to get a credit for what they do and they buy extra things for their classroom we have such an aversion to those types of initiatives which give people let people keep their own money that they put in place a trigger mechanism to try to stop those things from occurring how should their spending should they should they want to spend money to basically absorb that that tax relief and the irony is that they don't put  in any trigger mechanism for the new spending they're proposing because there's a trigger mechanism here that says well you can't get keep your own tax dollars you can keep your own money we're going to take it away from you in taxes but there's no trigger mechanism that says when we spend a lot more money which this is proposal does there should be some second look mechanism to mitzi if we can afford it if we're running a deficit why should we be adding new spending they should be a trigger mechanism well i think it's because there's a philosophical difference here obviously got on our side of the aisle we believe that it's the people's money that shouldn't be taken from them unless you absolutely have to take it and if the government doesn't spend the money better than is that those tax cuts those tax rates which have most benefited this economy and caused it to grow dramatically and which have most benefits the federal treasury in that they've  a huge amount of revenue that we didn't expect capital gains rate in the dividends rates are not included under any circumstances in this trigger exercise and those tax benefits those tax rates most benefit the people who benefit the most from those are seniors because seniors are the ones on fixed incomes and who have dividend income seniors are the ones who get to that point their life and they try to and they decide to sell that asset which they've built up over the years maybe a restaurant or small business or for their home and they now are going to under this proposal get hit with a doubling of the capital gains tax or almost a doubling and a doubling budget which is truly internation which is the philosophy of the other side of the aisle which is that you raise taxes you spend money and we in washington all have a lot better how to spend your money than you do the american wage earner can individuals and we've been over this ground a lot and you may think we're going over it again again that's because we're stalling for time actually we're waiting for the house to take action and we're hoping that they'll take it fairly soon so that we can move to a vote on this pending that however i do want to take a couple minutes and thank my staff by scott who's done such an extraordinary job they work are ridiculous hours for low pay and they do it extraordinarily well and i want to thank the democratic staff red led by mary naylor who do an equal amount of hard work and probably get paid a lot more but i don't know but dad there's special people east folks who make this place run and work well and we appreciate all that they do i also want to thank the chairman for his unrelenting courtesy and professionalism in running this committee is always fair was a minority bad budget but the fact is the institution substantively does need budgets you should not be running a government of this size or any government without something that gives you a blueprint the fact is a budget is important and so i obviously have some of the views that should this should the senator from north dakota succeed in passing this budget and we actually have a budget this year that to some degree is a is an effort which is it is never which he should be congratulated for and it's just something that the congress needs with that i will reserve the balance of my time i praised you while you weren't here so that you wouldn't he said something nice senator from north dakota madam president to senator talks about a philosophical difference that this is the people's money i agree with that entirely it is the people's money it is also the people's debt and i deeply believe that we've got an obligation to pay the bills around here the easiest thing in the world is to come to washington and be for every spending program in every tax cut the problem is that is led to our current circumstance of a debt that is running away from us now this budget does not solve all of our problems i make no assertion that it does but it begins the process and balances the budget by two thousand and twelve and begins the process of controlling the growth of the debt and that's critically important to us as a country let me just say this the house vote is under way i'd like to just take a few minutes what's what's the current time situation if i might senator the democratic side has three minutes and forty nine seconds to republican side it's three minutes and thirty three seconds let me just indicate this is the the estimates of what this budget would do would take the deficit from two hundred fifty two billion to a balance of forty one billion dollars in two thousand and twelve a surplus in two thousand and twelve forty one billion dollars it would reduce spending as a share of gross domestic product from twenty point five percent in two thousand and eight down to eighteen point nine percent in two thousand and twelve it would begin to control the growth of the debt after twenty ten it would bring down gross debt as a share of gross domestic product from sixty seven point seven percent to sixty six point five percent in two thousand and twelve and the question of revenue i just want to go back to this point because it's inescapable the president when he produced his budget said he was going to produce fourteen trillion eight hundred twenty six billion of revenue over the next five years our budget produces fourteen trillion eight hundred twenty eight billion virtually no difference the president said when he put out his budget proposal that was a responsible amount of revenue to raise fourteen trillion eight hundred twenty six billion our budget raises percha really the identical amount that he said was a responsible amount to raise for this five year period now it's true that  later came back and said mr president your budget doesn't raise as much as you said it would i mean that doesn't take away from the fact that the president when he proposed his budget thought that the amount of revenue that should be raised over this five year period is fourteen trillion eight hundred twenty six billion and it does not take away from the fact that our budget raises virtually the identical amount mr president not only does the deal do we deal with the revenue question that has been raised we also provide alternative minimum tax relief so that can's of  people are not caught up in the alternative minimum tax we extend the middle class tax cuts we fully provide for in the numbers marriage penalty relief the child tax credit the ten percent bracket and  state tax reform and at the same time we move to fund the priorities of this country expanding health care coverage for children because it's not only a good investment but it's the right thing to do we have fifty billion dollars up to fifty billion dollars over the next five years dedicated to that purpose we have increased what the president called for in education funding because we think that's critical to help parents who are have their kids in college or other higher education so we have increased the president's budget by some ten percent for education we have also our third marriage major priority is veterans health care goodness knows i think every member of this body believes we need more resources than are provided for in the president's budget to make to meet the promises that have been made to this nation's veterans and we closely follow the independent budget the budget advocated by the nation's veterans organizations mr president we think this is a responsible budget worthy of our support mission madam president senator from new hampshire we have three minutes and thirty three seconds on the republican side and no time remaining on the majority party side madam president you know that that's how you know we were summarizing the budget here i think it's important that in fact the senator if we keep this debate going will totally make my case because he keeps holding up the stars about all the new spending we're doing which is my point and they do new spending in the discretionary accounts of two hundred five billion dollars and then there's this tax increase issue you know he holds up a chart that says well we're doing the same tax president he does allude to the fact that he is one of those bars as calculated on their o m b the others under see below if you were to calculate them by the same scoring mechanism it would show a significant difference in taxes and the fact the facts of the stablish that are that they do not extend the tax cuts that the president was going to extend they don't extend the tax cuts present going to spend and then they have this phony trick trigger mechanism which is just a just a put this number down it would be nine hundred sixteen billion because the trigger mechanism is clearly as i pointed out not going to be exercised and the true tax increase in this budget is the same as the house tax increase as it left the house which was six nine hundred sixteen billion dollars and i think people of fairness would look at the house budget and say yeah the house won the debate but there was this big leaf put on it to make it look like there was still a tax some tax relief in here from the initial proposal but clearly the house number is the number that survive this process which is nine hundred sixteen billion dollars in tax increases biggest tax increase in history no two ways about it and then you add to that that yes that that's going to go up no matter who's budget you follow the president's budget or the house or the or the democratic budget debt well grow i take that as a given but the fact is that the debt is going to grow very significantly two point five trillion dollars here and there a growth in debt that  is going to be passed on to our children and a lot of it doesn't have to occur at least two hundred five billion of it doesn't have to occur that's the debt that the deficit is going to be incurred by spending which exceeds what the president proposed in the discretionary c then of course there's this issue of mandatory savings which i happen to think is is the core failure of this budget besides the tax increases and the spending increases because really it's the out year when our children are going to have to start paying these bills and when their lifestyle is going to be contracted dramatically because of the cost burdens of the retired generation the baby boom generation and nothing is done in this budget to try to address that end and the proposals that are out there are not radical they're not they don't even impact most beneficiaries the real the reasonable proposals we could have saved a third of the out year unfunded liability in the medicare accounts by simply doing a couple of things which would not have impacted beneficiaries other than really high income beneficiaries people who make more than eighty thousand one hundred sixty thousand retired senators for example asking them to pay a fair share of their cost of medicare part d the drug program i see my time is difficult to get from this point from that point to where we are now could not have been done but for the fact these are two of our most experienced legislators and they work well together they have political differences but they understand the importance of getting a budget resolution having said that mr president madam president i'm so sorry and recognizing there some urgency in getting his phone done as quickly as possible i want to ask you now is consent the time and next five minutes  projections without objection so ordered senator from north dakota as resident i want to thank the majority leader he has been an enormous and able leader going through this process  i can tell you on our side we know it would not be here today without his absolute commitment to getting this job done and getting it done right my admiration for this leader has grown dramatically and i was already high i mean to say what i important leadership role he has played i want to also just i wish to join the chairman in his expression of appreciation of the majority leader and to our leader on this side senator mcconnell this is as was represent a complicated exercise and the majority leader has been very cooperative with the minority with the republican side of the aisle and we very much appreciate its courtesy to us and my interest to understand that the request was we would now have i guess we're probably down to four minutes equally divided or something like that which gives the senator from north dakota two more made my point so i want to this moment think first of all my own staff mary naylor my staff director each and every member of this staff who has worked extraordinary hours i can't even begin to say what it has been like weekend after weekend after weekend night after night after night the other night they were here until three thirty this morning in the morning  i deeply appreciate the sacrifice and the commitment that this staff has made and i while will enter into the record a more detailed statement i also wan very much senator gregg the republican manager of the republican ranking member and he is absolutely committed to dealing with our long term fiscal imbalances in a responsible way and while we might have some disagreements with respect to this budget agreement the truth is our larger agreement about the need to take on these low long term fiscal challenges to me overshadows the disagreements we might have on a five year budget resolution i also want to thank the professionalism of his staff scott goods and his entire organization although i don't like some of the charge that they produced they are they are really in the best traditions of the united states senate they are serious about public service and we owe them a deep debt of gratitude as well and finally i want to conclude by again thanking my staff leg goodness the extraordinary effort that you all put in i will never forget and yield the floor the kind of president senator from new hampshire i just reiterate what i said earlier about the work of the staff which is extraordinary in an exceptional and on both sides of aisle fair and and just and i've been very very professional and of course the senator and i have great respect for each other and i reiterate his my praise of him and the majority leader's efforts here in trying to to already made his reckoning is there sufficient second there appears to be the clerk will report the conference report conference report to accompany as congress twenty one the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two houses on the amendment of the house to concurrent resolution as congress twenty one revising the rational budget for the united states government for fiscal year two thousand and seven having having met have agreed that the senate recei disagreement to the members of the house and agree the same with an amendment and the house agreed to the same signed by majority the conferees on the part of both houses the question is on the adoption of the conference report and they have been mr coleman mr collins mr conrad mr martinez mr mccain mrs mccaskill mr mr menendez ms mccall ski mrs murray mr nelson of florida mr nelson of nebraska mr obama mr pryor mr reed of rhode island mr reid of nevada mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions mr shelby mr smith ms snow mr spect mr casey mr casey a mr roberts no this is fine son mrs fyne son  rockefeller  mr alexander mr alexander know he did if not the yes are fifty two the nays are forty the conference report is agreed to that a president the senator from north dakota and a president i just want to thank all of my colleagues who supported this budget resolution i think it's a responsible first step to restoring fiscal responsibility and meeting the priority needs of the country i thank my colleagues i thank the chair thank you the senator from connecticut president sent a resolution to the intention of the president to designate order in the chamber play into the senator from virginia can be heard the senator from virginia thank you madam president the president desires to designate a general l to take a position in the administration as an assistant to the president as well as working with the security council i've known this fine officer for some time i have done an overseas trip to m two after we went down to liberia at the time of great troubles down there a new change in the administration i've seen him working on the joint staff i frequently go over and i've had the opportunity to be briefed by him i want to let my strongest endorsement for this nomination i'd also like to put into the record the history of how active duty military officers have been assistant to the president as i point out from one thousand nine hundred sixty nine to seventy general haig was military assistant to the presidential assistant for national security general colin powell deputy national security advisor eighty seven colin powell moved up to national security advisor in eighty seven eighty nine so i've put into the record a list of those individuals who served our presidents in the past and a comparable way i would just add and i asked them to expand my remarks that i think it would be advisable at the prices that were to determine that general lutie would have a an exemption security exemption granted by the prize than such that he does not have to respond to the committees of the congress to come up as witness  today he indicated that as soon as the papers were forwarded our committee the senate armed services committee would review it in the context of our authority to review the change of position assignments of general and flag officers it's in that context that we would have a hearing on this nomination and i hope there after we can report it to the floor and at that senate will act favorably pundit i thank the chair for its customary indulgence and resolution to the desk and and what's next week i'll ask my colleagues to consider this resolution i do so with some reluctance but we reached a point madam president i think the concerns are revolving around the attorney general's office as well as the  head of the world bank have come to a point where i think this body ought to express itself given the concerns that are mounting about these individuals ability to perform their functions as attorney general and as present the world bank let me  say that i think what is always been home to controversy is we know that but the ones that are currently swirling around the department of justice and the world bank are simply unacceptable and i think it must come to an end in the president and my view must must assume the responsibility here we are focused on calling for resignations but the commander in chief the president is the where the buck stops he bears a responsibility to replace these individuals if they've reached a point where they're no longer have the ability to run these institutions instilling the kind of confidence the american public would expect and the global support that we'd expect for these institutions i don't say this with any sense of glee at all but i think it's important to arrive in a moment here when a change of leadership in these two to these two offices is absolutely essential let me begin just with with mr gonzales if i may who saga madam president continues to unfold with each revelation more disturbing than the last the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of our country and he must be above politics above partial administration of justice about party politics and partisan again clearly that is not been the case here it's now abundantly clear that the attorney general has places friendship and deputy attorney general of the united states about mr gonzales his role while white house concert attempting to pressure the then attorney general john ashcroft authorized domestic surveillance despite the fact that the justice department under john ashcroft to determine that that would be illegal and went to his bedside in critical condition to try and secure a signature to allow those those practices to go forward this is just not healthy and it's hurting our country it's hurting the morale of the justice department and it's time for the present to a point a new attorney general and step forward and do so let me if i quickly can turn to the to the president of the world bank of mr wolfowitz the world bank as we all know plays a vital role in global efforts to reduce poverty development that promote good governance in all nations in which it operates mr wolfowitz in particular made fighting corruption his signature issue at the bank and yet we know the allegations he and i don't need to go into details about them my colleagues know what they are here they've been widely report world bank ethics committee investigating this incident reported to the world bank's board of directors and i quote them that mr wolfowitz contract requiring that it here to the code of conduct abroad board officials and that he avoid any conflict of interest real or apparent was violated that's their conclusion and short i believe that this is a will with broke the world bank's ethical and governance rules instead of combating corruption he pledged to do so his actions abroad to the very heart of the world bank again i point out that forty words of the world bank staff their work is being compromised by the actions of their present moreover several of the world bank's largest donors including european nations supply a major portion of the world bank's operating revenue have warned they might president who has the authority to replace these individuals to do so and i know this reluctance on the part of my colleagues to involve themselves in some of these matters but when institutions as important as the justice department and the world bank are suffering from credibility then i think it's incumbent upon body to express itself and so at an appropriate time next week alas with this resolution to be considered by this body under a limited amount of time i know we have the import matter of immigration to consider but this matter is also important in the meantime of course  president should move forward and call for the resignations and replace of these individuals and this resolution would be moot but in the meantime i intend to press forward with this idea i urge my colleagues about parties regardless of their feelings about these individuals their person relationships with them we bear a responsibility that goes beyond personalities here and the justice department it serves better the world bank deserves better and i hope that my colleagues will join in a bipartisan way to express our joint sense of the senate senator from florida a man i'm president i want to congratulate senator conrad the chairman of the budget committee who has done an absolute masterful job in charting the boat of the budget committee through considerable hazardous waters to be able to end up with a vote like he did today fifty two to forty in the passage of the budget it is a budget that clearly is trying to accommodate enormous spending that we have to do for the defense establishment for the national security reasons of this country it same time to attack the issue of how we're going to pay for it and there are certain taxes that the reality is you have to recognize that we're going to have to do something about the the that the tax that if we don't is going to hit the middle class we have to do something about the ten percent level for the lower income group you have to do something about the child tax credit all of which them being tax cuts is going to cost revenues and then the he even  tackled the issue of the estate tax trying to craft a compromise which in this bill allows for the in the finance committee to approach an exemption of three and a half million dollars per person of the estate tax and then reduce the tax rate from fifty five to forty five that the balance of the estate would taxed that would protect the family farms of the family businesses the vast majority of them in the country and so i just wanted to compliment  mr president the senator from florida i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted without objection mr president i suggest the absence of course  erees on h r fourteen ninety five as follows senators boxer just a short while ago senators passed the fiscal year two thousand and eight federal budget conference report the vote was fifty two to forty and that allows lawmakers to pursue seed with spending bills for the year the house also passed its own version of the supplemental spending bill for the school year two thousand and eight two day the senate passed a measure pledging to provide troops in iraq the resources they need a final version of the supplemental war spending bill will now have to be worked out between house and senate to go shooters and the white house and next week members began work on immigration earlier today senators from both parties and the white house came to an agreement on the reform legislation on the immigration live coverage here on c span t opportunity to move forward with tough smart and fair comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders that ensures that our economy continues to thrive that protects american workers and off the same time that the process of committing millions of people to languish in the darkness and be exploited or we can choose to abdicate our responsibilities and tacitly maintain the status quo of failed laws and a broken immigration system that is weak on enforcement that leaves our borders and our citizens unsecured and at the same time permits human exploitation to continue as a group several senators including myself have been meeting and negotiating on comprehensive immigration reform over the past couple of months i appreciate the president making secretary sure and offering good care is available to try to reach an agreement that would do those things but i and i have come during the course of that process with other colleagues to a better understanding of my colleagues and their thoughts on this issue through the many hours that we have spent talking together about solving the immigration problem though i have not always agreed with them i like to believe our discussions were serious then good face at times they were productive but other times they had obstacles but when one considers the enormity of the task at hand along what's at stake one would have to be naive in thinking this would be an easy process one thing we know for sure is that beginning next week of cloture is invoked an immigration bill in some form will be considered on the floor of the senate i sincerely appreciate the commitment in regards to the time spent and the thought invested on this issue from all sides involved the amount of work that has been put into this represents the interest level not to mention the stakes i will say however that in large part part of the problem in getting agreement this year was where the administration started off and their proposal which acted as a marker in these negotiations from the minute i saw that proposal that was clear to me that we were no longer where we were last year on this issue last year we passed a bipartisan bill one that a majority of americans could get behind it was a historic effort that joined twenty three republicans with thirty nine democrats to address an issue of urgent national importance of the bill is the basis of what majority leader reid to schedule the cloture vote for next monday afternoon noon and i do hope will be able to get a vote to be able to continue to proceed and i appreciate the majority leader making this issue a partner are already having given us two months ahead of time of telling us that a very significant part of the senate's calendar was being reserved for this debate and i appreciate his leadership in that regard however unfortunately the administration along with several of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle decide to radically alter their views and began the process this year with a far more impractical in my mind far more partisan proposal evidently the white house convinced itself that they must have the support of some republican senators that opposed and worked to defeat last year's bill in order to pass something this year therefore the white house has proposed a immigration reform plan that in my mind is far to the right of the senate passed a bill of a year ago let me tell you what i believe the principles should be that the senate should guide self as it debates next week i believe that any immigration reform we pass must be taught in terms of the security of our country it must be fair it must be workable workable it must be comprehensive in nature that preserves among other things family values he's to say as a country rewards hard work and sacrifice benefits all americans and promote safe legal and orderly immigration now i could not sign on to the agreement announced in principle earlier today because in my mind it does not meet the principles i just described to mr president at this time i ask unanimous consent to just state that very briefly in spanish without objection it says to maddie that there are good enough here to work but not good enough to stay the pending upon their category of individual is levies rather high penalties and fines and it does not provide the confidentiality or judicial review necessary to bring those people who are undocumented in the country out of the shadows and into the light and i have serious concerns about the workability and the fairness of the agreement announced earlier because first and foremost it in mind it tears at the fabric of family reunification by limiting and eliminating the ability of u s citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition for their children their parents and siblings to join them in this country i took very much to heart when president bush said family values don't stop at the rio grande but that we all share those family values yet here we are with a piece of legislation that i gather is largely supported by the white house that undermines the very essence of that even under a new point structure that is invasion under this bill it seems to me that the essence of family could get much more waiting within the context of the new home new process of how we are going to move our immigration system forward family is a critical value i thought in our country it calls for a truly temporary and i'm concerned potentially but a sterile style worker program that labor ultimately won't support and that could repeat the same problem all over again having us face this challenge in the years ahead by the way it's divi it does not have confidentiality and judicial review at least not of the stances i've seen up to date still one of those floating things out there and the reality is if we want people to come out of the shadows into the light to know who is here to pursue the american dream versus who is here to destroy it then we need to be able to have those individuals understand that they will in fact and should come forth so that in fact they can go through the process and vision by the framework agreement but that they will have confidentiality and judicial review in the process without addressing these issues the system that would be created under the proposals in my mind would do little to fix our broken immigration system in the long term now i support fines for those who have broken the law but the fines that are proposed in my mind are prohibitive and they make a pathway to legalization a path in name only a family of four would have to pay ten thousand dollars in fines and fees which is more than last year's bill even after it was amended twice on the floor to increase those fines and that doesn't even include the cost of their trip to touchback when they seek to become a permanent resident unable to pay these fines and fees some of the undocumented workers will be unable to come out of the shadows and so a lot of america's progress and promise giving people the opportunity to come out of the shadows is an essential and necessary component of immigration reform because it will allow us to recognize who is here to seek the american dream versus who is here to destroy it's to criminal or terrorist acts like those that were recently almost carried out at fort dix in my home state of new jersey and if we had the right set of standards which i envision us having in our bill and people would come forward we would have caught those individuals by the background checks that we would have conducted but for those people to come for fabius live there has to be some sense that in fact there is a real opportunity here otherwise no one will come for they also propose virtually doing away with family reunification provisions which is a bedrock of our immigration policy throughout our nation's history this idea not only changes the spirit of our immigration policy it also deemphasized has the family structure and if this system had been in place when my mother and father attempted to come to this country they certainly would not have qualified and i have listened to the stories of so many of our fellow colleagues here in the senate and when i served in the house of representatives i know that many of their parents would never have qualified to come to this country and i'd like to think that they made some and have continue and continue to make some very significant contribution so it seems to me that even within a new paradigm we could have structured and i hope to see a structure where family values and that reunification has a more more which fighting chance that under the framework agreement as for the worker program a temporary worker program we're inviting in temporary workers but of course we expect them to live not only in my mind  temporary as temporary but and we're going to rotate them through but how we do that and what task at the end of the day we might provide for saying you're human capital is incredibly important to this country and if you perform enough of it there may be an opportunity for you to adjust your status in this country but the way that the framework document envisions it in my mind simply can create another undocumented workforce here in this country it also sends the message that there are some people good enough to work here but not good enough to stay here and there are others good enough to work here and to stay here and if one didn't know what year it was one might think we were discussing the national origins act of one nine hundred twenty four these and other problems with the proposed deal my mind has to be improved to be able to support the type of reform that will meet the principles that i earlier generally speaking it seems to me that we have taken a radical departure from what we were able to collectively achieve last year and i think we need to take a hard look at it as we open the debate next week i think for the sake of much needed reform many democrats including myself showed a willingness even more than i would have been vision to make strides towards the white house proposal even so there are certain issues were too much been ultimately creates and in practical and effective immigration system unfortunately that's what i believe will occur under the agreement announced earlier this afternoon i for one cannot settle for something that isn't in my mind sufficiently responsible in terms of meeting these values security of the country making sure that we really deal with our economy in a way that doesn't depress wages but at the same time realize that certain economic sectors need help and really preserves family values and at the same time also make sure that end the exploitation that often takes place when those people are languishing in the darkness it doesn't have to be perfect but it does have to be fair name and practical part of the magic of our constitution is that it eventually allow the better parts of our nature to prevail the better part of our national character is found in the strength that we have achieved through our diversity but that's better nature must be  ht for and fostered my mind as one of the greatest parts of america's experiment has made a great country that has i look forward to leading efforts on the floor that will strengthen our security checked american workers with the necessities of our economy while out about the same time upholding the promise and the value of the american story that we hold so dear we need to improve the framework document that has been announced through legislative process next week this is too important of an issue to allow partisan politics to play a row it is too important of an issue to only be concerned about appeasing appeasing a relatively small part of a political base that isn't representative of the american public at large we must come together not as democrats and republicans or liberals and conservatives but as statesmen in doing so honor the traditions of the senate as a body that values reasoning honest debate and compromise over sound bites talking points fear and smear tactics i know in my heart that this is possible i pray that it is practical and that we can end up with a bill mr president next week that does these things secures our country in a meaningful way at the same time make sure that we can preserve the economic interests of our country in all of the different aspects of our economy that can say is that that promise of family values that we hold so dear and that has been at the core for over four decades of our immigration system can continue to be a reality that we can end the human exploitation of people within our country and that in doing so we actually make our country safer more secure and more robust and its economy that's what i hope to lead efforts on the floor next week in the senate i appreciate the work that has been done by the senators who have agreed to the framework agreement i just felt that it fell too short some of these key principles for me to be supportive of it i'm looking forward to a bill that we can join together and say it's best for the nation to do what is you mainly right we do what is right for the nation in terms of its security and its economy and we have preserved the very essence of what this nation has been about a lastly say mr president you know from my home state of new jersey which was a gateway to millions of people across this country particularly during the period of ellis island we can almost touch lady liberty ellis island is short bridge walk across the reality is that those people have contributed so dramatically to our country we have all have a relationship to immigration whether you can trace your history to the mayflower and the voyage of that first opportunity whether you are part of the daughters of the american revolution whether or not to you came to the millions in the european experience that crossed a great ocean through ellis island and then throughout our country whether you came as my parents did in search of freedom the reality is we all have a connection let us honor that connection in a way that meets these values let us meet that challenge i hope we can do so next week as the senate convenes on the start debate  center from florida thank you express and i wanted to i have an opportunity to speak for a moment on this very very timely issue of immigration i heard my colleague from new jersey speaking and i  know how hard he has worked with us to try to achieve a solution to this very difficult problem our country has faced for now over twenty years and i'm disappointed that what we did fell short of his hopes but i thought i would take a moment in response to some of his comments but also in hopes of inviting him back into this process where his support would be so welcome and so vital first i should say that there's nothing easy about this issue then there's nothing easy about the solution that we crafted nor does it claim any sort of perfection associated with it because it is an imperfect bill but it is a compromise and so what it implies by a compromise is that there are some things in it that i wholeheartedly support there are some things in it that i might have liked have seen a little differently at the end of the day that is how legislation is made that is how it happens we all give a little and we end up someplace where we can move the country forward  provide the country with a way to resolve this very difficult issue which is we call immigration one of the notions that i would appreciate the spelling is the fact that this is a white house bill this is not a white house bill is just as much a bill has a great deal of balance in it because it not only enforces our borders first and foremost which is what all americans i think one at a time when our shores or threatened by potential terrorist but it secondly does not do any of the other things that would be done in the bill and to certain triggers are met those triggers have to be in place as far as border security is concerned hiring water ages the building of fencing the building of other physical and electronic barriers then we move into another phase which is to provide a tamper proof i d this is going to ensure that those that are working are working legally and then moves into other areas like a guest worker program is a guest worker program which is a temporary work not intended as a vehicle to immigration it is to provide the labor that america needs in certain ways in certain places and also to provide a good paying job to certain people in other parts of the world who want to work here but with a clear understanding before ever coming they're coming to work for a limited period of time much as a student would come as a student visa holder comes for two years to go to school comes for two years to go to their work and then they go home they can renew that visa for a couple of times and a number of them will then if they acquire certain prerequisites could apply for a permanent status here obviously as they learn english that would help them if they learn a trade that would help them if their employer says very good worker that would help them but that is going to be the basis for future immigration to our country there still is a family component to immigration usman wives children can come grandparents forty thousand a year of parents can come what we're going to do is change the paradigm to one where more merit is included into the equation is going to be a point system there will be points for family family will often be a tiebreaker that don't that'll be maintained but the that the paradigm of immigration will shift to a different one it will then give the twelve million people that are here today living in the shadows an opportunity to come out of the shadows and i don't know how anyone can overlook the significance of that act the fact that this country of immigrant in this country of laws will be generous enough to say to those twelve million that are here having com illegally to our country but who have work as long as they pay fines as long as they obey the law and have not gotten in trouble and as long as they're willing to learn the english language they can have a path forward to stay here and continue to work and if they go back to their home country they also can apply for permanent residence and get in the back of the line as any fairness would dictate fines of course will be fines they can be paid over a period of years and they're not exorbitant fines and the fines only to the head of household but you know what else is in this bill is a dream act how can that be overlooked as an incredible achievement for that dream of education that twelve million people living in this country today in the shadows that today find oftentimes their future dreams of a college education truncated by the inability to pay the tuition on the out of state fees the dream act is in this bill that's an important consideration we also have part of this bill is going to take care of the agricultural needs of this country which are significant i know in my home state of florida whether it's agriculture whether it's hotel workers whether it's a theme park a workers in the tourism industry we desperately need workers there are not enough there today and so the temporary worker program will help our economy w it helps people to have a good and decent job so i think there's some things here that are tremendously positive it's a very exciting day and delighted to be a part of this compromise all obviously they'll be politics all over the place the right and the left will be criticizing many of us for having taken what i think is a very strong step forward a bipartisan step this is a coalition of many senators working together to pull something together that has been difficult that is never going to be easy to do i look forward to the debate in the senate next is finding it difficult to support the bill today but who has been there time and time again senator from texas senator cornyn who has tried also and may not be completely satisfied but in that very dynamic of seeing good dedicated servants like these two senators that are finding it difficult is that we see the difficulty of this bill what i would hope is that a good nucleus of us will pull together will come together my hope is that senators cornyn salazar and menendez a many others will find it possible to support this bill as we go into the debate next week that the opportunities for offer amendments there may be ways of making a better that could also be ways that could make it a lot worse so my hope is that we can hang together on this nucleus of a compromise that will make america stronger that will give some charity to people that are here while at the same time giving americans the assurance that our borders are going to be secure and it isn't perfect is the best solution that we could find today working together in good faith on a bipartisan way i hope the senate will pass it i hope t president earlier this week i spoke to my colleagues on placing out some of the options that may be circulating among the current democrat majority in the seven and for all the months before and if we don't do something all the months for the rest see here in which twenty three million taxpayers who don't pay the alternative minimum tax will be hit by it and these are twenty three million people that were never intended to pay the alternative minimum tax because they are not considered the super wealthy as i said earlier this week i don't like what i'm hearing about what's going on in the other body what they may put on the table in terms of paying for the alternative minimum tax and the solution for that problem that is a fact a tax along right now however i wan make perfectly clear a point on which i agree with the other party and that and the other body i completely agree that dealing with the a m t is a priority issue and that congress needs to address it the alternative minimum tax is an absolutely maddening tax and has and see these sleep crept into the homes of more and more families each year and i have spoken on this floor about its repeal about its repeal because number one it's hitting people it wasn't intended to hit and also there are thousands what was intended to h fall who has found ways out of paying the alternative minimum tax and so then you get into the ridiculous situation of people paying it who aren't super rich and you have super rich that was intended to hit nine sixty nine when i was first put in place and those people have found around it so if it ain't working you know it's obviously broke then you need to fix it the number of families paying the alternative minimum tax will rise from four million families last year to twenty three million families in two thousand and seven unless we take legislative action chairman baucus my democrat leader of my committee and i enter duce legislation on the first day of the hundred tenth congress to repeal the individual alternative minimum tax beginning in the two thousand and seven tax year but of course it doesn't appear that the democratic leadership is eager to take up that legislation in each of the past six years congress has in fact passed legislation which at least for a temporary period of time and successfully keeping more people from paying the alternative minimum tax by encreasing the amounts of income that's exempt from the alternative minimum tax and other words by encreasing the exempt amount the additional people are not going to we're not hit by the alternative minimum tax these temporary exemptions that have happened over the last six years have prevented the alternative minimum tax from harming more and more middle class americans most recently congress acted to prevent millions of taxpayers from receiving a surprise on their two thousand and six tax returns by including an extension of this temporary a m t exemption increase in what is called the tax increase prevention and reconciliation act of two thousand and five and that two thousand  bill the exemption for married couples filing jointly was increased from fifty eight thousand to sixty two thousand five hundred fifty dollars for the two thousand and six tax year now this week marks nearly twenty million american families that were exempt from the a m t because of the temporary exemption increase in two thousand and six new at this time last year that congress was moving to not tax many more million people by the alternative minimum tax in last year's tax earning season this year those families have no such assurance because the democratic leadership now in the majority as a result of the last election in this congress does not appear to be moving any legislation to address the alternative minimum tax some of you may wonder why this is a pressing issue maybe you take the view that you need not address this because e m t is such a stealth tax and millions of americans who are going to own way empty for two thousand and seven have not even thought of that issue yet because it's something you might get the rude awakening after the first or next year you prepare your income tax and all of a sudden boom twenty three million more americans are hit by this tax so you don't worry about it during this twelve months but don't play the american people for a fool i can understand why the taxpayers may not be thinking about it because for the past six years as a second point the congress has addressed the issue on a timely basis and the taxpayers didn't miss a beat when the republicans were in the majority american families could count on congress to make sure this a m t issue was taken care now it is nearing the summer time under democrat leadership and there's no clear path to a credible temporary or permanent solution we need to address this now for the folks who don't even know what's about to hit them in the year two thousand and seven and some more hit in april already  can't wait because it's here and now for some taxpayers i hope our that my colleagues have heard than from some of these constituents that are being hit by and that happens through the estimated tax payment of april two thousand and seven when at least some americans were hit with paying this when they prepared that estimated tax payment that you do four times a year those families have made that first payment and are painfully aware that of congress failure tag on the empty this year whereas twelve months ago we had already you know until recently i had hoped that the senate was unified in not wanting to collect the empty for this year or any year in the future on march the twenty third almost two months ago i offered an amendment to the fiscal year two thousand and eight senate budget resolution that would have required congress to stop spending amounts that are scheduled to come into the federal coffers through the alternative minimum tax the legitimacy of that amendment was based on the proposition that the budget that we just adopted today the conference report assumes that these twenty three million americans are going to pay those taxes they were never intended to pay and so get it out of the budget if you're tax people that wars that aren't super rich your supposed to pay in the first place and particularly when the super rich a few thousand of the super rich have even found ways to get legally around not paying a tax that was intended for them to pay management was not adaptive because i think that if my amendment had been adopted we'd have some honesty in the budgeting process however not a single one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted in its favor on the house side now we hear that the ways and means committee is doing a lot of talking about the alternative minimum tax but they have yet to move to action it has been reported that house democrats plan to exempt everyone forms less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars from the mt now that's not eliminating it like i want to do but it sounds to me like that's a step in the right direction however the new democratic majority has pledged to offset any tax cuts some staggering proposals are bouncing around offset of about two hundred fifty thousand dollar exemption from the t i outlined two of them on monday when i spoke to my colleagues one option would raise the top marginal income tax rate to over forty six percent from the thirty five percent marginal tax rate under current law now there's another option that the house may be considering and that is to raise the top alternative minimum tax rate to thirty seven percent up from the twenty eight percent under current law now i have to believe that anyone would shy away from actually proposing a double digit tax rate increase so let's tak to explore another approach that we've heard floated for alternative minimum tax really paying for it by raging raising marginal tax rates on the top three income tax prac now except for that thirty five percent bracket you're definitely talking about raising the tax on middle income people offset the alternative minimum tax now hitting those same middle income tax people that weren't tend to pay for it in the first place raises the top three income tax brackets i don't know why congress would want to raise taxes on top income tax brackets let alone on the top three brackets however if that idea is getting serious attention then we need to look behind the lipstick and examine the pain so i have a chart here to show you how many taxpayers would be impacted in two thousand and four there were nearly six million individuals and families in the top three  going through an analysis to show what the grim scenario of raising taxes on the top three bags might look like it's not a very good picture now there's another chart which lays out the number of an option prepared by the tax policy center i don't want you to think that i'm highlighting a partisan republican analysis here the tax policy center has undertaken an extensive analysis of multiple options on the alternative minimum tax i think it would be more than fair to say that they are a group that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle often look to for reason analysis of policy issues in fact i believe they recently testified at the ways and means committee in the other body on precisely this point they outlin many options in their study and this is just one that i want to walk through for illustration purposes this option they call it the the broad reform and increase the top income tax rates option would reduce the number of a m t tax payers by almost ninety percent in the year two thousand and seven so that would mean that you would have three hundred thousand people paying the alternative minimum tax instead of the twenty three million middle income taxpayers that are being hit with it right now as i speak only one hundred thousand taxpayers with incomes below two hundred thousand would all the alternative minimum tax under their plan again i think this is a step in the right direction until you take a look at their plan to offset it offset this a m t really the plan would raise income tax rates on six million families and the top three income tax brackets and this chart shows and where the ordinary tax rates would go as a result of this suggestion for taxpayers in the current twenty percent bracket and that includes single taxpayers earning seventy four thousand dollars and married families earning one hundred twenty four thousand dollars their tax rates would increase from twenty eight percent to thirty five to thirty five point four percent that is higher than the current tax rate for the wealth americans under present law the current thirty three percent bracket would go up to forty one percent and the top tax bracket would go from the current thirty five percent up to forty five percent so again we would be facing another option they require there's a double digit marginal tax rate increase so mr president while i applaud the efforts of many to analyze potential a m t solutions i originally colleagues to be bill be aware of anyone bearing marginal tax rate increases in their basket of goodies to solve this horrendous problem of twenty three million middle income taxpayers paying the alternative the minimum tax that was never supposed to be paid by middle income people because it was a tax reserve just for the super wealthy hundred sixty nine numbering about one hundred fifty five people so how do you get from one hundred fifty five people to twenty three million people if the tax policies are working the way they were intended to work now there is another alternative and that is something congress isn't apt to do and something in the budget that was just adopted shows that the majority is not inclined to do but congress should control spending and stop budgeting with the revenues flowing in on the ledger from the a m t instead of increasing taxes to solve the problem a m t tax relief that relies on is an ordinary tax rates to move the ball turns out to be no tax relief at all i think you've got the issue of whether or not you want to keep this economy going and i speak of chairman greenspan maybe he was beyond his chairmanship when he said that the tax policies of two thousand and one and two thousand and three were responsible for the seven and eight cans million jobs or growth in the economy that we have now and and bringing in three quarters of a trillion dollars of revenue that nobody anticipated be coming in when we gave those tax reductions and so why would you want to raise the marginal tax rates that chairman greenspan says the lower rates are responsible for the revitalization of the economy and kill the goose that laid the golden a cliff it doesn't make sense but those are the ideas that are floating around this hill to solve a problem of twenty three million americans being hit by a tax that they were never intended to pay counting revenue coming in from people is never intended to pay it to show that the budget is balanced intellectually dishonest yes fraudulent yes it's something that is unexplainable and yet we're stuck with it and it ought to and and it's not going and until we repeal a tax that shouldn't be on the books in the first place because it isn't it means super all of the super wealthy with the way it was intended to as begin and hit twenty three million middle income people and in the process when you start raising taxes like that on that group of people pretty soon you're going to ruin the middle class and the middle classes the stability of any house came to an agreement on reform legislation on the status of illegal aliens improved border security and sanctions against employers who hire illegals live coverage here on cspan to going to terminate without objection was present let me say that we've had some really good work this week in the senate when i came here on monday and indicated we would have to work into the weekend that wasn't just for fluff  i really thought that we would have to do that we had so much to do we were heavily involved in working on a bill that was saw important to be done but a lot of pickups coming at complex legislation like that but we were able to finish that in a few days i was concerned about the budget with the time limits that are statutory in that regard we're able to get that complete and i was concerned about the supplemental getting something to the house which was a tremendously difficult job and we were able to get that done and finally mr president there has been a degree and principle on immigration that we will take up i hope monday evening any one of these things gives no bragging rights to democrats or republicans but it does give bragging rights to democrats and republicans because of this none of this could have been done but for me recognition you have to work together to get things done and there's no better example of that and i said briefly on the floor yesterday of senator boxer and center grand off there are really two political opposites and most everything and he worked together with senator boxer and vice versa and they got that done as really tremendously good work the budget i boast about them all the time because i feel that they're worth boasting about  that's senators conrad and senator gregg what they were able to piece together with this budget is very very difficult was a mechanical it was difficult i got that done on a supplemental i give a little credit too little credit to me a little credit to senator mcconnell and the rest of the senate because we were able to get that done get a bill to conference with the house and we've had a number of meetings with the president's chief of staff general connell and i we're going to have meetings tomorrow and with speaker pelosi and representatives of the president and we hope to be able to complete that very important conference report by next week at this time and finding mr president on this on the immigration at this stage i can say and we i've kept this to myself but sam mcconnell was one of those that urged me to stick to my timeline and safe and stick to that two weeks where we're going to get anything done you have said time around here and we did that now i don't know if the immigration legislation is going to bear fruit we're going to be able to pass it but at least we're we have something to talk about as alleged leave a vehicle on the floor here that's my part of nature you may not agree on the respective partisans that put it together kennedy senator kyl and others have the ending have to recognize they're going to work into the night that if we're going to finish this bill next week we have to work nights that doesn't mean six thirty at night and we do have one s complete that most important legislation so in short mr president this was a very very good week for the senate and i think for the american people we need a lot more weeks like this and we hope to do that the future i have a few but keep anything in fact mr president just had a republican leaders recognized if i could just add briefly let me commend a majority leader for that week i think we did have a care particularly pleased that we seem to be i'm glad path to completion of the important troop funding bill i think there is a bipartisan agreement that we need to have a signed a bill at additional meeting with the including the speaker and leader boehner from the house to i'm pleased that bipartisan agreement on immigration appears to come together on the day that i was elected republican leader i said i hope this congress would do two really important things that would make a difference for our country and i thought divided government was uniquely situated to tackle both of these issues one album was so security not as optimistic on that as i would like to be the other's immigration and i think there's a reason for optimism today that the senate on a bipartisan basis will come together and pass a landmark piece of immigration legislation we'll find out next week but i think the compromise announced today certainly gives us room for optimism that that that that that might occur i did support the majority leader decision to turn to that issue before memorial day i thought it gave us the best chance of passing legislation and with those kind of deadlines gave us the best chance of coming together and hopefully that process of coming together was achieved today be laid on the table presently notified of senate action sent return a legislative session without objection as fourteen nineteen is at the desk and ask for its first and second readings and then ask consent may be placed on the calendar world's commercial fishing fleet and lead to overfishing of global fish stocks without objection the senate proceeds to the measure last the resolution big read to the preamble be agreed to the most reconsider be laid on the table without objection