Did everything exactly the way you were supposed to do it. And this debate largely driven by the most sympathetic of all those groups, and that group of people who came here, who were brought here by someone else, often their own parents, who were brought here by someone else, who entered the country illegally but have grown up in america. Now, my First Response to that and i think the response of most americans when theyve thought about that is kids who grew up here, kids who went to school here, kids who havent gotten in bad trouble while they were here, kids who have no real memory or connection with the country that they were brought from, of course we want them to stay. Of course we want them to be part of our economy. Of course we want them to be part of a vital and because they are who they are an, an even younger society, then we would be without them, why would we want that to happen. So we have two issues here. The idea of people who are raised here who have done everything that anybody else would do to acclimate as an american in all ways, who went to school here, who did Everything Else here, 70 or 80 of the American People i occasionally see a number even higher than that believe they should be allowed to stay. More and more as people think about that, they also believe that after theyve been here like any other immigrant who came to the country legally, that they would eventually be able to take the test, to go through the process to become a citizen, that is a widely accepted premise that this debate should be built on. Another widely accepted premise that this debate should be built on is 70 or so of the American People and a higher percentage if people really knew the facts believe that the government has not met its responsibility to secure our own borders. So lets assume that that number you have two 70 issues, that you would assume that a working congress could take two 70 issues and come up with a solution that makes its way to the president s desk and solves both of these problems. Now, were not going to solve these problems by saying, okay, were going to solve the problem for people who are already here, but were not going to do anything that makes it harder for others to be brought here illegally by someone who has control of them. Were not going to solve that part of course thats not going to work. I know there was one bill at least proposed where the daca kids, and whether you signed up or not, i dont think that should be a determiner. Apparently the president agrees if youre here in that category of kids who were brought here and grew up here, it doesnt matter if you what reason you had for not signing up as a daca kid. You can still be part of that overall discussion of how you get to stay and you still get to stay if we can come up with a solution for you to do that. Were not going to solve that problem and say were going to have a study of the other problem to see whats wrong. If by now we dont know whats wrong with the other problem, were never going to figure out whats wrong with the other problem. In 1986, mr. President , long before i came to either of us came to congress and maybe long before some of us graduated from high school, in 1986 we were going to solve this problem. Everybody who was here illegally could stay if they wanted to and the border would be made secure. So here we are, over three decades later still debating the same thing. We need to solve these problems, both of them. And if we can solve other problems while were doing it, thats fine, too. But we need to be able to come up with a solution. That means if there are a number of ideas out there as to how the senate should move forward and one of them is, well, lets let these kids stay that signed up. By the way, on the daca issue, its important to remember here, President Trump said said im going to give the congress six more months to solve this problem up until march 5. Its also important to know that the courts have allowed people to continue to sign up. So really the march 5 deadline is somewhere between march 5. But the president said, im going to give the congress six more months. But the president the president before him, president obama, didnt do anything about this for years, not because he didnt want to, i believe, but because he said he didnt have the ability to. President obama repeatedly said the president cannot solve this problem. This has to be the congress solving the problem. And he ultimately decided well, in spite of six or seven years of saying i cant solve this problem on my own, im going to try to with an executive order. And the truth is that that executive order was never going to do the job. I think president obama knew that. President trump when he extended when he did his own order, he probably also knew he didnt have the ability to do that any more than president obama had to do what he did. But both of these president s in their own way have tried to drive the congress toward making a decision that comes up with a plan that works, a plan that works for kids who were brought here with no choice in the matter and a planning for seeing that kids still cant be easily brought here with no choice. We dont need we need to let young people come here because we need them here as part of our workforce, as part of our country. Legal immigration is what made america great. The rule of law is also what makes our country what it is, and you cant continue to let immigration be an area where we have decided there are laws that we will not enforce. And so the challenge for the congress right now is to come up with a combination of this problem is not going to continue to be the same problem it is today, but for the problem today, were going to solve it. And were going to solve it in a way that lets kids who grew up here become part of the solution. I continue to be committed to strengthening our boarders. I continue to be committed to stemming the tide of ilLegal Immigration. Frankly, i continue to be committed to the idea of Legal Immigration as part of continually reinforcing and reenthusing who we are. But im also committed to finding a permanent solution for young people who would be in that category of kids who were brought here, grew up here, havent gotten in trouble while they were here, and have every reason to want to be part of the American Dream and part of the American People that they have been part of up until now. I hope we can find Common Ground on a bill that does that. I hope we can pass a bill from the senate that the house will also pass. If the senators think theyve done their job by passing a bill that cant possibly pass the house, thats just another kicking the can down the road. We need to find a solution here that really solves this problem, and you solve this problem by putting a bill on the president s desk. To do that were going to have to vote. We cant do that by just having a quorum call or a vacancy here on the senate floor. We have to be willing to vote. Theres some things i can that ill enthusiastically vote for and some things that i will reluctantly not be able to be for. But that doesnt mean that i should if i cant be for whatever is brought to the senate floor, i dont want to vote on it, i dont want to debate it. We cant continue to tune into a vacant screen of the United States senate floor and say this is the week weve all committed. Were going to have a real debate about solving as many problems as we can that relate to kids who grew up here, and were not ever here in ways that they should have been here and solving that problem so other kids are not likely in these numbers to face that same problem in the future. So, mr. President , i would yield the floor and hope that the floor is filled over the next couple of day, with a vigorous debate about the best way to solve the problem before us in a way that the people we work for will feel good about it and the people who are most impacted by our decision will feel equally the concern, the warmth, the desire of our country to have a vibrant economy that has people who want to be part of it able to be part of it and particularly people who grew up in the United States of america be part of it. I would yield. Mr. Barrasso mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Barrasso thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , it seems just about every day we get more good news about the tax relief law that republicans have passed. This week the news is getting even better for a lot of people all across the country. By the end of this month, 90 of workers across the country will see more money in their takehome paychecks. It doesnt matter where they are. They can be in mateetsie, wiel, and they will see an increase in chair paychecks this week. Thats because this thursday, february 15, is a deadline for employers to start using the new i. R. S. Tax withholding tables. The i. R. S. Tells employers how much mean to withhold from much money to withhold from peoples paychecks so that the taxes work out pretty close at the end of the year. Thats the way its set up. Well, the i. R. S. Looked at the new tax law. And they saw that people were going to be paying lower taxes at the end of the year. So they put out the new tax tables. They told businesses to adjust how much money they withhold, how much to withhold from a persons paycheck, and to do it by february 15, tomorrow. So for 90 of americans, this tax amount is going to be lower, which means that their paychecks are going to be larger. A tax cut is the same as a raise. Thats what were seeing all across the country, people getting a raise in their pay. Now, some people have already gotten a paycheck with the new higher wages. Others are going to get it very soon. The website Yahoo Finance crunched the numbers. This is what they said. They found that a typical worker making 60,000 a year will get an extra 112 in their paychecks every month because of the tax law. Well, thats over 1,300 for the year. Now, to me thats very good news for american workers. I was at home in wyoming this past weekend traveling arp the state, around the state and im hearing about it in all the different communities that i go to that people have been saying this is better for me and my family personally. So on top of this, a lot of workers are getting special bonuses and raises because of the tax law. So not only are they getting more money because of the fact that the tax rates have been lowered, theyre additionally getting more money because theyve gotten a raise or a bonus. Well, it seems like there are about four million hardworking americans who are getting bonuses of hundreds or even thousands of dollars that theyre seeing as a result of the new tax reform law. Theyre also getting extra money in their retirement plans. Theyre getting higher starting wainls. Were see wages. Were seeing many places increasing the starting wages, some up to 15 an hour. More than 300 companies, mr. President , have said theyre increasing all of these kinds of compensations as a direct result of the tax law. So in my home state of wyoming, people across the state are getting bonuses, bonuses. These are people who work at home depot, at lowes, at walmart, at starbucks, at wells fargo, and other businesses that have familiar names to people across the country. But, mr. President , there are also people who are working in smaller businesses, like the jonah bank in wyoming. They have branches in casper and in cheyenne. Its not a nationally known bank, but its very important in our state, in our communities. Every employee of this bank is getting a 1,000 bonus. The bank is also increasing its giving in the communities where they have branches. Workers benefit. The community benefits. Thats what happens when we change the tax law so washington gets less and taxpayers get to keep more. Thats why i voted for this tax law, mr. President , to give the kind of tax relief that made these bonuses and these pay raises possible. Its good for wyoming. Its good for people all across the country. You know, mr. President , its interesting. Its even good for people in states where their senators voted against the tax law. 90 of people across the country are seeing the benefits no matter which state theyre from, theyre seeing the benefits. Theres a business in grand rapids, michigan. Its called the mill steel company. They said last week theyre giving an extra 1,000 to their workers because of the tax law. Every republican voted for and every democrat voted against. Now, 400 people at that company are getting the bonus. Michigan has two democrat senators. They both voted against the tax relief law. Still led to 1,000 bonuses for these 400 workers. Well, what do the senators have to say about it now . Are they proud that they voted against the tax law . Are they glad they said no to these sorts of raises that made it possible for people in their home states to get the bonuses . We know what nancy pelosi thinks. First she talked about the tax law saying it was armageddon and then she said it was the end of the law. She said the benefits that people are getting under the tax law are just crumbs. For her it may be different, but for a lot of americans a dz sdz a 1,000 bonus is much more than crumbs. Mr. President , an extra 1,300 i talked about the worker earlier in this talk, in that paycheck, it is much more than crumbs, 15 starting wage is more than crumbs. Democrats voted against it because they didnt want people to get the extra money. It seems to me hard to believe they would continue this way and continue to take pride in voting against it, but they did. Now it seems democrats want to insult people by saying that what they are seeing and what their benefits are is simply crumbs. These are some of the cash benefits workers are getting from the tax law. Republicans predicted over the debate of this law that there would be other benefits as well. We said that businesses would pay less in taxes and some of them would be able to additionally cut prices for consumers, let people buy things more cheaply. Americans are starting to see this prediction come true as well. One of the first places they are seeing it in this their utility bills. Gas, electric, and Water Utilities are cutting their rates because their taxes are going down under the law. Until vermont vermont, mr. President , vermonts only Gas Utility Company is cutting their rates 5 because of the tax law. Both of the senators from vermont voted against the law. But it was because of the republican law that passed that caused these rates to go down. In fact, 23 states and the district of columbia will pay lower utility bills because of the tax relief law. Other states are looking at cutting rates. Rates are going down in california, new york, massachusetts, connecticut, states where every democrat senator voted against the tax law. What do these democrat senators have to say now . Are they proud of the fact that they voted against the tax cuts that made it possible for people to have lower utility bills in their states . When peoples monthly bills get cut, its like a pay hike, more money in their own pockets. They have more money to either save or spend on other things or to invest. The owner of a gym in cincinati, ohio, spoke with his local Radio Station about what the tax break means to him. He said that when people have extra money to spend, they spend it. They go out to eat, buy gym memberships and they enjoy themselves. People have that extra money top spend now, today because of the tax law republicans passed. They have the extra money, despite every democrat in this body voting against tax relief. Every one of them said no. They all voted no. Democrats voted no to tax relief for American Families, essentially voted yes to keep the extra money in washington so they could decide how to spend it. Mr. President , i have much more faith in people at home in wyoming deciding how to spend their money than any faith i have in washington, d. C. For so Many Americans every dollar helps, and, mr. President , they are not crumbs. Democrats may not know the difference but the American Families do. People in every state of this country know the difference. The American People understand what republicans did with this tax law. They are seeing more money in their paychecks, more take home pay, more money to decide what to spend, what to invest, what to save. They know that republicans promised to cut peoples taxes and people know that republicans delivered on the promise. They know the benefits they have gotten already and they are confident that the economy will continue to grow stronger day by day. People across the country also know the fact that every democrat voted against this law, voted against giving them a tax break, voted against having them keep more of their hardearned money. The American People know who took their side, who voted for the American Public versus who said no. Hardworking americans asked us to do a job for them. Republicans are doing a job, democrats in washington, mr. President , certainly are not. Republicans are going to keep doing that job for the American People, a job that we have promised and a job in which we have delivered. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from hawaii. Ms. Hirono are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer the senate is indeed in a quorum call. Ms. Hirono we are . The presiding officer yes, the senate is in a quorum call. Ms. Hirono im sorry. Mr. President , i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Hirono mr. President , its time for the senate to do its job as a separate branch of government. This week we can come together in a bipartisan basis to resolve the crisis donald trump created when he canceled daca. We can provide hundreds of thousands of young people in our country their shot at pursuing the American Dream without fear of deportation. Right now these young people who are brought to this country as children are terrified that they will be separated from their families and the lives they built here in the only country they know at love. Ive met and spoken with so many dreamers in the halls of congress these past months. Their focus, determination, and commit mrchts in commitment in this fight continues to be extraordinary and inspiring. Each dreamer has a different story to tell. But they all share a profoundly simple aspiration, to live and work, study in the only country they have ever called home. When you sit and listen to their stories, it isnt difficult to understand why between 80 and 90 of americans support protecting these dreamers. People like karen maleni and beatrice who can attend the university of hawaii because of daca. People like victor from houston who aspires to become a counselor for lbgtq youth like him. And people like yetsi from oregon who works three jobs so she with pursue her dream of becoming a Nurse Practitioner to care for our seniors. These inspiring young people dont need to hear any more promises. They need members of congress to put their votes where their mouths have been and do the right thing. Like many of my colleagues, i strongly support passing a clean dream act. Legislation that already has bipartisan support. But its critical that we get to the 60 votes we need to pass a bill. Im open to discussing different provisions, including some funding for Border Security to help us get there. We can and should have a debate over comprehensive Immigration Reform but only after we pass legislation this week to protect the dreamers. We cannot and should not use this debate to provide cover for efforts to dismantle the familybased immigration system or to make massive cuts to Legal Immigration. The president and a number of colleagues have made it clear they would like to eliminate familybased immigration in favor of a system designed only to recruit immigrants with advanced degrees and specialized skills. It is important for the United States to recruit highly skilled immigrants, and we have a number of immigration programs designed specifically for this purpose. But when you restrict immigration only to people with highskilled experiences or advanced degrees, you liewtz out on a you lose out on a lot of Human Potential that has historically contributed so much to our country. We dont have to look far back into history to prove why this statement is true. Over the past week, the olympics have captured the excitement and imagination of people across the country and in fact the world. And many of the people weve been cheering for are either the children of immigrants or our immigrants themselves. Over the weekend we saw one athlete whose parents immigrated from japan to become the First American woman to land a triple axle in the olympics during her appearance in the Team Figure Skating competition. Yesterday we saw momi bini who immigrated to the fruns ghana take to the ice to compete in the short track speed skating and two nights ago i watched chloe kim throw down a nearperfect score in the womens snowboard half pike to win the gold medal. After completing her historymaking run, the cameras panned to her father proudly waving his go chloe sign in the audience. He arrived in california in 1982 with 800 in his pocket. He worked for years at minimumwage jobs to save for college. While studying at el camino college, he worked as a heavy machinery operator at night. Jong encouraged chloe to begin snowboarding when she was 4. They would jump off the lifts together but because he didnt know how to snowboard, they would tumble to the ground. Jong brought chloe her first snowboard on ebay for 25. When chloe was 8, he quit his job as an engineer to support her snowboarding career. He would often wake up at 2 00 a. M. In the morning to drive chloe over 300 miles to her practices. After watching his daughter win olympic gold, jong said in korean, when i came to the United States, this was my american hope. American dream. This means now this is my American Dream. So reflecting on her fathers sacrifice, chloe said, my dad has definitely sacrificed a lot for me. And i dont know if i could do it if i was in his shoes. Leaving your life behind and closing and chasing your dream because your kid is passionate about this sport, i think today i did it for my family and i am so grateful to them. Chloes story of winning olympic gold is extraordinary, but her fathers story speaks to a deep and abiding foundation of america and to my personal experience as an immigrant. My mom also came to this country poor and without skills to escape an abusive marriage to give her three children, of which i am one, a chance at a better life. And like jong and chloe, one generation after my mom came to this country, i am standing on the floor of the United States senate fighting for humane immigration policies. These stories speak to the broader immigrant experience in our country. We work hard and embrace the opportunities this country provides. And we often see the result of this hard work within a single generation. I would ask my colleagues, do you think the United States would be better off if we prevented immigrants like jong and me from coming to this country . Targeting immigrants for discriminatory and harsh treatment is denying our countrys history. With the exception of our original peoples everyone came to our country from somewhere else. Were fiefting to preserve were fighting to preserve the spirit of our country, that shining city on a hill. Mr. President , i yield the floor. I note the absence i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from nevada. Ms. Cortez masto thank you. Mr. President the presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call. Ms. Cortez masto thank you. The presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call. Ms. Cortez masto mr. President , i ask that we dispense with the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Cortez masto thank you. Mr. President , like my colleagues today that youre hearing from, i also rise to talk about the importance of protecting dreamers, not just in the state of nevada, but across this country. I want to talk specifically about a term that i constantly hear during this debate on how we need to protect dreamers and at the same time address this issue of chain migration. You know, i have to call on my colleagues and President Trump to really stop using that term and abandon the offensive and misleading term of chain migration because it paints a picture that does not reflect reality. Immigrants cant sponsor entire families to come here. Our system allows american citizens and green card holders to join their families in the United States. There are numerous steps that families must take to legally immigrate to the United States. It is a long and arduous process that leaves husbands, wives, brothers, parents, waiting for decades. Many people die before they have a chance to be reunited with their loved ones again. So this image of immigrants coming in chains across our border couldnt be farther from the truth. The Immigration Service is processing visa applicationings for u. S. Citizens from 1994. That is 24 years ago. This backlog is painful for many American Families like feli. Feli is an immigrant from the philippines and arrived in the United States with her husband and youngest son in 1989. Her father is a veteran who served in world war ii, earned his citizenship and filed to have feli join her in the u. S. She has worked tirelessly to rejoin her children. Now at 80 years old, she is hoping that three of her children will make it through the backlog to join her at home. Sponsor family members is a lengthy and difficult process. Tragically her struggle is not uncommon. Thousands of filipino veterans all across the country are in the same situation. As the daughter and granddaughter of veterans, i know firsthand when someone answers the call of duty, family members make sacrifices too. I support senator hirnos family reunification act that would expedite the world war ii veterans. We should pass this bill and not force them to wait in perpetual limbo. Our immigration system is important for the family unit. Families are support systems. They pull each other up when someone is in need and pull together their resources. Strong Families Build strong communities. Take karls family. Karl is a 20yearold Filipino American Community Organizer born and raised in are north las vegas. Karls whole family is committed to community service. Karls brother volunteers to serve the homeless and attends high school. His mother teaches. His dad is a mechanic and military veteran having served this country in multiple branches of the armed services. None of them would be here if not for our familybased Legal Immigration system. You know, mr. President , some of my republican colleagues claim to be champions of Strong Nuclear families and family values. Yet, here we are today considering a measure that would tear apart families like karls, that would leave parents without children, sisters without brothers, and husbands without wives. Why does the party of family values think thats acceptable . The problem is that the party of donald trump is not the party of family values. Donald trump doesnt care about families. He wants to be able to pick and choose which families get to come in and which have to stay out. The white house immigration plan we are considering would cut Legal Immigration by up to 44 . That is 500,000 more immigrants who will be banned each who would be banned each year. This is one of the largest xenophobic cuts to Legal Immigration since the 1920s. It would affect nearly 22 Million People over the next five decades. Whats going on here . What are they so afraid of . I recently sat down with immigrant workers in the senate and the pentagon who are about to lose their protections from deportation. One of them told me that she left el salvador after seeing her husband brutally murdered in front of her and her son. She has been working for the federal government for the past twoing two decades serving the very men and women who are preparing to vote to send her back to the country she fled with her country. I also spoke with a dreamer who works right here in the senate cafeteria. She is the sole provider for her three american citizen children, and she too is afraid that under Donald Trumps deportation policy, she is going to be ripped apart from her children and sent back to a country that she fled. These are the people donald trump wants to throw out of their homes. They are not asking for special treatment or handouts or giveaways. They just want to be allowed to stay and work hard and provide for their families. They dont want to have to go back to a place where they will have to live every day in fear for their lives and for their childrens lives. This president will tell you that immigrants are taking jobs. That is a myth. Its a lie that has been spread in every immigrant group in American History and has been repeatedly debunked by economic research. According to the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council a typical immigrant family will pay an estimated 80,000 more in taxes than they will receive over their lifetime. They bring longterm economic benefits to our country by starting businesses, purchasing property and supporting the education and achievement of their children. Research shows that immigrants drive growth. They generate two patents at twice the rate of native americans born here. In 2014, they earned 1. 3 trillion and contributed 105 billion in state and local taxes and nearly 224 billion in federal taxes. Immigrants are 30 more likely to start a business in the United States than nonimmigrants and 18 of Small Business owners in the United States are immigrants. They create jobs right here in the United States. Jobs are not the problem here. The problem is the color of immigrants skin. We have a president of the United States who has wondered out loud why we cant have more whites come to this country. President trump denies being a racist for. For a nonracist hes done a good job of cultivating support among white supremacists. Mr. President , this is not about the color of peoples skin. This is about families. This is about Strong Nuclear families and family values. I am proud of who i am, where i came from, and i am a descendant of immigrants. But i also learned and believe in strong values and Strong Family values, and we lead with those values. So, mr. President , our immigration system should reflect our National Commitment to the strength and the importance of that family unit and those family values. It makes no sense to me that we are fighting today to protect these kids and keep them in this country and then take their parents and rip them out of the homes and send them back to a country that they do not want to go to, that they do not call home, and where their safety is called into question. I dont understand that as a family value or an american value. So i ask my colleagues when we are talking about these immigration system and protecting dreamers, lets implement commonsense Immigration Reform. Lets make sure when were protecting dreamers, were also protecting their family unit and those family values. This is not about pitting parents against their kids or having kids decide whether they should stay here or their parents should. No child should have to go to school concerned that when they come home their parents may not be there. I dont know about you, but i went through the Public School system in the state of nevada, and i was always, always comforted with the thought that when i walked through that door my mother and father would be there. Any other way to treat these children and their families, to me, is inhumane. They are not values we stand for as americans and they are not values we lead with when were talking about commonsense reforms to immigration. So i ask my colleagues, please, as we go through this debate, remember who we are talking about. They are faces, they are families, they are people behind the very decisions that we make this week. So thank you, mr. President , and i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Heinrich i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Heinrich mr. President , as the senate takes to the floor to debate a long overdue bipartisan solution for dreamers, young immigrants who came to our country as children, i would like to tell you a story about one dreamer in my home state of new mexico to illustrate just what is at stake here this week. Immigrants have long helped to right the economic and the social and the cultural story of my home state of new mexico. And for that matter, our entire nation. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants. And over the last centuries, our Nations Foundation and the enduring american spirit were built by the hard work and the dreams of so many striving young immigrants. When President Trump made the outrageous decision last fall to end the deferred action for childhood arrivals, or daca program, he threw hundreds of thousands of dreamers dupe into fear and dreamers deep into fear and uncertainty. Two weeks ago i was proud to wl yvonne ocosta, one of the estimated 7,000 dreams from new mexico as my guest at the state of the Union Address. Yvonnes family emigrated to the United States when she was 12 years old. She learned english through middle school and graduated high school in astancia, new mexico. It was during these challenges years of learning that yvonne was encouraged by her teachers to grow and to learn. Yvonne knows the power that educators hold to create positive change in the students perspective of themselves. Yvonne attended the university of new mexico, where she earned her b. A. In secondary education with a concentration in spanish. It is estimated that somewhere between 500 and 1,000 students at the university of new mexico right now are dreamers like yvonne. These are some of our brightest students. They are our future leaders. And since she graduated from u. N. M. Four years ago, yvonne has been teaching spanish at the Public Academy for performing arts, a Charter School in albuquerque, new mexico. Yvonne told me about what daca has meant for her. Daca allowed her to get a work permit, to follow her passion for education. It made it possible for her to buy a home and her first car. It has also given her an opportunity to impact the lives of her students each day and to contribute to our states economy as a teacher and as a taxpayer. Daca gave yvonne, in her words, quote, a sliver of hope, hope that she will finally be able to have a permanent home in a place in the only country that she knows how to call home. Because of her excellent teaching in the classroom and her incredible passion for her students, yvonne was just selected as the 2018 new mexico teacher of the year by the new Mexico Public Education department. Thats right, ivonne has been recognized as the teacher of the year for our entire state. Ivonnes commitment to education and to giving back to her community is truly inspiring and it reminds us just how much is at stake for new mexico and our country in this debate. Our state already struggles to keep schools filled with teachers and has one of the highest teacher turnover rates in the nation. Dreamers across the country like ivonne are stepping up to serve our communities, to teach our students. Nearly 9,000 of the dreamers who received temporarily legal status and work permits through the daca program are teachers like ivonne. Many more are firefighters, theyre police officers, theyre scientists, theyre doctors, theyre members of our military. These inspiring young people are americans in every sense of the word except for a piece of paper. And they want nothing more than to be productive members of their communities. But until Congress Passes the dream act, these young people like ivonne will continue to worry about whether they will be able to stay in school, keep working, contributing to our economy or remain even in their homes and their neighborhoods. So i have to ask, why would we even consider threatening to deport the teacher of the year from my state . I simply cannot accept that as living up to all that our nation stands for. A Santa Fe New Mexican covered ivonnes visit to washington. The Editorial Board said that, quote, it is no exaggeration to state that as the immigration debate goes, so does her future. End quote. They went on to call the immigration debate we are engaging in here in congress as a fight, quote, for the soul of this country founded and strengthened by immigrants throughout our history. I for one hope that we can learn from the best and the most challenging parts of our nations history of immigration and understand that dreamers like ivonne are part of the immigration story that has always made our nation great. Deporting these young people who grew up in america and want to contribute to their nation is not the america that i know and love. Dreamers deserve commonsense, compassionate and responsible policy. Two weeks ago while President Trump was taking cheap shots at immigrants during his state of the Union Address and insinuating that all immigrants and Asylum Seekers pose an existential danger to our children and our families, i couldnt help but think of the impacts of his words on ivonne as she sat in the gallery. There are hundreds of thousands of dreamers like her. They are truly bright spots and rising stars in our communities, in our country. The time has come for us to stop playing politics with their lives. Lets stop stirring up fear and division when we should be working to find a real path forward. This week i believe we have a path forward here in the senate in this debate, and we must pass a bipartisan immigration bill that includes the dream act in the senate and in the house. I will do everything i can to pass a solution for dreamers, to create rational Border Security policies, and make the investments that our border region and its communities actually need. And i will stand with new mexicans against President Trumps fearbased and unamerican views, frankly, on immigration and his offensive and wasteful border wall that have no place in this debate. I hope that each of us in this body recognizes our moral responsibility and our obligation to live up to our nations ideals and its values. We must act with a sense of urgency to find a way forward for these dreamers. Every day that passes without us passing the dream act is another day of desperation and limbo for young people like ivonne who only know america as their home. Now is the time to give these Young Americans a permanent place and an earned path to citizenship in our nation, and i will do everything i can ever step of the way to make that happen. Thank you, mr. President. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. As we speak, there is a horrific scene playing out at a high school in south florida. Turn on your television right now, youre going to see scenes of children running for their lives. What looks to be the 19th School Shooting in this country, and we have not even hit march. Im coming to the floor to talk about something else, but let me just note once again for my colleagues, this happens nowhere else other than the United States of america. This epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of School Shooting after School Shooting. It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else. As a parent, it scares me to death that this body doesnt take seriously the safety of my children, and it seems like a lot of parents in south florida are going to be asking that same question later today. We pray for the families and for the victims. We hope for the best. I came to the floor tad to talk about immigration. I want to make a specific case to you today, but before i do, i want to talk a little bit about process. I have heard a lot of my friends on the republican side of the aisle say on this floor and in the halls of congress that President Trump has made an immigration proposal and democrats have been asking for an immigration proposal, so we should just accept his first and only offer. Whats the big deal . President trump gave you something that says immigration on it. Why arent you accepting it . Its a terrible proposal. Its bad for america. To his credit, President Trump does attempt to try to deal with these dreamer kids, but there are three million potentially eligible individuals in this country, and it only allows about 1. 8 million of them to get through the process. But thats really not the worst part. The worst part is it cuts Legal Immigration by 40 . It basically abandons this countrys commitment to familybased immigration. Listen, i wouldnt be here if we only had skillsbased immigration. Most members of this body wouldnt be here if the only way that your parents or grandparents or great grandparent could have come here is because of a ph. D. Or a degree or a certificate. Most of the people in this chamber, i would imagine, came here are here because their parents, grandparents, great grandparents came here because they had friends or family members here. Lets not reimagine the history of this country. Democrats are not required to accept the first offer from this president if its not good for america. Negotiation, right, still has to be part of the legislative process, and im glad that there are members of the republican and Democratic Caucus who have been trying to do that, and well see where that goes. The president has put this proposal on the table that dramatically cuts immigration into this country because he sees immigration as a core weakness of this country. He views new entrants to america as an economic drain. Thats why he wants to potentially kick out three million dreamer kids next month if we dont act. Thats why he wants to dramatically cut down the number of people that are allowed to legally emigrate to america. He views that as a problem that needs to be dealt with, and he is not alone. Many americans agree. I hear from them regularly in connecticut. Frankly, one could also argue that there is nothing more american than being scared of immigrants. Every single new wave of immigrants to our shores has been met with some degree of fear and derision and prejudice. Like clock work, every generation or two, american politicians denounce immigrants as a threat to the americanborn worker. In the 1850s, growing numbers of catholic immigrants from ireland, as the murphies as the murphys came. They claimed that catholics could never be americans because they owed allegiance to the pope. Starting in the 1880s, hundreds of thousands of chinese immigrants began to immigrate to the west coast, causing a spike in antichinese sentiment that eventually resulted in the passage of something called the chinese exclusion act. Fearing those that are different from us in skin color or religion or National Origin or language, it is an unmistakable facet of American History. But over and over again, we have overcome these basin stingts because our better angels prevail. But also because of this bright, Straight Line that connects americas liberal immigration policy with our economic greatness. And so i want to take just a couple minutes to make for you a exact but irrefutable case for the correlation between economic power and american immigrants. From 1870 to 1910, its no coincidence that americas transformation into a Global Economic powerhouse occurred during a period of massive influx of human capital. During that time, nearly 15 of all americans were foreign born. Thats a share that our country has never reached since then. This period of unprecedented growth forever dispelled this myth that we still labor under today, that the number of american jobs is fixed. Immigrants increase demand, and that increased demand, it creates jobs. Organizations from the National Academy of sciences to the conservative Cato Institute have done their own studies on this question and have come to the same conclusion. Kato recently said this, quote, immigrants add jobs, in part by raising consumer demand. So getting rid of immigrants, such as by deporting unauthorized workers, this is katos words, would most likely destroy jobs and raise native unemployment. That makes sense, right . But if you dont believe that immigrants create growth, there is another, even simpler explanation, as to why we need robust immigration. At present, at present birth rates, we dont have enough people born here to fill all the jobs created in the next 20 years. Its estimated that accounting for growth, america is going to need 83 million new workers to enter the workforce in the next 20 years. 83 million. But heres the problem. Only 51 million new workers will be native born. That leaves us 32 million short. And unless folks start churning out a lot more babies, immigration is the only way to fix that deficit. Okay. Not convinced . Well, think about how the federal budget works. Most of our budget is social insurance, working age americans paying into accounts that pay benefits to older nonworking americans. So you need a balance between the two in order to not go bankrupt. And many of our competitor nations around the world are spiraling towards this demographic cataclysm. By 2030, the median age in japan with strict immigration policies is going to be over 50. Its extraordinary. Want to know why germany is so interested in bringing refugees into their country . Because without them, their median age in 2030 is 48. Budgets simply cant work with that many retirees and that few workers. But because of americas liberal immigration policy, our average age, which is today 38, increases in 2030 to just 39. During that time, china, another country that doesnt really allow immigration, they go from having a median age thats two years younger than the United States to three years older. In 2010, undocumented immigrants and their employers sent 13 billion to Social Security. Without them, the trust fund would be out of money today. Okay. So youre not there yet . Lets talk jobs. Just ask your farmers in your state how important lower skill immigration is to keeping their farms afloat. But talk about highskilled jobs, would it shock you to know that 31 of ph. D. Holders in this country are immigrants . Its amazing. Or what about more than one quarter of all highquality patents in the United States being granted to immigrants. Or how about a study from three years ago, senator Catherine Cortez masto referred to it, that found that immigrants are twice as likely as nativeborn americans to start a business. Thats not good enough for you . Here is a mind blower. 43 of fortune 500 companies in the United States were founded or cofounded by an immigrant or a child of an immigrant. And you know who they are. Ebays founder came to the United States from france where he was born to iranian parents. Googles cofounder emigrated with his family from russia when he was 6. Elon musk started spacex which has 4,000 employees, came from south africa. Henry ford was an irish immigrant. Estee lauders family was hungarian. One of the founders of i. B. M. Had german parents. If you dont want ford or b. M. W. Or google to be part of the american story, then keep saying that immigrants are an economic strain. It was once marveled that, quote, no other nation has successfully combined people of different races and nations within a single culture. This combination, its our definition as a nation, but its also the story of our economic greatness, of our sprawling leap under two short centuries from just an idea to the biggest, most dynamic economy on the face of the planet. And to deny that history or to misremember it would be perhaps an irreversible error. I yield the floor. Mr. Grassley mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley some of what i just heard i can readily agree to. Certain things like were a nation of immigrants, no doubt about that. We need immigrants. We take roughly 800 to a million legal immigrants a year. Theyre welcome. We also, though, are a nation of laws, and as a nation of laws, we want people to come here according to our laws and abide by the laws. Now, were working with a group of people, if you call them dacas, it would be about 800,000. If you refer to them as dreamers, maybe 1. 8 million. We obviously have sympathy for those because a baby brought here in diapers by a person or family that crossed our border without papers and hence were entering our country illegally, we dont attribute the sin and the unlawfulness of the parent to the baby, and so there is a lot of that that has happened, and there is a general agreemeny in my Political Party agrees with this, but i think 80 of them do that we need to deal with people that are here through no fault of their own and give them legal status. Thats the compassion that we are showing for people that broke our laws by their parents doing it but not the kids doing it. I also didnt ever think we would be here today debating this because i went through the 2013 debate on immigration. The Senate Passed a bill. The house of representatives didnt take it up. I was in the minority at that time, both in a caucus that was in a minority as well as in a minority that voted against that bill because i didnt think it did the things the way that i would do them. And everything died in the house of representatives. So then two years later i became chairman of the judiciary committee. We have jurisdiction over immigration legislation. I could have spent three months on immigration during 15 or 16 and sent a bill to the house of representatives that probably would have died. But i made up my mind early in my chairmanship that i wanted to do things that we could get done. And so over a period of the last congress my bill, my committee voted out 31 bills, all bipartisan. 18 of them got to a democrat president , because i felt in 2015 and 2016 that why go through that process if its going to die in the house of representatives. So even a year ago, after a president was elected that campaigned so much against anything dealing with immigration and legalization of people here, even young people that hes now come to the conclusion we ought to legalize, i didnt think wed be having this debate today. And somehow i think members of the Democratic Party didnt think wed have this debate. I think that they were shocked probably when the majority leader decided two or three weeks ago when government shut down to make an agreement to bring this issue up, and here we are debating an immigration bill that, quite frankly, i didnt think wed be debating. And were here. And then of course we didnt do anything monday, didnt do anything on this issue tuesday. I dont know whether were going to have any votes today. But here we are debating immigration. We have a chance to do what members of the other Political Party as advocates for dreamers and daca kids, and we have them on this side but maybe not as vocal or as loyal as democrats are on this issue, and now somehow we have a difficult time getting the issue up, getting it up and getting something passed. And i offer to my 99 colleagues something the president said he would sign. Now maybe you dont like exactly whats in that proposal. Get it up and amend it and lets see what sort of compromise we can accomplish. But we are here because the leader said were going to do this issue. It was something that the minority demanded, and we ought to reach a particular conclusion on it and get something to the president of the United States. Now once we knew this issue was going to come up and we knew that on september 5, when the president said that he was not going to continue the illegal approach to the daca kids that obama, president obama did, and we have reason to believe through Court Decisions on older people, they ruled the president didnt have the authority, that he didnt have the authority to do what he did with the daca kids. In fact, dozens, or at least a dozen times before he made that decision, he was telling the entire country he didnt have the authority to do it, and then he went ahead and did it. So this president comes in, takes an oath to uphold the constitution and laws of this country, and he decides that he cant continue what was considered illegal activity by the previous president. This is a congressional decision that we made, and congress ought to make it. And so we were told on september 5, do something by march 5. So here we are. Now i heard from the previous speaker and maybe a lot of previous speakers that this is the president s plan. Yes, this is something that the president said that hes going to support and would sign, but i want to say to you, the work that a group of us senators have put on this issue over a period of the last three months with about 18 meetings, four meetings with the president of the United States to discuss the issue, and most of whats in the proposal that is put before you are things that a group of senators put together. And i would say as our group met, we probably had subgroups of three who had different views, and some of them felt strongly about their position. But everybody came together in a compromise that you see is here before us in my amendment. Now some of those meetings, we discussed these things with the president. And i want to give the president credit for a january 9 meeting he had where he called together 23 of us, bipartisan, bicameral, where we would where we were able to dial down all the things that youd be discussing with immigration and came to the conclusion that there were four main points we ought to be dealing with. And youve heard of these as the four pillars, but let me repeat them. One was legalization of these children that were brought here by their parents. Number two, Border Security. Number three, chain migration. And number four, diversity visa. And weve discussed these things with the president , and i suppose the president probably emphasized citizenship to a greater extent than maybe we did in our deliberations. But we have something thats been put together here by members of body in a compromising way, none of us getting everything that we wanted. And were fortunate enough to have the president s backing on this. So i hope that you see this not as weve heard from the other side as the president s plan, as if six of us that introduced this seven of us, i think that introduced this proposal, that somehow we just took something from the white house and put our names on it, and its there before the United States senate. Because that isnt how it worked. So i think i want to address some of the issues that have been put before us by people on the other side. So i want to express, as you probably have seen me expressing already in my remarks so far, my frustration with the current status of the immigration debate here in the United States senate. It amazes me that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle simply arent ready to have a serious immigration debate. They demanded, been demanding to have this debate for months. They have even shut the government down to get to this point. And now were actually on this issue that they have been demanding that we debate for months during this congress. But for some of them on the other side of the aisle, for years. And then, now when its time to put up or shut up, theyve come up emptyhanded. Despite having weeks to prepare, Senate Democrats are still rushing to put some plans together. So let that sink in. Think about this just for a moment. Senate democrats recklessly shut down the federal government over immigration, and they did it over plans that they still largely havent drafted. That should be very frustrating not only to this senator, but most of my colleagues. And its exactly why the American People seem to have less faith in this process in washington, d. C. But even more frustrating is that for two valuable days they have refused to allow the senate to debate immigration measures. Now as i understand why the democrats i do understand why the democrats are afraid to vote on ending sanctuary cities. Those policies that we call sanctuary cities are massively unpopular with the American People. In other words, the American People feel that when the constitution says that Immigration Law is one of the 18 powers of the United States, that no local or State Government should be able to interfere with what the constitution says as the supreme law of the land. Yet, i cant understand why democrats refused for two days to allow us a debate on an issue like sanctuary cities. That amendment would help us keep our communities safe from dangerous criminals, besides carrying out the intent of the constitution that the federal government have complete authority over immigration. Who could be against an approach to outlaw, or to send a signal that sanctuary cities arent justified when that is how you protect the American People from the criminal elements that some sanctuary cities protect . Apparently the democrats are, since they dont seem to be for outlawing sanctuary cities. I guess another way to say it is they could do more to protect hardworking americans from the criminal element that is, albeit a small part of our immigration people that were talking about, it still creates havoc for people like the steinle family where kate was murdered, as an example, by a an alien who was a felon, who returned to this country and returned not once but five times. Then, in other words, i have to ask my colleagues whether enforcement issues are legitimately a part of immigration debate. And thats what the sanctuary city situation is all about. Isnt Border Security more than just throwing money at infrastructure . Shouldnt we be discussing how to reform our nations laws so that dangerous criminal elements cant inflict harm on innocent families . Im pretty sure, im actually 100 confident the answer to those questions are yes, that those are important issues to the American People. Those issues used to be discussed here. Ive already mentioned the name of kate steinle, murdered by one of these people. I could add the names of sarah root, jemel shaw. These people all had dreams too, but they had their lives ended by felons who had been deported and come back into this country. If my colleagues were actually serious about debating this issue, wed be discussing border enforcement issues. Sadly, it seems like my colleagues plans that ive seen so far fall short of that goal. Legalizing dreamers, yes. Whos going to argue with that . A little bit of money for Border Security, theres a lot to argue about there. But not doing something about criminal aliens that are a threat to Law Enforcement in this country for the safety of our people, it seems to me that ought to be a part of it. So we get all the people in this room that want to say they want to do something about border by throwing money at it, yet they refuse to actually give our Law Enforcement the legal tools that they need to protect americans, because just a wall or whatever you want to call, electronic surveillance, more Border Patrol, its all Border Security. But its more than a wall, but it takes more than those things to protect the American People. And so im here to tell you that its a tragedy that somebody, that some people in this body just want to legalize for one year, two years, or three years and put maybe a little bit of money into Border Security with no commitment to the future. All we have done then is kicked the can down the road. Were still, none of my colleagues proposals are being developed in a way that they can actually become law. Maybe for them, simply passing a partisan bill is enough. Leader schumer said that this morning, and i was here listening to him. But thats not enough for this senator. This senator actually wants to see something passed into law that will provide real protection for daca kids. Thats why i have introduced an amendment that could actually pass the house of representatives, and we know the president would sign it. Polls show that the framework a number of us developed along with the president s input is overwhelmingly popular. A Harvard Harris poll showed that 65 of the voters agreed with our plan, including 64 of democratic voters. So despite the hyperbole you will hear from my colleagues, the plan that the president said he would sign is not only popular but again is the only plan that has any chance of becoming law. So its time for all my colleagues to get serious about fixing daca, stopping posturing, stopping showboating, and stop simply trying to pass a bill out of the United States senate that wont get considered in the other body and wont be signed by the president of the United States. The focus ought to be on making actual law. If all of us here in the senate, particularly those that are in the Democratic Caucus, focus on those things, then the choice for them will be very clear. They will vote for the amendment that the seven of us have put before the senate called the grassley amendment. Theyll back the president. And theyll provide real security, real certainty to the Daca Recipients and the American People. In fact, its so simple for people, some on the other side that have been promising a daca certainty for years and some for a few months, but more importantly, real strongly the last three or four months, its an opportunity for everything you have told those kids that you are going to get them legal, even give them a path to citizenship that you can deliver. I yield the floor. Mr. Casey mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Casey thank you, mr. President. I rise to speak about the issue that were dealing with on the floor, and im grateful for this opportunity. I wanted to first of all stress the critical urgency that we act to protect our nations dreamers. The United States, as we all know, both parties know this, is a proud nation of immigrants, yet in september, the administration insulted our values by announcing a decision to end the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, which we know by the act acronym daca. Dreamers are young people who have lived in our country since they were children. They are lawabiding residents who have learned english. They have paid taxes and secured jobs to support themselves and their families. Our government promised them that they would be protected if they came forward, and now the administration, at least so far, has broken that promise. Democrats have been fighting for immediate consideration of the dream act since the Administration First announced its decision on daca more than five months ago. We have yet to vote on a single piece of Bipartisan Legislation to protect dreamers. I do, however, commend the bipartisan work of a number of my colleagues in both parties who have come to the table to draft legislation that protects dreamers and, and secures our border. With hundreds, soon to be thousands of dreamers losing protection every day, its critical that we come together to pass Bipartisan Legislation that will provide permanent protections for these remarkable young people. Dreamers are deeply integrated into communities across pennsylvania and a lot of other states and across our country, of course. Dreamers work as nurses caring for caring for our families. They work as teachers educating our children and as servicemen and servicewomen in our military working to keep us safe. Take a Young Pennsylvania dreamer that i met a few months ago, way back, i guess, in september now who was studying to be a nurse. Talking about her own life, she said all i want to do is heal people. All i want to do is be a nurse. Then she became very upset thinking about whether or not she might have that opportunity because of what had not happened in washington, no legislation passed to protect her. Another dreamer from lancaster, pennsylvania the presiding officer knows that part of our state well. Audrey lopez. Audrey was brought to the United States from peru when she was just 11 years old. Audrey spent most of her childhood in pennsylvania, and her parents instilled in her the value of hard work and an education. Like so many dreamers, audrey only learned that she was undocumented when she was applying to college and learned she did not have a Social Security number. Despite not having access to financial aid, audrey worked hard and she graduated, graduated from college. After graduation, she took a job in public service, working at church world services, assisting refugees with resettlement. And this past fall, audrey accepted a nearly full scholarship to American University where she will obtain a masters degree in international development. Audrey is an american in every way but not on paper. She is continuing to work hard despite not knowing if she will have a future in the country she calls home. We should be supporting young, hardworking people like audrey who want to work in the service of others and our nation. Instead, some but not all, not all republicans are threatening her future. Not only her future but our nations future by making us less safe and, frankly, damaging our economy. Protecting dreamers is not only the right thing to do, its also good for the american economy, and its in our National Security interests. Daca has enabled almost 800,000 young people to grow and thrive in america, including about 5,900 in pennsylvania. Part of the fabric of our community, these impressive young people like audrey provide an enormous contribution to our society, including paying an estimated 2 billion each year in state and local taxes. By contrast, repealing daca would amount to a loss of 460. 3 billion from the national g. D. P. Over the next decade. So if you want to do it by year, roughly 46 billion a year for each of the ten years. In pennsylvania, ending daca would result in an annual loss of 357. 1 million to the state g. D. P. , according to the center for american progress. Currently, about 900 dreamers are serving in the United States military, and more than one out of every seven dacaeligible immigrants have Language Skills that are currently in short supply in the u. S. Military. It makes no sense to remove these dreamers from a country they call home. I believe its both wrong and dangerous. The American People overwhelmingly support allowing dreamers to stay in the United States. Its about Time Congress listened to the nearly 80 of americans who want to pass protections for dreamers along with increased Border Security so we can prevent this situation in the future. So its time for action. We need a real compromise solution that will get 60 votes in the senate and of course 214 votes 218 votes in the u. S. House and a signature from the president of the United States. While i have advocated in the past for a clean vote on the bipartisan dream act thats what i prefer compromise will be critical to ensuring we get something done and sent to the president s desk. In 2013, i and many others, 67 other senators, voted for a bipartisan immigration bill that would have doubled the number of Border Patrol agents. Number two, that bill would have mandated 24hour surveillance of the border, using advanced Technology Like drones. And number three, it would have provided a pathway to citizenship for lawabiding immigrants. There are a number of bipartisan proposals to pair dreamer protections with datadriven, sensible Border Security that focuses on public safety. I look forward to finally, finally voting on these issues, and i would hope my republican colleagues will continue to work with us to secure our border and ensure dreamers like audrey lopez have a future they can count on. Mr. President , i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.