Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140724

Vote the presiding officer does any senator wish to vote or change his or her vote . If not, the yeas are 54, the nays are 41. And the motion is agreed to. The presiding officer under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of the disbrow nomination, which the clerk will o report. The clerk nominations, the judiciary. Pamela harris of maryland to be United States circuit judge for the fourth circuit. Department of defense, lisa s. Disbrow of virginia to be an assistant secretary of the air force. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid would it be appropriate at this time to yield back the two minutes on each of those . The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid i would ask consent to do that. Im sorry. The presiding officer the question is now on the disbrow nomination. All in favor say aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The nomination is agreed to. Is confirmed. The clerk will report the men dez nomination. The mendez nomination. The Clerk Department of transportation, victor m. Mendez of arizona to be deputy secretary. The presiding officer the question is on the nomination. All in favor say aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The nomination is confirmed. The clerk will report the rogoff nomination. The Clerk Department of transportation, peter m. Rogoff of virginia to be under secretary. The presiding officer the question is on the nomination. All in favor say aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The nomination is confirmed. The clerk will report the andrews nomination. The Clerk Department of commerce, bruce h. Andrews of new york to be deputy secretary. The presiding officer the question is on the nomination. All in favor say aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. With respect to each of these nominations. The senate will resume legislative session. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from wisconsin. Ms. Baldwin madam president , we have an opportunity to address an issue of great concern to forested communities in wisconsin and across the nation in the emergency supplemental appropriations bill now pending before congress. The supplemental addresses a number of of very urgent issues. The issue of unaccompanied minors who are crossing our southern border has rightly received much attention. And there is, indeed, a crisis and i believe that Congress Must pass a supplemental appropriations bill to help address this humanitarian crisis. But this afternoon i want to call attention to another emergency that Congress Must address extreme wildfires and the dysfunctional way that the federal government managers our Fire Fighting operations. Devastating wildfires are raging in washington and oregon states and many other states have felt the heartbreaking impact of major forest fire destruction. As i presided earlier today, i got to hear the two senators from Washington State come to the floor and talk about the devastation that the wildfire in their state is causing, the bravery of citizens who are facing these destructive fires. Its why i am pleased that appropriations chairwoman mikulski has drafted an emergency supplemental appropriations bill that includes 615 million for wildfire suppression. I thank her for her tremendous leadership in putting together a strong bill and i urge congress to take up and pass this legislation without delay to provide muchneeded support to these suffering communities. But its not just western states that feel the impact of wildfi wildfires. In fact, a state like wisconsin is hurt very significantly by a broken budget process called fire borrowing. It forces the u. S. Forest service to take funding intended to manage our forests and instead uses it for wildfire suppression. In fact, fire borrowing is a misnomer. The money really is never paid back. And this cripples the u. S. Forest service and diverts critical funding from my home state and many others. In wisconsin, over 50,000 people are employed in the Forest Products industry, from jobs in forestry and logging to paper makers in the states many mills. The industry pays over 3 billion in wages into the states economy and ships products worth over 17 billion each year. Unfortunately, fire borrowing has led to long project delays that are impacting this vital industry and jeopardizing the jobs which it supports. The practice of fire borrowing has increased in recent years, triggered when we have a bad fire season and the Forest Service runs out of Funds Available for Fire Fighting. When the Fire Fighting funding is gone, the agency transfers funds from other parts of its budget and borrows them to pay for the fire suppression. When these funds are diverted, agency work is simply put on hold. Now, no Business Owner would select a supplier who couldnt provide a clear delivery schedule or who would routinely delay delivery of products for undetermined amounts of time. Loggers and other local businesses that partner with the Forest Service have to deal with just such uncertainty because of fire borrowing. Government can work better than this. Unfortunately, the or excuse me. Fortunately, the Senate Emergency supplemental appropriations bill would solve this broken process by treating the largest fires like other natural disasters, such as hurricanes or tornadoes, and it would stabilize the rest of the Forest Service budget so that other essential work, ranging from timber sales to the management of forest health, can be completed on schedule. Furthermore, the proposal is fiscally responsible because it would help reduce longterm costs by allowing for increased Fire Prevention activities and because it would not increase the amount that congress can spend on natural disasters. Ending fire borrowing has strong bipartisan support. In fact, over 120 members of the house and senate and more than 200 groups ranging from Timber Industry to conservation groups to the National Rifle association, support the wildfire disaster funding act. The bipartisan bill that contains the fire borrowing fix including in the supplemental. The consensus is that we need to get this fix done this year. While there is strong bipartisan support for ending fire borrowing, its unclear if the house of representatives is going to support this fix in the supplemental appropriation bill thats being considered now. In fact, my friend, the House Budget Committee chairman, paul ryan, has consistently stood in the way of Bipartisan Solutions offered in both the house and the senate. He has ignored the fact that the current budget structure is flawed and has resulted in the Forest Service taking the Forest Management funding that wisconsins forests rely upon and instead using it to fight wildfires. As his republican mike colleague, representative mike simpson, recently pointed ou out quote unfortunately continuing the status quo, as chairman ryan advocates, prevents us from reducing the cost and severity of future fires by forcing agencies to rob the money that congress has appropriated for these priorities to pay for increasingly unpredictable and costly suppression needs. I would urge my friend and fellow wisconsinite to join us and support ending fire borrowing. I thank chairwoman mikulski and subcommittee chairman reed for including this important provision in the supplemental bill and i would like to thank senators wyden and crapo for their tireless leadership in the fight to end fire borrowing. The proposal included in the emergency appropriations supplemental is a fiscally responsible solution to a devastating problem with wideranging impacts. It will help us respond to wildfires and support businesses and thousands of jobs in the Timber Industry 23 in wisconsins well as throughout the country. And i would urge my colleagues in the senate and the house to come together to solve this problem once and for all. Madam president , i yield back. Mr. Heller madam president . The presiding officer the senatosenator from nevada. Mr. Heller thank you, madam president. Last week a piece was written about israels interest in crossborder violence. Rather, the goal of the current military action is to establish peace. I believe the writer correctly suggests that israel has been left with no choice but to act in order to defend herself from the terrorist organization hamas. Thpiece also made the important conclusion that hamas wants to provoke a fight with israel and that this fight is willing to sacrifice their own people in order to Win International support and ultimately undermine israels legitimacy and right to defend itself. Mr. President or, madam president , theres no question regarding israels legitimacy, and theres also no question regarding israels right to defend themselves. The International Community has affirmed this principle. Further, this body has affirmed israels right to defend herself when the senate recently passed senator grahams resolution on this mavment madam president , as a cosponsor, i believe this resolution speaks in clear terms. The Senate Stands with israels right to defend itself and it demands that hamas immediately immediately stop attacking israel. While the senate hags made its position on this issue clear, israel has been forced to take matters into their own hands. As we speak, the Israeli Defense forces are engaged in operation protective edge, working to identify and destroy the infrastructure that hamas has used to execute attacks and move ar reconcilety under artillery underneath gaza city. The idea was to destroy more than 20 tunnels and identify many more as Ground Troops move from building to building. They are a utilizing air, ground, and sea to strike designated targets and provide support as it works its way through gas disa city. The fighting was likely continue and more casualties on both sides will increase either until either a ceasefire can be negotiated or israel believes the tunnel system has been successfully negated. I believe that israel has been left with no choice but to defend herself. Israel has faced a barrage of rocket attacks from gaza strip and according to secretary of state kerry hamas has attempted to sedate and kidnap israelis through the network of tunnels used to stage crossborder raids. Prime minister netanyahu cannot tolerate rocket attacks and kidnappings aimed at israelis. Their right to defend themselves is without question. But through the process, innocent palestinians are being killed. This tragic loss of innocence life must not go unnoticed but we must acknowledge hamas role in risking the lives of their own. Hamas launches rocket rockets io heavily populated areas. Even if some palestinians are killed, the coverage aired worldwide will be favorable to hamas and wellworth the loss sms hamas is sacrificing its own to win the media war against israel. In contrast, in the leadup to military, a, israel dropped thousands of leaflets explaining to palestinians where they can go to be assist safe. There is no clear picture of right versus wrong than israel fighting to protect its citizens against a terrorist operation operating underground and using palestinians they live with as human shields. Hamas is a terrorist organization willing to let women and children die if there is a possibility it advances international sympathy for them and underscores israel in any way. The footage of innocent palestinians dying in gaza is tragic, but the blame is not at the foot of israel. It is on hamas. Over the next weeks and months, the military action in did a disa may escalate. If a ceasefire is not negotiated, the United States cannot turn its back on israel. We must continue to stand with them and allow them to eradicate this terrorist threat and shut down these underground tunnels. It is their right as a nation and the United States must stand with them. Thank you, madam president. I yield back. The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch p in, i want to compliment the distinguished senator from nevada for his remarks. Theyre true and i appreciate his leadership on this matter. Madam president , the senate is currently debating the socalled bring jobs home act, the bill supposedly aimed at preserving and creating jobs in the United States. However, as i noted yesterday, the bring jobs home act is little more than a political posturing and electionyear messaging. It real disli get old. Weve gone through that over and over while we dont do what we ought to do for this kufnlt the Senate Democrats want to portray the republicans as the party of the outsourcing, which is a joke. So theyve crafted a bill that will do nothing to actually address the problem of outsourcing but will provide them with a few days worth of talkingpoints on the subject. We went through precisely this same exercise in 2012. We voted on the exact same bill during the last election cycle. It was meaningless then, and its meaningless now. Like i said, i went over this yesterday. I talked at some length about the shortcomings of this bill, and i dont want to rehash all of that again today. Instead, id like to take just a few minutes to talk about some things we could be doing to create and protect american jobs. I found some amendments to this bill that i think would actually do something along these lines. And if we get chance to offer amendments to this bill, which is of course doubtful in the way the senate is currently being run, i think these are the type of amendments that we should consider. One of my amendments is a fourpart tax amendment. It would help businesses create jobs in the United States. If enacted, it would provide additional cash flow for businesses and would allow them to hire workers, invest in plants and equipment. It would do so by making four separate temporary tax provisions permanent. The first of these provisions relates to section 179 Small Business expensing. My amendment would permanently increase the amount of equipment, certaining real property, and software that a business can deduct in a year to 500,000 and index that amount to inflation. It makes sense. The second provision would make bonus depreciation permanent, allowing businesses to permanently deduct 50 of the cost of qualified property in the first year that property is placed in service. My amendment would also make the research and Development Tax credit permanent, increasing the alternative simplified credit to 20 and eliminating the Traditional Research and Development Credit test. Finally, the amendment would permanently provide for a full exclusion of Capital Gains income derived from sale of stock of certain small subchapter c corporations. All of these would really create jobs. They ought to be allowed on this bivmenbill. Together they would provide muchneeded certainty for scwobcreating businesses and allow companies to more effective plan for the future. If were going to amend the tax code in the name of creating jobs, this is a far better approach, as it removes uncertainty and simplifies elements of the code. The bring jobs home act would do the opposite. Ive also found two healthrelated amendments to this bill. The first of these amendments would repeal the medical device tax that was included as part of the socalled Affordable Care act. Obamacares 24 billion tax on lifesaving and lifeimproving medical devices is reducing u. S. Employment. A recent study by Industry Group estimated the cost costs as many as 165,000 jobs. Thats 165,000 american jobs eliminated by this misguided tax. 10 of respondents to that survey have relocated manufacturing outside of the country or expanded manufacturing abroad rather than in the u. S. This would help solve the inversion problem but our colleagues on the other side just wont do anything about it. And yet theyre traig t trying e the republicans for unversion. Give me a break. The tax is also curbing american innovation. 30 of the survey respondents have reduced their investments in research. This is a far better approach. Its far more substantial and as the survey data shows, it will have an immediate realworld impact on jobs in the u. S. And its bipartisan. Republicans and democrats support repeal of the medical device tax. Last year 79 senators on this floor, including 34 democrats, voted to repeal the tax. It really is a nobrainer, madam president. I hope we can finally get a vote on if. But sooner or later were going to get a vet on that, and it will be on a bill that will pass both houses. My other Health Care Amendment would repeal obamacares jobkilling employer maifnltd the so shf called Affordable Care act requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide Health Coverage to their workers or pay a 2,000 tax per employee. This deters Business Growth as it discourages Small Businesses from hiring more than 50 employees and has led many gloirs cut workers hours to keep from going over the mandates threshold. How stupid can we be . Even the administration has acknowledged that the employer mandate is harmful. Theyve already delayed it several times in hopes of delaying its harmful impact during an election year. Isnt that nice. If we really want to keep people in their jobs and encourage businesses to hire more American Workers, repealing the employer mandate would go a long way. My last amendment would advance u. S. Trade policy by renewing tradepromotion authority. Specifically, the amendment contains the text of the bipartisan congressional trade priorities act of 2014, a bill i introduced in january along with chairman camp of the house ways and means committee, and former chairman of the finance committee senator baucus, max baucus of montana. This bill establishes 21st century congressional negotiating objectives and rules for the administration to follow when engaged in trade talks, including strict requirements for congressional consultations and access to information. If the administration follows through rules, the bill provides special procedures to more quickly move a negotiated deal through congress. Renewing t. P. A. , which expired in 2007, is necessary to successfully conclude ongoing trade negotiations, such as the transpacific partnership. The t. P. P. Negotiations, as well as Free Trade Agreement talks with the european union, often referred to as ttip, involving 38 nations including ours 28 nations, including ours, simple. Im sorry. These are two deals to greatly boost u. S. Exports and create jobs here. The t. P. P. Countries, which represent many of the fastestgrowing economies in the world, accounted 40 of the total u. S. Goods exports in 2012. Think of the jobs that would be created. Another e. U. European union purchased close to 460 billion in u. S. Goods and services that same year supporting 2. 4 million american jobs. In addition, the u. S. Is negotiated with the trade and Services Agreement or tsa, with 50 countries covering about 50 of global g. D. P. And over 70 of Global Services trade. This agreement would create many opportunities for u. S. Jobs in this critical sector. It is vital that we get these trade agreements over the finish line and the only way were going to be able to do that is to renew trade promotion thomplet my amendment provides a reasonable bipartisan path forward on renewing t. P. A. And would do far more to create jobs and grow our economy thank the legislation befor than the legislation buffs today, which is minuscule in effort. As were other amendments, i hope we can get on this t. P. A. Amendment. Of course im not the only senator whos offered reasonable jobcreating amendments to the bring jobs home act. Numerous amendments have already been offered. Im sure that more are on the way, or should i say weve been prohibited from offering amendments on these bills and having a rebust debate for a long time robust debate for a long time because of the actions of the senate. The senate is hardly actin actis it has in the past. That is an effective, positive way. Sadly you if the r if the recent past is any indication there wont be amendments on this bill. The bring jobs back home is not designed to create jobs. It is not even designed to pass the senate. Once again, the entire purpose of this bill is to give democrats some political talking points as the august recess approaches. Having an open and fair debate on amendments would distract from this partisan goal. We understand that. We understand that everything is partisan around here right now and everything is political right now. But my gosh, when are we going to start acting like the United States senate . With that being the case, it is doubtful that any amendments are going to be considered on this legislation, which is of course a crying shame. The stated purpose of this bill is to is to create and protect american jobs. Republicans have amendments that would do just that and more. Ill just mention a few such amendments that would have a far greater impact on American Workers and businesses than the bill before us today, most of which are bipartisan amendments. Thats whats amazing to me. So this is just a game thats being played, and its really an irritating game to me. If were serious about this idea of creating jobs in the u. S. , lets have a real debate about it. Lets discuss some alternative approaches. I know my friends on the other side will have great ideas on some of this if they were just allowed to act like legislators for a change. Lets talk about the real problems that are hampering job growth and lets vote on some of the ideas that weve proposed. I hope that we can do that this time around, but of course im not under any illusions that the democratic leadership here in the senate is about to change course and let this body function the way its supposed to. They are not about to let the senate be the senate. Theyre not allowed to let both sides have a fullfledged opportunity to improve these bills. Theyre not about to allow full and fair debate on both sides. To me, its mindboggling. In the case of this bill, i hope im wrong, i hope that we can get amendments up that would really make this bill a real bill about jobs instead of just politics. Sadly, i dont think im wrong. My experience has been that politics are triumphant around here and getting the peoples work done is secondary. Madam president , i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senior senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin madam president , the child refugee crisis on americas border is a human tragedy. Two weeks ago, in chicago, i met with 70 of these children. It was a meeting i wont forget. These are children. Some are infants. How they ever made it to the United States is nothing short of a miracle, and many who tried didnt. Those who made it, some of them come scarred from the journey. Young women who were assaulted. Children who were beaten up. Some lost their lives on the way. But these were the survivors. They made it. They were in a transitional shelter in chicago that has been there for 19 years, and 70 of them were getting physical exams and meals. As one person there said, for the first time in their lives, many of them were free to be children. These children are here in the United States and they are testing us. Its a test for the United States as to whether or not we care. I believe were a caring nation. We have proved it over and over. How many times in farflung places in the world have we rallied politically to stand behind 300 girls who were kidnapped in nigeria, to be there during the haitian earthquake to make sure the families and children would at least have shelter and medicine and food. The list goes on and on. This caring nation. But this is different. This is not about a problem over there. This is about a challenge here. And what president obama has said to us is we must rise to this challenge, as we have in so many places around the world, we must rise to this challenge at home and prove that when it comes to these children, we can be humane and caring and do the right thing. He sent us a bill to pay for the services they need. Its expensive. Some people argue its too expensive. Well, we can argue about the exact amount of money, but i hope we arent arguing about the value and the principle that is being tested. I hope were not arguing about whether the United States is a caring and compassionate nation. I just left a meeting with the president s from three Central American countries that are responsible for 80 of these child refugees. El salvador, honduras, guatemala. Yesterday, we met with their ambassadors. It is easy to understand what is happening. It is easy to understand when the economies are so poor in this area that families cannot feed their children. It is easy to understand when the drug gangs are so powerful that these children are being threatened, exploited, raped and killed. It is only then that in desperation, some member of the family says there is only one chance. We send you to the United States. Putting these children in the hands of coyotes and smugglers who take them on a journey that doesnt last hours but days, 2,000 miles, imagine, imagine a mother taking her child to the freight train, this 12yearold boy, watching him climb up the ladder on the side and hang on and say youll be there in four days. Can you imagine that . Can you imagine the family in honduras before they send their young girl on this journey with the coyote, they give her Birth Control pills in anticipation that she will likely be sexually assaulted during the course of that journey. How desperate must that family be . That is the reality of this human child refugee crisis that we face. The president has said we need to do several things. First, we need to tell these countries dont send these children. It is too dangerous, and when they arrive here, they have no special legal rights to be citizens or stay here. We need to get that message through loud and clear do not send your children. And the countries involved, honduras, el salvador and guatemala are joining us now in getting that message out. Secondly, we need to start apprehending and prosecuting these smugglers, these coyotes. They extort from these families a years wages to try to bring children into this country. Now, some of these children are teenagers, most of them are, but many are babies and infants. Five women walked into this dining room at this shelter, carrying newborn babies. All of these women from honduras, all victims of rape, they have gone on these buses for eight days to bring these newborn infants to a safer place so that they might survive. I am heartened by the fact that religious groups all around the United States have rallied behind these children. Im proud that the Catholic Church, which i associate with, occasionally they associate with me, but im proud that the Catholic Church and the bishops have spoken up on this. Evangelicals are one of the first groups to come forward and say we have got to do something for these children. Even some of the most conservative political commentators have said first, america, show your heart, that you care for these children. And thats what the president is asking us to do. So let us take care when we consider the supplemental appropriation bill that we dont lose sight of our values. And those who politically disagree and sometimes even despise the president , i urge them dont try to show how tough you are with this president at the expense of these small children. Lets show how big we are as a nation first. The political debate can be saved for another day. I support this legislation. I think its the right thing to do. I want history to write this chapter about america and i want it to be a chapter were proud of. I want a future generation to look back to this year and say that in this year, when the United States was presented with this border crisis with children, america showed its heart. America stood up and did the right thing for these children, as we have so many times in the past. Madam president , there are other things in this bill. One of them is a section of the bill that i have worked on in my capacity as chairman of the defense appropriation committee. This is called iron dome. Much different than the debate about children and refugees. Over the past three weeks, more than 2,000 rockets have been fired from gaza into israel. According to press reports, civilian casualties have been limited, maybe even only two out of 2,000 rockets. There are two reasons for the low number of injuries from this barrage. First, many of these rockets land in uninhabited areas. Second, these rockets are headed for cities and towns. These rockets are stopped and destroyed before they strike their targets. The reason the iron dome Missile Defense system, a joint effort by the United States and israel to protect israel from just such an attack. The United States and israel have deep ties of this program. Of the ten iron dome batteries that have been fielded, the United States provided the funding for eight of them, and im glad we have because this system has saved innocent lives. Our country has been asked for additional assistance to ensure that the israeli stockpile of iron dome interceptors is adequate to the challenge. We dont know when this crisis will end. The secretary of defense chuck hagel endorsed an additional 225 million in funding for iron dome in a recent letter. The requested funds are in addition to next years appropriation. It may be some time before the appropriation bill is enacted, and thats why the president has asked to include in this supplemental appropriation 225 million to speed up the production of iron dome missiles. The senate simply has too little time left next week, and then were gone for five or six weeks, return for perhaps two and then gone until november so we have to act and act now. This supplemental appropriation bill with the iron dome money needs to pass. Im going to be supporting it. This is an emergency which is front and center. The ambassador from israel to the United States came to see me last week. He said at one time twothirds of the population of israel were in bomb shelters during these attacks. It is a serious threat to them. And let me add, too, all of us are praying that this violence and war between gaza and israel will come to an end soon, that they will institute a ceasefire, sit at a table and resolve their differences, but we cannot expect any country, not israel, not the United States, any country to set and take 2,000 incoming rockets and not respond. This saves lives, this iron dome, but now we need to take the next step, bringing peace to this region so that innocent people on both sides of the border are going to be spared. The hamas, a group which we have characterized as terrorists since the late 1990s, are leading this attack on israel. This terrorist group is politically popular in some parts of gaza. How do they protect their rocket launchers . They place them in homes. They put them in crowded areas, and they build tunnels under gaza. Its a secret weapon to escape when attacked. The latest report is they were building these tunnels under hospitals, knowing that israel and other countries would spare these hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospitals are covering tunnels which are just the source of much more violence in the area. Id like to close on this issue about child refugees. I see senator portman of ohio is here. I will just close in a minute and yield the floor to him. One of the questions which i asked of the ambassadors from honduras, el salvador, guatemala was simply this we believe that the children who come into the United States, once given a chance to state why theyre here, we believe that at least half of them, maybe more, will be returned to their countries, and i ask the ambassadors from these countries can we have confidence that if these children who have come to our border are returned back to their countries, that they will be safe, simple question. Will they be safe . Do you have people, charities, agencies of government to guarantee that when they return, when they get off the plane and the bus, that they will be safe . And the ambassador from guatemala said yes, we do, and the ambassador from honduras said no, we dont. The ambassador from el salvador said neither do we. So let us think about this for a moment. Let us reflect on this for a moment. Let us make sure that we do everything in our power to hand these children over to a safe situation. Let us work with these countries to stop the flow into this country, but to make certain that when they are returned, they are returned to a safe setting. Can you believe that in chicago, a brother and a sister, one 6 years old and one 3 years old, brother and sister came to one of these shelters . And they could see from the bruises on their body, they had been through something on their way here. It took two months before these children would finally the 6yearold finally talked about what she can remember from this horrendous journey. I wont recount the details here, but it is heart breaking to think that a child of six years would have endured this experience. Lets do right by these children. Lets make sure at the end of the day that america has proven again that we are a caring nation, and for those children who have come to our shores, come to our borders, we will treat them humanely and compassionately, as we would want our own children to be treated if they were ever in such a desperate circumstance. Lets set politics aside, put these children front and center. Madam president , i yield the floor. Mr. Portman madam president . The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman madam president , earlier today the senate voted to proceed to debate on legislation called bring jobs home act. And its about tax reform, its about the tax system in this country. Im glad were having the debate. I voted to proceed to that debate. I think its really important that we talk about it. I had a reporter come up to me earlier on the floor today and said i hear that democrats are going to talk about inversions, that means when a company in the United States goes overseas, buys a company, usually smaller than they are and then inverts, meaning they become a foreign corporation. And they said, you know, are you concerned about that . I said no, i think thats great. I think we need to talk about it. I think its a hidden problem that no one is talking about and i think its terrific that were talking about it. I hope thats what will happen over the next week here on the floor of the senate well have an honest conversation about whats happening in our great country where you have more and more American Companies that say because of the tax code that they are saddled where with they cannot compete around the globe so what do they do . Having a responsibility to their shareholders, they go and find either a Foreign Company to become part of and become foreign, or they make themselves a Foreign Company by being acquired by a Foreign Company. Some of them are simply not growing because they cant compete with other companies from other countries that are buying some of their assets. I had a Company Recently come to me from ohio, my home state, and say, you know, we do work in korea, and we were in south korea, wanted to buy this subsidiary there to expand what were doing in korea and push more of our product there, more of our exports there. We finished the negotiation with the Korean Company and a company from germany stepped up and said you know what . Whatever you guys have negotiated, well take it but well pay 18 more. And the reason the German Company could pay 18 more is that their aftertax profits were higher because the german tax code treats the German Company better than the american tax code treats the American Company. Thats the reality. And its happening. Over the last five years, they say there have been 35 American Companies that have gone overseas through these inversions, but theyre also a lot of American Companies that have become foreign be entities. Foreign internet interest rates. Im a beer drinker and it is hard to find an American Company that can sell you a beer these days. Why . Because theyre almost all Foreign Companies. The two largest american Beer Companies each have about 1. 4 market share. Sham adams and sam adams and yeungling, great beer. This is sad. Doesnt mean the companies have left the United States. They have production here but by haring somewhere else for their tax purposes headquartering somewhere else for their tax purposes, we lose something as americans. We lose executive jobs over time, this intangible thing, companies willing to invest in our communities, in your hometown like in my hometown probably everything youre involved with on the charity side, some local company has been involved with and helped with, a lot of tend to be International Companies that do a lot to help make our cities a better place to live and to work. But they do it partly because this is where their headquarters is. This is where their towns are. If theyre not here, if theyre in dublin, ireland or in london, england, or beijing or rio in brazil or somewhere else, theyre not going to be making those investments. So this is a big deal. Its a wig big deal. Its not just the inversions. Thats the tip of the iceberg. Its about all these companies losing right now in foreign competition because, again, they cant compete, they have to pay more in terms of taxes than their foreign competitors so their foreign competitors can broaden their market share, get more customers, can afford to buy a company when one comes up for acquisition. I had a fellow come in recently from the boston area, and boston does a lot of byo Phrma Research as the president knows and its very exciting, and throughout our country were doing topnotch research. They showed me the list of companies that have been purchased in the last four or five years. And, unfortunately, the majority of those companies were purchased by a Foreign Company. So it wasnt by a u. S. Company coming in, consolidating, it was by a company that is under different tax laws, a Swiss Company or a French Company or a German Company or a Japanese Company that had bought an American Company. The majority. By far the majority. This is happening all over the country and its happening sort of under our noses. Were sitting here in washington allowing this to happen because were abdicating our responsibility to reform the tax code so it is competitive. And, by the way, were the only country thats not waking up to this. Every single one of the other developed countries in the world, the countries that are members of whats called the oecd, every single one of them has reformed their tax code except us. In the 1980s we did establish this rate that we have now which is 35 now, when you add the state tax rates, you know, for companies, its about 39 on average in america. Were the highest rate in the world. So at the time we set our rate in mid 30s, that was just below the average. It was done deliberately. It was done as part of the 1986 tax reform, we said lets set the business rate at something below the average so we can be competitive. Since that time, weve become the highest rate in every single one of our developed country competitors, all of them have reformed their tax code and lowered their rate. But they havent just lowered their rate to make us number one in the world which is not a number one you want to be if you want to compete and develop jobs. They have reformed their tax code to make it more competitive internationally. We havent done that. We have been bystanders in this effort to attract jobs and investment and opportunity. We still have whats called the worldwide system where we dont tax income where its earned ands that has created a real problem. Im glad were having this debate on the floor. Im glad theres an opportunity here to talk about this. I must tell you that the bill before us the bring jobs home act, is not going to help, unfortunately. Because it doesnt get at this underlying problem weve been talking about today. It does nothing about lowering the rate, does nothing about changing the International System of taxation, it tinkers around the edges with one issue and that is to remove deductions and tax credits that according to the authors of the bill they say incentivizes companies to move overseas. Theres a group here in washington called the joint committee on taxation. Theyre nonpartisan, they tell us in congress what tax policy means, how much it costs, what the effect is going to be. Heres what they say. They say and i quote under present law there are no targeted tax credits relating to relocating Business Units inside or outside the United States. So why are we having this debate . Why arent we debating the real problem . This is a better political debate and easier to do but its not going to help. It would be nice if there were these targeted tax credits that some of the authors claim because then you could get rid of those, that might help some. But as the joint committee on taxation has said, that doesnt exist. Lets take a look at numbers. According to the joint committee on taxation, the very small tweaks this legislation will make to the tax code by disallowing some of these deductions will amount to around 143 million over ten years. So 143 million over ten years, they say will be because even though theres no targeted allowance or targeted tax credits, they think this legislation will are have some effect the way the i. R. S. Will interpret it. Left up to the i. R. S. To interpret it and its a subjective decision by the i. R. S. Since its not targeted. But lets say 143 million over ten years is the right number. Thats what the joint committee says. 143 million over ten years. Let me give you one example. Theres a company in ohio thats about a fortune 200, 300 company. So its a big company, not the biggest but its a big company in ohio. They decided a year or so ago to do this inversion. They bought a company, one quarter their size, overseas and they became a Foreign Company. Based on the public filings we know this year that company will save 160 million on its taxes because it chose to become a Foreign Company. Thats wrong. Our tax system should be fair, it should be competitive, it shouldnt be driving these companies to do this on behalf of their shareholders and under their fiduciary responsibility. Thats 160 million bucks a year. Versus this bill that even if it works as the folks who are talking about as intended to be 143 million over ten years. Do you see what i mean about this not being a serious proposal . Lets get at the core problem. The other problem is, if you continue to make it harder to be a u. S. Company, whether its to take away a tax credit, whether its to take away a detox deduction, whether its to do Something Else to block inversions, what will happen . What happens every time you try to put up a wall to stop something but dont deal with the underlying problem . These companies will continue to look overseas and they will be targets for acquisition. I mean look, we talked about the fact that, you know, theres no american Beer Companies anymore except ones that have less than 2 market share. These companies didnt invert. They were bought by Foreign Companies and thats happening right and left in america and thats what would happen even more if you make it even more disadvantageous to be an American Company because youre trying to block it. Have you to get at the core issue. You cant have the highest tax in the world and an International System thats not competitive and hope to have these Companies Stay American Companies. So lets deal with the underlying problem. 35 companies over the past five years have chosen to invert but so many others have done other things to try to be competitive including to sell to Foreign Companies or not to grow, not to be able to compete with acquisitions, not to be able because their aftertax profits are not as high as their foreign competitors. Its not going to be easy to do tax reform. I understand that. And its never easy. You know, thats not what we were hired to do, easy things. What were on the floor right now debating, this proposal that is called, you know, bring our jobs home which i think is a misnomer. , i guess that would be easy. But wouldnt help but it would be easy. Tomorrow treatment is going to be hard because you do have to lower the rate and broaden the broaden the base and get rid of the exemptions out there, the tax code is now riddled with them. Everybody likes their special provision. But its an effort well worth undertaking because if its about our economy, its about our future, about keeping American Companies here. We simply have to do it. By the way, congress has done this before. We did it back in 1986. It was led by a republican, ronald reagan, and a democrat here in the senate, bill bradley, in the house, dan rostenkowski, tip oneill. This was a bipartisan support effort. It should be again. No reason it shouldnt be bipartisan. The president has talked about it as a big problem right now in our economy that our tax code is so inefficient and ant indicate kuwaited. Hes talked about lowering the rate, broadening the base. I agree with him. Lets do it. Unfortunately, we havent seen a proposal from the administration, we had a hearing on this recently and i asked the administration, wheres the proposal . They said, well, were interested in working with you. Great, i am, too. All of us are. Some republicans, including dave camp put out very specific proposals in the house ways and means committee. Weve got to move forward on this and weve done this before. We can do hard things. Its our job to do hard things. We did welfare reform a year before an election, actually months before an election day with president clinton. Working with republicans, including newt gingrich. This seems to be the kind of thing thats harder and harder to do around here yet theres more and more urgency to do it. People call it Corporate Tax reform or Business Tax Reform and you think must be about the boardroom and about the executives. Its not. Its not. Theyll be fine. Either way. You dont need to worry about them. You need to worry about the workers. C. B. O. , the Congressional Budget Office, which is the group that analyzes legislation for us, has looked at this and said you know who is hurt most with these high Corporate Taxes that we have . Its the workers, of course. More than 70 of the burden, they said, is borne by the workers in the form of lower pay, lower benefits, and fewer job opportunities. So we need to do this not because were looking to help the boardroom, but because were looking to help the American Worker at a time when its already tough. Over the last five years, they say average takehome pay has gone down about 3500 bucks. Pay is not going up. Pay is stagnating and its going down. Health care costs are going up, in fact theyre skyrocketing. In fact, i talked to some folks in ohio last weekend who said why arent you doing more to get Health Care Costs down . And i said, well, i didnt support the obamacare proposal. It was promised costs were going down, now theyre going up. Thats why we need real reform of the health care system. But this is a middleclass squeeze. Health care costs up, wages down, now stagnant. This is an opportunity not through a side show like were going to see on the floor here talking about how to do these tweaks that arent going to make any difference, but to really get at the problem as a way to geget pay back. Thats what the Congressional Budget Office tells us. Our tax code should draw companies to our shores, should bring investment here, bring jobs here. Instead of pushing companies away. All were looking for is a level Playing Field. If americans have a level Playing Field here, we will be able to be competitive, we will be able to create jobs. Weve got the greatest innovators in the world. Weve got the greatest research. Weve got this incredible infrastructure in this country. Weve got a lot of advantages. Our Energy Advantage now, thanks to what were doing on private lands, we should do more on public lands. But thats what were doing on private lands, its really giving us an advantage in terms of stable supply of relatively lowcost natural gas, particularly for manufacturing. We see this in ohio. Its a great opportunity. But to take advantage of that opportunity, weve got to reform and improve these basic institutions of our economy, including the tax code. And by the way, its not just the tax code. Its also about regulatory relief. To ensure that American Companies are not being saddled, as they are now, with higher and higher costs and more and more regulations. It makes it harder for them to compete, makes it harder for them to create jobs. Its about being sure that we have a trade policy that actually works to expand expor exports. Huge issue. In my own state of ohio, we do a lot of exporting. We could do a whole lot more, 25 of our factory jobs now export, trade jobs. One out of every three acres planted in ohio is now exported. We want to do more. That gets the price up for the farmers. Thats adding more jobs and creating more opportunity for goodpaying jobs because these trade jobs tend to pay more and have better benefits. Were sitting odd sidelines there too. Congress could move very quickly to provide this president with the negotiating authority that every president since Franklin Delano roosevelt has had, since f. D. R. , every president has also asked for it. This president has now asked for it. You heard it in the state of the Union Earlier this year. He hadnt asked for it earlier in his term but now hes asked for it. Lets provide it to him. Lets give him the ability to knock down these barriers to trade for all workers, all service providers, our farmers to get this economy moving. Along with tax reform and Regulatory Reform, these are things that would actually make it better for the American People. On the regulatory side, i am offering a couple of amendments in the context of this legislation and they are bipartisan amendments. One has to do with ensuring that we do allow companies to permit something more quickly. Right now it can take years to permit a project in the United States of america, so we have a bipartisan bill, senator mccaskill and are on leader sponsors but we have other senators onboard. It says lets just make sure theres accountability, everybody can look at a windshield and see what the status is and move forward. Lets remove some of the legal liability in some of these projects. What people tell me, whether its the solar company, who i talked to yesterday, or whether its some of the oil and Gas Producers or whether its some of the Wind Companies or whether its the hydro people who brought this to my attention initially a few years ago, they cant get Foreign Investors because it takes so long to per knit something in america now. We permit something in america in now. We used to be in the top of the heap. Now, on these annual ease of doing business surveys that are being done, america has fallen behind. America is now Something Like 34th in the world in terms of the ease of doing business on permitting. Because more and more regulations have been added, sometimes for an Energy Project it takes up to 34 federal regulations. Usually its one after the other because theres no coordination and accountability. Thats what this bill does. Its very simple and common sense. Its already passed the house. Its the kind of bill that if we passed it actually would create jobs, and good construction jobs, which is why the believe trades support it. And by the way, the labor union, Building Trades and others who support this kind of legislation do so because they figured out america cannot be competitive unless we have these basic institutions of our economy, you know, whether its Regulatory Reform or whether its a smarter Energy Policy or whether its the ability to have a tax code that works, they want to be sure that we are expanding opportunity for their members. So i appreciate the Building Trades stepping forward on that. The other one is simply to make sure regulations are accountab accountable, make sure there is a costbenefit analysis, make sure we use the least burdensome alternative in washington, d. C. , to get to a policy thats enacted by this congress. Commonsense stuff. Again, thats already passed the house, too, with bipartisan support. So i am offering these because i do think its important for us to have this debate on tax reform and i look forward to the further debate on monday and tuesday of next week. I think this is a great opportunity for us to talk about the real problem. Im not going to support this solution because i dont think it will help. But i welcome the debate and im glad that we proceeded to this debate and im glad that my colleagues on this side of the aisle are raising this issue. And to that reporters question that i got today, are you concerned that democrats are talking about inversions . No, im really happy theyre talking about it. We should all be talking about it, republicans, democrats, independents alike. As americans, we should be focused on this issue. And the broader issue that by our companies not being competitive, we are hurting American Workers. And if we dont turn this arou around, not by show votes, not by something that looks good politically but isnt going to make any difference, but by actually getting at the root of the problem. The highest rate in the developed world, an International System that doesnt let us be competitive globally because people cant move around their assets to find the best, most efficient use for them, those two issues if addressed will unlock all kinds of opportunity. Thats the potential we have. There is a better day ahead, right around the corner, if we do some of these basic things. I was also asked today at a press conference we do every week with ohio reporters, how would you grade this congress . Are they doing the things they ought to be doing . And i said, i got to tell you, theres some small things that have been done, but, no, congress is not doing the work of the people. And the work of the people at its core means that the laws, the federal laws that this place alone, the house and the senate and the president , have control over, those laws need to help the American People to be successful. It needs to be an environment for success, an environment for people to be able to say, hey, my kids and grandkids could have it better than ive got it because we see america on the upswing. Thats not what we see today. The weakest economic recovery since the great depression. I talked about wages going down, not up. I talked about the higher cost of health care. I talked about the fact that we have now in this country a lot of people who are discouraged about the future. Cnn did a poll recently and, you know, normally you ask a poll, do you think your kids and grandkids are better off than you . People say yeah, thats the american dream, the next generations going to be better off. Thats what my grandparents believed. Thats what my parents believe. Thats not what todays generation of parents believe. 63 of people said, no, i dont believe thats going to happen. Whats even more troubling to me is that 63 of young people do not believe that. They dont believe that their lives will be better off than their parents. We can and should change that. I hope well get a vote on these amendments i talked about. I hope well have a good discussion, debate over these issues. We owe it to the people we represent to solve these big problems. I thank you for the time, madam president. I yield back my time. The presiding officer under the previous order, the senate will now observe a moment of silence in memory of officer jacob j. Chestnut and detective john n. Gibson of the United States capitol police. [moment of silence] [moment of silence] the presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio madam president , i ask to be recognized to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Rubio thank you, madam president. I come to the floor today to discuss the ongoing situation in israel. And we all watch with great concern at the images of the loss of life, young children, innocents who have lost their lives over the last few days, and also the men and women who serve in the Defense Forces of israel who have lost their lives in these operations. Our hearts also go out to the men and women who live in the nation of israel who are living under the constant threat of rockets that are coming over from gaza. I came to the senate floor a week ago to express not simply my concern for this but also my solidarity and i believe that of almost everyone in this body, with our allies in israel. And i received in response a pretty heated letter from the Palestinian Ambassador here in washington, d. C. He expressed outrage that i and my colleagues had not expressed the same level of concern for palestinians as we have for israelis. He particularly pointed to the case of the three murdered israelis but said we had not expressed similar feelings for the Young Palestinian who lost his life. Ive responded to his letter and i have by pointing a out a number of things. The first is that i believe that i, along with all my colleagues, wish and pray and will do all we can to further the ideal, that the Palestinian People could live peacefully side by side their israeli neighbors. Its a sentiment that i expressed when i visited the palestinian officials in the west bank a year and a half ago. But i also expressed that there was a significant difference between the way israel and the palestinians reacted to these two horrible incidents. The Palestinian Authority had to be basically nudged into expressing any sentiment about the three young people who were missing at the time. And, in fact, when their bodies were discovered, it led to street demonstrations, it led to celebrations on the streets of the west bank and in gaza. In israel, the discovery of the death of the Young Palestinian led to strong statements by the Prime Minister and condemnation. It led to a phone call from the Prime Minister to the family of the palestinian. It led to visits by israelis to the family of the palestinian. It led to real outrage and an expression. There was a difference there, although both are horrible tragedies. But i think theres something now emerging thats not being talked about. We have all seen the images of people who are being killed, civilians that are losing their lives in gaza, and some are beginning to say that this is all israels fault or that this is israels fault. In fact, earlier today, or maybe it was last night, the Prime Minister of turkey said that what the israelis are doing in gaza is worse than what adolf hitler did to the jews. Its, of course, a ridiculous statement. But it gives you an indication of where there is headed. And theres a story here thats not being told, and that the Palestinian Ambassador himself has ignored, as i point to in my response to him. The first thing that he ignores is that we have never in the modern history of the world seen any organization use human shields like hamas is using human shields today. In fact, the reality behind it is unbelievable. I want to read from some press accounts with regards to this. The Washington Post their correspondent William Booth reporting from gaza wrote in an article on the 15th of july, at the Shifa Hospital in gaza city, crowds gathered to throw shoes and eggs at the Health Minister to represents the crumbling unity government. The minister was turned away before he reached the hospital. The hospital, which has become a de facto headquarters for hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices. Another report by the Washington Post on july 17 recounts, during the lull, a group of men in a mosque in northern gaza said they would returned to clean up the green glass from the window shattered in the previous days bombardment but they could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque. The japanes japanese daily corrt in gaza reports on the 121st of july, hamas criticizes that Israel Massacre civilians. It tries to use evacuating civilians and journalists by stopping them and turpg them into quote human shields. Kurntsst counteractinacting thoroughly with its gear guerria tactics. Patrick martin wrote if his article on 20th of july, the presence of militant fighters in thshia became clear when a humanitarian truce intended to remove both sides from the wounded, cephal scurried from the scene. Some bore their weapons openly but at heat two disguised as women were seen walking off with weapons partly concealed under their robes and another had his weapon wrapped in a baby blanket and held on hi his chest as if t were an infant. You think this is bad . It gets worse. I cant play a video on the floor of the senate. But let me read you a statement. This is from hamas spokesperson sami abu zuri, a quote on television in gaza. The people oppose the israeli fighter planes with their bodies alone. I think this method has proven effective against the occupation. It also reflects the nairt of our heroic and brave people and we, the hamas movement, call on our people to adopt this method in order to protect the palestinian homes. Close quote. Asking them to become human shields. Israel drops flyers and makes Text Messages and telling people, civilians, were going to undertake a military operation. You should leave the area. So what does hamas do . Ill tell you what they do. Heres what the facebook beige of their interior their ministry of interior spokesperson. An important and urgent message. The Hamas Ministry of the interior and National Security calls on our honorable people in all parts of the gaza strip to ignore the warnings to vacate areas near rocket launching sites before israel bombs them that are being disseminated through manifestoes and phone messages as these are part of a psychological war meant to sow confusion on the palestinian home front and lie to the israeli failure and confusion and bewilderment. On television on the 14th of july, we call on our Palestinian People, particularly the residentses of northwest gaza, not to obey what is writ engine the pamphlets distributed by the Israeli Occupation army. We call on them to remain in their homes and disregard the demands to leave, however serious the threat may be. This is evidence that hamas is using its own people as human shields. And it doesnt stop there, mr. Ambassador. Ask yourselves why did your organization why did your government unify with this terrorist organization that uses its own people as a human shield . You didnt mention that in your letter. You didnt mention in your letter that you have align the yourself with an organization that calls for the destruction of the jewish state. You left that oust your letter as well you left that out of your letter as well, mr. Ambassador. And whats been the international trekinternational . I already told what you came out of turkey. Just yesterday the socalled United Nations Human Rights Council and i say socalled because it has such distinguished human rights beacons such as cuba and china on its membership voted unanimously, except for the United States, to condemn israel and call for an investigation into war crimes against israel, a 700page document that briefly mentions rockets and does not mention hamas or human shields whatsoever. And meanwhile this crisis continues. What do we see coming out of hamas . Have they stopped what theyre doing beyond the human shields . Whats been discovered now is an intricate web of underground tunnels designed to bring into israeli territory killers. They attempted, by the way, to carry out a massacre at a kabutz near the border with gaza. They were intersettlemented which Israeli Defense forces. On their possession was discovered tranquilizers. The purpose of which of course was to use them to abduct and kidnap israelis and take them back for ransom or worse. The rongts continue to rain down as well. It also didnt nengs in your letter, mr. Ambassador, the cease fishings which israel agreed to but was unpopular in israel. Why . Because three times in the last five years they had to face this. I want you to imagine that you lived in a country with a neighbor that every that three times in the last five years has blitz you with rockets, trying to kill your children and destroy your cities and disrupt and paralyze your economy. There comes a point where you say, enough is enough. We have to put an end to this. And so you can just imagine how unpopular that ceasefire must have been among some elements of the cabinet and the unity government in israel and certainly among the population. And yet the Prime Minister went ahead with it because they desire peace. And in just a few hours, hamas violated the ceasefire. So please dont come to me and say that both sides are to blame here. Thats not true. This crisis would end tomorrow if hamas would turn over its rockets and stop bombarding people. This would end tomorrow, by the way, if the hamas commanders were minority such cowards. While theyre on tv asking their people to go to the rooftops of these buildings, you know where they are . They are hiding in the basement. They are hiding in their basement command center, which by the way is located, as i said, in the basement, underneath of a hospital. This would end tomorrow, the civilian deaths could end tomorrow, if they stopped storing rockets in schools, including a u. N. School, where by the way, when the u. N. Discovered these rockets, you know what they did with them . They turned them back over to hamas. Dont tell me both sides are to blame here . Because its not true. It isnt true. This is the result of one thing and one thing alone hamas has decided to launch rockets against israel. Hamas has decided to build this Extensive Network of underground tunnels so in aempt mo of conflict they can in a moment of conflict they can get these commandos into israel and kill israelis a. What is israel doing . What any country would dovment of course it is not an excellent example. But imagine for a moment if one of our neighboring countries decided to start hitting us with rockets . Are what would the United States do . Would we sit there and say, boy, we really have to be restrained and hold back here . We would not tolerate that. Imagine if in your city every night and morning sirens would go off because rockets were going in and you spent the better part of the day taking cover. What would you say . You would say, take care of this problem once and for all. Why would we ever ask israel to do anything less than we would do, if we were in the same situation . And thats what theyre doing. In the process of taking care of the situation, tragically, civilians are dying. And you why . Because hamas is deliberately putting them in the way. I just read you these quotes. Hamas is asking their people to do what their leaders themselves wont do, asking their own people to get in harms way, to act as human shields. Because they want these images to be spread around the world. They are willing to sacrifice their own people to win a p. R. War. And i think it is absolutely outrageous that some in the press corps domestically and most of the press corps internationally is falling for this game. So please dont tell me that both sides are to blame here, and please dont tell me that this was caused by israel. In my time here in the senate, i have had the opportunity to visit multiple countries. I have never met a people more desirous of peace than the people in israel. But peace cannot mean you are your destruction cannot mean your destruction. Thats what theyre facing here, an enemy force that wants to destroy them, that wants to wipe them out as a country. And so its impossible to reach an sort of Peace Agreement with an organization like that. Thats what israel is facing here. So, mr. Ambassador, what i would ask of you is that you go back to your government and you ask them to separate completely from hamas, to condemn what hamas is doing to your own people, to condemn the use of human shields. Thats what i ask you to do. Stop writing letters to u. S. Senators and being angry at us when, by the way we shouldnt be doing this because the law says no money should be going toward any organization linked with mamas. It is the u. S. Thats been helping you stand up through our taxpayer money. Dont be writing letters to the u. S. Congress complaining to us about what israel is doing when the people you just created a unity government with is launching rockets against civilians in israel and using its own people as human shields. I think you need to take responsibility for your own people, for your own part of the world. And if you truly want peace, peace begins with laying down your arms and stopping these attacks and condemning those that are conducting these attacks and using innocent civilians as human shields. If you want peace, thats what you should spend your time doing, not trying to rally public support around the world for the idea that israel is responsible for war crimes. And from our perspective, i hope the United States continues to be firmly on the side of israel, because there is no moral equivalency here. What is happening between israel and hamas is totally 1 100 the fault of hamas. There is no moral equivalency here. All of the blame lies on hamas. And for this crisis to end, hamas must either be eliminated as an organization or they must lay down their weapons and adhere to the true preseptembers of precepts of peace and desire to live peacefully with their neighbor israel. I yield the floor, madam president. Mr. Sessions madam president . The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Sessions madam president , we are dealing with a very disturbing crisis on our borders. Its unbelievable the situation that has developed and how rapidly its developed, but it has indeed been building up for more than a year. Its a direct result and predictable result of the president s policies of not enforcing the laws of the United States when it comes to immigration. Its a very sad day, and it can only end when the president stops suspending laws and starts enforcing laws. The president is the chief Law Enforcement officer in america. Every Border Patrol officer, every i. C. E. Officer, every coast guard officer, every military officer, every department of justice employee, f. B. I. Employee work for him. He supervises them and directs them. Hes been directing them not to enforce the law, rather than to enforce the Law Enforcement the evidence of that is undeniable. The law officers, the i. C. E. Spherks the immigration Customs Enforcement officers sued their supervisor, directly pients d by president obama, for blocking them fromful filling their oath to enforce the laws of the United States of america. The federal court case is still ongoing, and the judge has found, at least at one foints in his order that the at least at one point in his order, that the president has no right not to direct the officers not to comply with the law. And now we now know that we are facing an exceedingly grave threat of an unbelievable expansion of his unilateral executive orders of amnesty that go beyond anything weve ever seen in this country and threatens the very constitutional framework of our republic. And the very ability of this nation to even have borders, it seems to me, and certainly to create a lawful, equitable, consistent enforcement in our country. The respected Newspaper National journal thats here in washington it is a nonpartisan respected paper reported this just, i believe well, july 3. Quote and a lot of people have missed this. And we need no know what this is saying and we need no know what it means, and we need as members of congress and this senate to resist it, and we cannot allow it to happen. We will not allow it to happen. The American People, when they find out whats being discussed, will not allow it to happen, in my opinion. And Congress Needs to be directed by the people, i hate to say, to resist. Heres what it says. Obama made it clear he would press his executive powers to the limit. He gave quiet credence to recommendations from la raza and other immigration groups that between five million to six million adult Illegal Immigrants could be spared deportation under a similar form of deferred adjudication he ordered for the socalled dreamers in june 2012, the dreamers being the young people. Five million to six million would be given legal status in the United States of america. When theyve entered contrary to law or in the country contr