed, here we are with the deadline on march 5, and all of the time that this president has been in office, since junior 20 of last year, this is been basically living on borrowed time insofar as the daca program is involved. President trump quite a probably said this is the legislative responsibility. Congress needs to deal with this. Well, here we are, debate having started. Actuallye the gun begun on february 8 which is the date senator mcconnell, the Senate Majority leader agreed to initiate the motion to proceed on the debate. You remember what happened. The government was shut down because our democratic colleagues refused to proceed to deal with the continuing resolution or funding of the government until there was some resolution of this daca issue. So the majority leader said he will deal with it starting february 8, if theres no other agreement and is going to be a fair and impartial process. Everybodys ideas are going to be aired and people should be able to vote on those ideas. Well, here we are and we started yesterday on the cloture on the bill. Now under the senate rules there are 30 hours which will expire tonight at 11 oclock or thereabouts, and we are waiting on our colleagues across the aisle to begin this process that they were so eager to initiate that they shut down the government. So far the majority leader has come to the floor and made an offer about noon today saying we will start with a vote on amendment of your choosing and then we will go to one of our choosing, back and forth and have an orderly process so that i can follow through on my commitment to keep fair and equal and orderly process. Well, even though theyre willing to shut down the government to bring us to this point, now they seem to be incredibly reluctant to actually have a vote on any of their proposals. It really is bizarre. We all want a solution for these young adults. In america we dont punish children for the mistakes that their parents make. And were not going to punish these young people who are now adults who have been able to go to college and been able, many instances, become a very productive people. We want to provide them an opportunity to floors and, indeed, the president not within the fact that 690,000 Daca Recipients currently exist, he said ill be willing to up that number to everybody whos eligible whether they signed up or not. Thats 1. 8 million young people. And you know what . We are not only going to give them deferred action, we are going to give them an opportunity to become an american. Incredibly generous. But our colleagues across the aisle seem to be chipped up by their own plan and unable to respond to this generous offer. The president has said in addition, in return for the 1. 8 millionpl young people who will have a pathway to citizenship and predictability and stability of a great future for their lives, we are going to have to secure the border your career going to have to do the sort of things the federal government should have done a long time ago. Come in from texas, a border state, we have 1200 miles of common borderf with mexico. And as weex heard this morning n the world threat searing in the Senate Intelligence in, director of National Intelligence said the transnational criminal organizations, or cartels, which are commodity agnostic, they make money trafficking in people, drugs or other contraband, and they are exploiting the porous nature of our border with our neighbor to the south, mexico. And ath deep Central American country cindy even very Young Children up to the borders exploiting the loophole and our law. The president has also sit in addition to dealing with Border Security he wants to change Legal Immigration to focus on the nuclear family, mom and dad and the kids. If of the people want to come to the United States, then they can qualify for various employmentbased visas. They can come study as a student, they can come as a tourist. They can qualify for an h1 p1 visa as some some who is highly skilled. There are other ways to come but were going to limit the number of visas and green cards based strictly on your family relationships. And then he said he wanted to deal with diversity lottery visa. Visa. This is perhaps the most difficult to understand these of our government issues. Basically what we say is that our 50,000 diversity visas, and for those countries that are not otherwise represented were going to sort of spread those like, like bread on the water and welcome 50,000 people without regard to their background or education, their other merit or qualifications. And some of said, like the president , and i agree with him, we ought to look at not only how immigrants can benefit from coming to the United States, but also what qualities they have that they can bring us. And yes, we ought to compete for the best and brightest. For example, the 600,000 or so foreign students who come to our colleges and universities, what about focusing on those who graduate in s. T. E. M. Fields, science, technology, engineering and math . There have been some folks who said wee ought to staple a green card to those people because we want to continue to attract the best and the brightest and we dont want to trade them and educate them and send them home only to compete with us. Well, those are some great ideas. But were not can you be able to have vote on bills and us our friends across the aisle with agreed agree to get on to a bill, preferably the bill that senator grassley and others, including myself, have cosponsored which will be filed this afternoon based on those four pillars. Well, coming from a border state i spent quite a bit of time in the Rio Grande Valley down laredo and over in el paso, and ive learned a lot from the experts at the border which would be the Border Patrol themselves. I talk to people like Manny Padilla who is the chief Border Patrol officer in the Rio Grande Valley which is one of the most active regions in the country. His sector at times has been one of these is in the country with some 200,000 apprehensions a just in the Rio Grande Valley itself. Io grande ive seen the border firsthand of course and it is as fast and the train varies widely, portions where the Rio Grande River flows strongly to ones with its dried up, hardly any water at all m separate in, and yet still others that include 3200foot cliffs along the riverbank, particularly out in, out in west texas. And ive had the opportunity to invite, is going to say big bend out in west texas pickup also the opportunity to welcome many of my colleagues who dont come from border states to my state so they canbe become better informed about the nature and the challenge of Border Security. When you spend time and speak to the local officials and people who live and work along the border you realize the scale of the challenge were facing in securing the border as well as combating the cartels and people who are importing poison into the United States and, unfortunately, taking far too many lives as a result of drugs. You realize that a onesizefitsall approach doesnt work. Generations of texans know that, too. People live in borderde communities are b an invaluable resource. We ought to be talking to them about what would work best to provide the security and the weather would also be helpful to your local community. Of those down in texas where the Border Patrol said we need some physical barriers to help control the flow of ilLegal Immigration across the border. The local Committee Said well, we need to improve the flood levee system, so that we can actually buy affordable insurance we can develop our property at a reasonable cost. Out of that came a bond election for a levee wall system that was a winwin. Divided the flood that provided the flood protection needed by the committee, divided the physical barrier that the board at whittle said they in order to control ilLegal Immigration. So there is an opportunity for a winwin here if we will just listen to the experts and well talk to the local stakeholders and the people who live and work and play along our border with mexico. Ive also had many conversations with hispanic leaders from across my state, one of them is my friend roger, the president of the league of united latin american citizens, or lulac, who is been courageous putting his reputation on the line in order to find Common Ground and give Daca Recipients an opportunity not only to stay and work but become eventually american citizens. Yesterday i said there will be a process that will be fair for everyone. Thats what the majority leader guaranteed and all of our colleagues will of a chance to other proposals considered, amendments will have a 60 vote threshold before they can be adopted. Thats the rules of thef senat. What im interested in solving the problem. That means not only find a proposal that can get 60 votes in the senate, but one that can pass the house and be signed into law by the president. I read yesterday or actually this morning when i i got up ad was making a cup of coffee, looking through the newspaper, our colleague across the aisle, the t democratic whip, who ive worked with and met with on this topic many times said his goal was to get democrats, all the democrats and 11 republicans to get to the 60vote threshold. That was his goal in this legislation. Whats missing is how he would propose to get thisub passed through the roof republican majority in the house and signed by the president if it doesnt comply with the president s requirements he laid out in his four pillars. Im interested not just in a a futile act. Im interested in actually making a law which in passing the senate, passing the house and getting signed into law by the president. Yesterday a group led by chairman grassley, the judiciary committee, put forward a proposal i believe they can pass the senate, can pass the house and can be signed into law by President Trump. Its called the secure and succeed act. The name itself is quite fitting. Weve got to secure the border and weve gothe to be able to provide for the future success of Daca Recipients. Its not one of the other. Its both. Secure and succeed proposal provides a pathway to citizenship like the president proposed, for 1. 8 million Daca Recipients. Far more than present obama ever offered. This is pretty incredible but president obama offered was daca for 690,000 young people. This president has offered a pathway to citizenship for 1. 8 million, some people may think thats far too generous but the president made that offer expecting to get Border Security and these of the provisions done at the same time. This legislation provides a a l plan to strengthen our borders and utilize boots on the ground, Better Technology and infrastructure. It reallocate some visas the diversity lottery system in a way thats fair and it continues the existing familybased immigration categories until the current backlog is cleared. Im proud to cosponsor this commonsense solution not because its perfect, no piece of legislation ever is, what it does is it advances the issue in a way that can pass the senate so the house can take it up and so the president can ultimately cite it. Thats the only way i know to get something a accomplished he. But Everybody Needs to get to work. Our democratic colleagues have voted to shut down the government over this issue seeing now unprepared to meet the deadline they themselves insisted upon. Even after theit majority leader has provided a fair and open process for everybody to participate. So Everybody Needs to get to work. Our colleagues have known for a while that this was coming. They asked for this debate, but they have not yet filed any proposed legislation. Im wondering what the holdup is. But heres the bottom line. Im not interested in gamesmanship for gamesmanship ssake or political theater for political theaters sake, or ideas that cant become law. As the president said two weeks ago, the ultimate proposal must be one where nobody gets everythingun they want, but our country gets their Critical Reforms that it needs. About 124,000 young people hope we can rise to the occasion. Thats just in my state alone. Current Daca Recipients, 124,000 Daca Recipients hope we can rise to the occasion to take advantage of the tremendous offer that President Trump has made an appeal he said he would sign into law if we were able to pass it in the senate and inhouse and get on his desk. Mr. President , i yield the floor and i would note the absence of a quorum. Mr. President , last september President Trump took it upon himself to create