result this bill that we put together for the first time creates a strong bipartisan consensus for all of the things that are needed to control our border but it does more in two key ways and the reason that these other two things are important is because a lot of my constituents have said why should we believe that a new law is going to be enforced when the existing law isn't enforced and that is a very good question the president's both this administration and the previous administration in the congress has have not done an adequate job of enforcing the law but it is also true that we do have we have two laws that are not very enforceable we know that forty percent of the people who are here illegally overstayed visas they didn't cross the border illegally and it's very hard to enforce the visa overstay laws because they're not adequate and we don't have adequate resources either mr president secondly the employer verification system we have in place today is a joke everyone knows that you use bill driver's licenses and social security cards and we all know that there are millions of people working here illegally though they presented documents to an employer that nine hundred eighty six bill wrote a very bad provision for employment verification and it doesn't work so the only way for those who say well let's enforce the law and then there will be the attrition of the illegal immigrants and we'll get back to a good situation the answer is of course if you don't have a good law to enforce you can't work that strategy that the law has got to be changed and it's very clear that in order to change the law so it can be enforceable both with respect to be so overstayers and at places of employment we're going to have to have a group of people get together democrats and republicans willing to support some things that each other wants in order to pass such a law that's the genesis of the bill that's before us i hope that my colleagues will recognize that doing nothing is not acceptable and it's pretty clear when we i'm down to this cloture vote that's going to be very very close that forty senators might be able to stop the senate dead in its tracks or forcing the will of the majority that forty senators would be people on one side who wanted all their way and on the other side who wanted all their way fording the will of the majority which recognizes that neither side can have it all their way but that doing nothing is not acceptable and that will be the result if cloture is not invoked here the final point i'd like to make mr president is that there are several amendments that we should be voting on to improve this legislation and only by moving forward here with the cloture vote will we be able to vote on those amendments one of those is an important amendment a very large amendment that was put together by senator graham and myself and and senator martinez and several others that really try to fill in all of the gaps in enforcement some of wh been pointed out to us by our constituents by critics of the bill by folks on the talk shows by people who oppose the bill we've taken a lot of those suggestions many of them are great ideas and put them into this in force meant amendment it will for example make it very difficult for a visa overstay or to be able to be here illegally in the future we're going to know when they overstay their visas we're going to detain them until they can be removed from the country just as one example so mr president in order to be able to vote on those strong and strengthening amendments we have to invoke cloture we have to be able to proceed there are still two more opportunities for those who want to express their opposition to the bill to do so there will be a budget point of order and they will be the vote on final passage but surely our colleagues would i hope respect the will of the majority here which is to keep moving to make this bill as good as we possibly can and then everybody has the ability to vote however they want to at the end of the day i hope that my colleagues would agree that i'd be pleased to use five minutes now i believe some of the other members are i want to share time  other senators as well and certainly there's one area in which we have much agreement and that is securing our borders clearly the american people don't have comp any confidence at all in the promises that this will be done when there's a track record of total failure nine hundred eighty six three million illegal if aliens and today of course twelve million or more the country the government doesn't seem to know how many i had an op ed piece in the charlotte observer just quoting from one nine hundred eighty six this bill will help help us the provide the immediate relief on the borders that we need in my view it's a good bill we should all support it be glad that this long controversy has finally been put to rest well chuck grassley made it very clear and strong points that he was wrong in the eighty six the vote that this did not provide the security at the border that we were promised began the day two thousand and six the secure fence act seven hundred miles of fencing to be built only two miles have been built and so with my view must wrong view is it's not just promises it's proof that people want the american people want to see results control of our borders and we need to establish standards or metrics and then show that they've been achieved for example significant decrease in the number of illegal aliens who are crossing our border a significant decrease in those who are restating their borders a high rate of deporting those where courts have said that a person needs to be removed from this country and deal with contentious provisions at a later date but these are the key issues that people are concerned about and the first order of business must be that we ensure that the mess that we're faced with now never ever occurs again we should be laser focused on our resources our energy and ensuring that our borders are secure not staff and i've been meeting with sheriffs across our state and section two eighty seven g which is low nail provides that these local officials can be deputized to enhance the ice agents this is a very important time is expired thank you mr president senator knowing what you know two minutes to the senator from tennessee the senator from alabama for u s c mr president thank you sir i just want to say that i appreciate the efforts of all involved and and what's happened over the last month i really do i have voted three times against cloture and mobo for a fourth today against cloture but at the same time i really have tried to play a constructive role and vote on each of amendment based on the merits of that amendment  i want to say that this bill is about a lot of things certainly people have put a lot of effort into it based on compassion based on trying to solve a problem and it also no doubt has a more sinister  components i hate to say it cheap labor party politics who's going to gain the majority so there are a lot of different things at play here and i think we all understand that but i really do appreciate the efforts of all involved to day this is going to get down to four or five senators and i want to encourage them to vote against cloture for this reason i think that this bill is not good for america because i believe america has lost  in our governments of bell at the to do the things that it says it will do we've had intelligence gaps we've had evolving reasons as to why we're involved in military conflicts we've seen what's happened at the local state and federal level on things like could train a we have menaced or who want to go a mission trip today but cannot get passports renewed this is about competence it's about credibility i think that americans the all that they are losing their country they're not losing it to people who speak differently or talk differently or from different backgrounds they're losing it to a government that has saying to same to lose to not have the competence or the ability to carry out the things that it says it will the ad believe that this bill is going to fail and what i would urge people to do is not what they have said today and that is to let it pass but to move main a path into another time but to approach it on a more modest basis where we do the things that we say we will build a foundation that will call the american people that actually have faith in this go present i thank the senator from tennessee and would recognize a senator from south carolina thanking him for his leadership as a senator from pennsylvania senator specter said this has been a tough battle  for his courage i thank the senator and i thank you for your leadership mr president this immigration bill has become a war between the american people and their government the issue now transit transcends anything related to immigration it's a crisis of confidence between what the american people believe our government is and should be and what it is to them now and what they perceive it to be this vote today is really not about immigration it's about whether or not we're going to listen to the american people and realize that we need to proceed more carefully in a more sensitive manner and appear to be listening to the concerns of the american people the allocation of time as we approach this vote is very symbolic of where we stand the supporters of this bill out of an hour's time have allocated ten minutes to the opinion of the american people i think we should listen the american people hope all of my colleagues will decide not to move ahead with this bill was expired vote against cloture today i thank you mr president that i reserve the five minutes  center from south carolina senator specter mabie recognized center from pennsylvania who you'll fall apart because this is tough politics there's no question about it i don't pretend to know that i'm on the wrong side or the right side of the american people i can tell you what the polls say that once you till people what's in this bill about border enforcement employer verification merit based immigration temporary worker program is two to one in about every poll i've seen and i guess you can get the poll to respond to the way you asked the question and what i'm trying to do is provide a solution to a problem that affects the american people and here's the formula for this problem to be solved by partisanship to my friends on this side if you think you can ignore democrats good luck they exist there's a bunch of them over there oh yeah there's a raise your hand if you're a democrat why don't you well they're not going away now there's a bunch of  bunch of us over here good luck ignoring us now i would like to secure the border how many democrats would everybody raises their hand right would you like to have an employer verification system where an employer would know the difference between somebody who's illegal and legal in force the current law to my friends who call me endlessly and say just enforce the current law lindsey well here's the lenses response i've looked at it isn't enforceable you can get a job in america based on a driver's license and a social security card being presented what did all the hijackers on nine eleven have in common they all had fake id cards they all had fake driver's license i can get you a social security card to my good eri from south carolina jim de mint we can go to the jackie lyden anderson now and get both of us a social security card by midnight whatever name you want whatever number you want until we address that problem we're never going to solve the illegal immigration about jobs current law is a failure the public should be cynical are we helping them when we fail all we were twenty percent and we deserve it we don't deserve our pay raise but who are the twenty percent what do you like about this conners i can't believe there's twenty percent of the american people like what we're doing up here because we're doing nothing but talking about what we won't do and we're playing a game that the american people don't understand like the other side doesn't exist you're never going to deal with this issue until you embrace the twelve million no democrat is going to let you build a fence and do all the things that we want to do without addressing the toy of millions that's never going to happen i want to address the twelve million the reason i want to address the twelve million it bothers me that there's twelve million people here that we don't know who they are and what they're up to i wish they would go away but they're not it is a problem that america has to deal with and we want someone else to do it because we're afraid that if we do a plea bargain is amnesty we're afraid that the people who don't want to deal with the twelve million will come and take our jobs away this is about our jobs well this is bigger than my job the twelve million will be dealt with they're not going to be ignored they will be dealt with firmly and fairly of eventually they're not going to be deported they're not going to jail there can't be wished away so we need to come together in a bipartisan manner have principled compromise where we deal with the twelve a and we deal with broken borders  we a temporary worker program to my republican friends remember this day if you vote no you will never ever have this deal again there will never be a merit based immigration system like we've negotiated because president bush has helped us into my friends on this side who say president bush would sign anything you don't understand what's going on here president bush has giving us as republicans things we'll never get without him being  have lost the majority but we've got a good deal because we've hung together a temporary worker program and merit based immigration is a good deal for this country and if we say no today good luck ever getting out again to the twelve million they stay here on our terms they have to learn english they have to pay fines and they can't be citizens unless they go back and start over this is as good as it's going to get now if we lived in a perfect world where the republicans could write this bill it would be different and i can assure you my democratic friends would have written a different bill all i can tell you is that the american people have a low opinion of others time has expired because we can't seem to do the things that we need to do because we too worried about us and not them i'm reminded of the millions of phone call and letters that everybody has received here in this chamber many of those phone calls and those letters those demonstrations have been filled the with hate and with venom they've been filled with hate and with venom we are the united states of america because we are able to bring our american government together to function on behalf of the people of this country so for all of those who have s arrows in the direction of profiles in courage who have been out here working on this issue for the last two years i say to them remember the prayer of chavis of the united farm workers in which he said help us love even those who hate us help us love even those who hate us so that we can change the world so that we can change the world much of the venom that we have seen around this issue has got to do with the fact that people are afraid people are afraid well i would ask my colleague colleagues to join us in looking forward and not being afraid because what makes people afraid a day is that we have a system of a system a broken borders a system of  do we move forward to create a system of law and order that we in the united states of america can be proud of how do we do that well we've done our best we've put forward a proposal that says the porous borders that we have in america are not good for america and national security the united states of america demands demand that we move forward and secure those borders and so we have done it in this legislation and we have included the funding to be able to secure those borders second of all for the last more than twenty twenty five years what's happened is that the united states of america has looked the other way as our immigration laws have been broken time after time so for the first time what we have done i just say should as we've said we are going to enforce the laws we're going to have tough employer sanctions against employers who hire those who are unauthorized to work here in our country we are even going to criminalize that conduct so we will enforce the laws of our nation and thirdly we take the twelve million undocumented workers who are here in america and we say you're going to pay a fine you're going to be punished you're going to learn english you're going to have to go to the back of the line and then after some time on the average of eleven twelve years between a and thirteen years you do all the things that we require of you including paying these very high fives and paying all the processing fees required here that at that point in time you will have an opportunity to become a citizen if you so much choose mr president to me that is a common sense solution to the national security issue which is that stake in this debate it a commonsense solution to a nation that prides itself in and forcing our laws we're not like other countries around the world that don't enforce our laws but we will be so i say this to my colleagues on the other side i respect you i respect you for what you do here and or how you bring a civil debate to the issues that we deal with every day but at the end of the day if we don't get this done today with this cloture vote it's going to mean that the national security the united states of america will continue to be compromised for time into the future for who knows how long it will mean that we will continue to be a nation that does not enforce our laws on immigration here within the country and it will mean that we will have failed to develop a realistic and on a solution to the twelve million undocumented workers who labor in america today every day so i would urge my colleagues to vote yes on this culture petition that we have coming up i yield the floor said if this bill becomes law we will see only a thirteen percent reduction in illegal immigration into america and that in the next twenty years we'll have another eight point seven million illegals in our country how can that be reform i submit this would be a disaster the american people also i do not believe desire to double illegal immigration that's what this bill legal immigration that's what this bill does m officers association two former chairman chief of border patrol of the united states a former assistant attorney general in charge of immigration and security says it will not work and are scathing in that criticism and steadfastly reject this bill abol it will further diminish their for the rule of law they proceed to use to get at this point is unprecedented in the history of the senate to allow the latest yet to approve every single amendment they get voted on and give us all a ten minutes in opposition this morning while the masters of the universe get over forty minutes fifty minutes from out there sad typical of the way this debate is gone and it will breed more sentences and by the public and i've just seen i noticed this morning from the sergeant of arms to tell us that the telephone systems are shut down because of the mass phone calls that our congress  receiving a decent respect for the views of the men can paypal says let's stop here now let's go back to the drawing board and come up with a bill that will work and more sent from alabama's used up two minutes he has three minutes first president we all stand here on the floor of the senate and regularly acknowledge and even praise the common sense and the wisdom of the american people well this vote this morning for each of us is about whether you really believe that or whether it's just a cheap political line to use the american people would get it and they do have common sense and wisdom on this issue they know that repeating the fundamental mistakes of the one nine hundred eighty six bill joining a big amnesty with inadequate enforcement will cause the problem to grow and not diminish they know that promising enforcement after thirty years of broken promises isn't good enough they know that the so called trigger is a joke because if the trigger is never pulled as easy as that amnesty happens forever they know that groups like the congressional budget office have estimated that this bill's so big on enforcement will only decrease illegal immigration thirteen percent and we'll have another eight point seven million illegal aliens coming into the country they know that they do have wisdom and common sense a question is do wish or do we decide that washington knows best mispresent this isn't just a vote about immigration this is a vote about whether this body is out of touch whether this body is arrogant or whether it will respect the true wisdom and common sense of the american people i yield back my t of the most encouraging parts about this debate there is a silver lining is that it is reengage the american people and showing us that we are truly a government of the people they have spoken and they've spoken loudly our phones have been ringing off the hook e mails letters people are trying to get in touch with us even now they're calling in such numbers that it's crashed the telephone system here in the senate my question to the senate today is what part of no don't we understand we need to vote no against cloture in stop this process that is alienating the american people from what we do and then enforce the laws that are on the books in peru that we are a nation of laws and that we will enforce the laws have been passed by this congress i thank the president and i yield back half to the senate from illinois mr president sir from alone this president in our nation's history this nation of immigrants we have always struggled with this issue as soon as people arrive on the shore there's a question about how many more can we take what does it mean for a nation if more people come from strange lands who don't speak our language and yet this diversity has made america what it is today we have sustained this great nation because we are different and because we are accepting and because the people who struggle to come to these shores my mother and her family the families of all of us brought with them a special quality a determination for a better life a willingness to take a risk to come to america a willingness to take the hardest toughest jobs to prove the american dream and hope that their children will have better multiply that by millions and you have the story of this great nation and throughout our history we have always debated how many more can we take that debate comes to ahead this morning in just a few minutes we will have a chance on the senate floor to decide whether we step forward i've heard the voices against this saying not this bill we can surely do better we've worked hard on this bill made compromises there are parts of it that i detest and parts which i embrace and that's the nature of compromise and cooperation and i thank all those who've crafted it to put it together but i want to tell you that what is its stake here is very basic and fundamental as to who we are as a nation outside this chamber outside this congressional debate you've heard the voices some of them are dark and ugly they are not the voices of america hopeful nation that understands that we can be a nation of laws and with diversity we can grow in this world in the twenty first century no these are voices of exclusion people who want to keep those people out people who want those people to go away that's not america that isn't what we're about as a nation that isn't what the state wishes us in the world what distinguishes us is we can stand up black white and brown from all across this world and make a nation we've done it for over two hundred years we can do it again and those who argue that this diversity will destroy us don't understand the core values of this country i beg my colleagues this morning even if you disagree with this bill don't in this debate give us a chance to continue this debate and bring this to a conclusion and a vote give us this procedural vote that's coming up so we can continue this debate if at the end of the day we step back and say we're surrendering to these negative voices across america the senate can't rise to the occasion with an important bill it won't speak well of the united states senate nor those of us and trusted with the responsibility to serve in this place let us say to people across america we're going to have strong borders we're going to enforce the law in the workplace we're going to have rules that say to those who are here illegally you can only stay if you meet the strictest requirements i think that's a reasonable standard a reasonable compromise in the greatest tradition of american sever maestas president asked to be notified when i have thirty seconds left mr president we are called today by the the founders of the republic are we really going to form a more perfect union it was in this chamber a number of years ago that we knocked down the great walls of discrimination on the basis of race that we knocked down the walls of discrimination on the basis of religion we knocked them down with regards to national origin we knocked them down with regards to genda we've knocked them down with regards to disability here in the senate we were part of the march for oh to any of that great march for progress that we had in this nation and the question is is it alive is it continuing is it ongoing those that vote i say it is ongoing it is we are continuing to get that march  progress year after year we've had the broken borders year after year we have the exploitation of workers year after year we let see the people that live in fear within our own borders of the united states for america is the opportunity to change it now is the time now is the time to secure our borders now is the time to deal with the national security interest now is the time to resume our commitment to the family barriers of people who debate that we've had over now a couple of years and it comes to a close in the next day or so in the senate we have an opportunity to move forward to move the debate on and to have an opportunity for the house of representatives to then add their measure of of influence upon what this bill should be about what we should not do is simply say the bill isn't good enough we're going to do nothing because for those who find criticism with a bill it is much easier to tear down than it is to build we have crafted a bill over months of discussions and negotiations that does a tremendous amount to end a legality to secure the border to ensure that we do have the mechanisms to enforce a a an employment verification system so we don't have any more illegal workers and we do a measure of justice by those who have been here who've worked and who've made this country their home for now in many instances more than two decades the fact of the matter is that for those who would simply say do nothing they have a measure of responsibility to what comes next what comes next is a continuation of the legal system that will just simply enforce the law where the current laws really aren't good enough to be enforced the current laws do not have the enforcement necessary to ensure that we do have workplace enforcement which at the end of the day is the most important measure that we can have a lot as been said about the cost in our society of illegal immigrants be and legalize the fact is that the congressional budget office who we trust on these issues has said this is a nonpartisan congressional budget office finds that the new federal revenue from taxes penalties and fees under the bipartisan immigration bill will more than offset the cost of setting up the new immigration system and the cost of any federal benefit temporary workers the visa holders and future legal immigrants on the bill would receive senator i thank you for yielding me some time and i just simply want to say it's been a real pleasure working with those of us who have committed so much of ourselves to ensuring that we do something about the problem not just please say what is imperfect about the solution find a solution to a difficult problem as well as president the senator from florida senator well let me let me touch on that issue because as an immigrant to america myself i understand deeply what it means to live the american dream i've had the opportunity to have come to this country as a fifteen year old child not speaking the language or understanding this culture but yet through the embrace that america gives those of us who've been fortunate enough to come to their shores and choose to make america our home that embraces made me an american and i know that many out there today fear that immigrants today don't want to assimilate the fact is and i've said this before is that immigrants come to america not to change this country but to be changed by this country that was my experience i think is the experience that has been repeated through the two hundred year history of this nation as immigrants have come to the shores as america has had the magic that it performs on those of us who come here to become americans and to then make a contribution as i hope i am making today by serving in the united states senate the fact is that this issue but i do believe that it will bind and hear a lot of country if we do something to deal with it because unfortunately to do nothing will continue this festering debate in our country that is so divisive and at times frankly so ugly i think our country is better than that i think our country has that within itself the resourcefulness and the strength of culture to ensure that we are not tainted or changed by those who come to this country with that in fact we change them to be the americans that we hope all of us are and can be so i thank the senator for the additional time it is something in which i have invested heart and soul because i believe but to be so right for our country this isn't just about the twelve million this is about what that will do to ensure that america continues the place that it has been for more now than two hundred years as a beacon of liberty as a shining city on a hill that ronald reagan spoke up we can continue that tradition into the future will only welcome more people into that tradition by allowing them to be legal citizens by allowing them to legalize their status while we make clear that the game is up and from now on immigration into america will only be legal and not illegal as it has been now for more than two decades compliments the senator from florida for his statements had we more time all of us to tell our own stories nine involves two immigrant parents father who came here at eighteen and nineteen eleven contributed to irate calls not to fear necessarily representative of all of arizona is saying he's learned some new words and i yield him three minutes senator from pennsylvania does not have three minutes so as thirty seconds without objection three minutes thank you mr president i can say really what i want to say in about ninety seconds the senate and pennsylvania made the point and it's a sad commentary in america today that many americans have lost faith in their government the only group that has poll know numbers less than the president these days is the united states congress americans don't believe that their government is representing them is acting on their behalf the polls show it on one of the most critical issues of our day we will not restart that confidence if we fail to act again the only way that we can restore that confidence is by acting skepticism is not a reason for inaction and for those who say well let's just enforce our laws i remind them that some of our laws are on in forcible my conservative friends are the first ones to point out that the one nine hundred eighty six law is not an effective law it is an in forcible and until we change it we're not going to be able to just inforce the laws and that's why mr president it is time for us to return to the rule of law in america and by returning to the rule of law we can restore that confidence that is so critical for the american people to have in their government offensively how much time is remaining senator now has nine minutes as president we have heard from the objectors what the american people play i'm not sure that they have staying going to represent the american people we heard the junior senator from south carolina speak this to his interpretation of what the american people playing but we heard a senior senator from south carolina standing firm support of this legislation senator representing south carolina as well as the other senator from south carolina we know as a matter of practice that the callers and the mailers are characteristically the nation years you hear a lot more from people who object than you do from people who are in favor we know  that the majority in america is the silent majority and from my own soundings what i hear on the train what i write back and forth to pennsylvania what i hear in the restaurants what i hear on the streets what i hear in the fitness club is first see try to five away to improve a very serious situation in immigration so that no one by those who object and those who call but we do not run america in a representative democracy and a republic by public opinion polls if we did a speech to the electorate of bristol on november third seventeen seventy four when he made this famous statement your responsibility your representative o not his industry only but his judgment and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion close quote now that is not to say that  about our duty owing our constituents our best judgment well what what is our best judgment and how how if we come to it we've been working on immigration for a long time and we saw  failures of the one nine hundred eighty six legislation but because the nine hundred eighty six legislation failed it doesn't mean that we can't correct the problem things are very different today than they were in one thousand nine hundred eighty six for one thing we now have a foolproof method of determining whether an individual is legal or illegal so now we can hold employers responsible not to hire illegal immigrants we can take away the magnet of work in this country for those who are not here legally  have lost sigh i think of the very fundamental purposes to what we are trying to accomplish through legislation to reform immigration we are trying to secure we are trying to secure our borders this bill goes a long way to securing the borders with fencing with automobile blocks with more border patrol the entire two thousand mile plus of the border will be more secure it can't be perfectly secure and that's why we have the employer verification which as i say is now fool proof that when we deal with the emigrants we're trying to deal with the twelve million undocumented immigrants and those who would like more i said earlier that if i had my choice i would agree with  more family unification i would agree with senator dodd that i would have more visas for parents but this legislation is crafted by compromise and that is the art of politics  compromise so it is the best bill that we can structure and come forward with but if we do not legislate now we won't legislate later this year when our calendar is crowded with iraq and appropriations bills and patent reform etc we're into two thousand and eight and an election year for president and the congress will be pushed over to two thousand and nine and things won't be better than  of l b worse than we have a very frequent practice as we all know for senators to vote in favor of cloture and then to vote against the bill that is an expression of policy judgment not to hold a piece of legislation to a sixty vote supermajority level we do not have an issue here of freedom of religion we do not have an issue here of freedom of speech we have a public policy question where in good conscience senators can say i am opposed to the legislation but i do not think it ought to be held a sixty vote supermajority if we do not invoke cloture of this bill is there a vote against cloture is a vote to kill the bill a senator may vote which we had on the dorgan amendment where senators did not vote their judgment on public policy but voted against their own judgment to kill the legislation we have a tally sheet those of us who work in the senate showing how the senators voted at all the baucus amendment yesterday we had the extraordinary situation of twenty three vote changes you can tell the votes change because there is a mark on one side that has crossed off a mark then appears on the other side i would suggest to my colleague back we have more cynical new bring president john f kennedy when he served in this body to exercise a little courage a profile in courage as opposed to what appears to be a profile in cynicism but the essence of it is you can i say my time is just about to expire how much time is left twenty seconds how long when he cycles i yield back the balance of my time to majority leader states no is immigration a problem only the big cities san antonio new york chicago l a no immigration is a problem all over america is present as people know i'm from searchlight nevada little town the town where i was born in the town where i live i live mr president sixty miles southeast of las vegas and southern tip of the state is immigration something people talk about in searchlight of course it is take yesterday i got back to my office that was call from tommy i'm not going to give his last name for fear somebody will look up look up look i'm not tommy call me but i do have a last name and he said i have a friend here who's from mexico been here quite a long time what is this immigration going to do is immigration bill you're working i'm going to do for him should i be in favor of it yet tommy should be because tommy will no longer have to be afraid of being arrested deported this bill will allow him to come out of the shadow the same day mr president yesterday i got my mail from searchlight i have a limited tape sends me my mail that comes addressed to me and search like a letter was addressed to me and said among other things you probably should go into witness pac protection programs because of york on this immigrati issue that's from searchlight nevada mr president this doesn't take into consideration the letters and the calls of my offices in reno on las vegas and here in washington get filled with hate have course turned the letter over the capitol police i got from searchlight mr prong mr president this scituate was situation is a problem not only in the border states in big cities it's a problem all over america we are said to be the greatest deliberative body in the world should we do something positive regarding an issue that affects everybody in america immigration some say it's the country's biggest problem of all that may be debatable it is a significant problem in the top two or three of problems facing us and the problem is not going to go away is it right that we wait until there's a new president talk radio has had a field day these generators of simplicity suppose i want everyone to know and i want the record spread i do not believe that anyone who is a united states senator that votes against this motion to proceed is filled with prejudice with hatred venom as we get in our phone calls and i mean i don't believe that but i do believe mr president that we have an issue before us we must resolve my family's been in the rich by emigration came to america from russia when he was a little boy when he came here is name was israel goldfarb is soon the name earl gould my wife when i met her name was lander gould i had the opportunity to talk to my while the law many times every one of his siblings that came to america had a different name they all changed their name in this great melting pot now mr president my father in law died as a young man he's fifty two years old from leukemia i think of him often my wife is an only child i think of him often for the kindness that he projected to me this ring i wear gave to me on his death been his watch that i wear he gave to me he was sick and knew he was going to lyon is here and my mother in law took a trip to the middle east and brought me back this watch they didn't have money to buy watches for me but they bought a watch for me i still wear the watch this great melting pot we have called america of which i am part of my five children mr president are eligible for israeli citizenship because with the jewish tradition lineage is with the mother not the father my children probably know this my family has been enriched as a result of immigration my grandmother i knew my grandmother talked to a lot of times as a boy listen to her stories talk to her i can still hear her voice though we had a grand how she talked she was born katherine's cross and one came over here's a young man was a girl married my grandfather had eight children to examples of what immigration is all about to examples is what it's done to harry re president my skin is real white what is immigration all about a number of years ago one of america's great journalist james fallows wrote a book called more like us the thesis in this book was everyone was saying we should be more like japan japan was it did zenith this heightened power and we were in the doldrums economically and everyone said we should be more like japan james fallows wrote this book more like us and he said no we should be more like us like america and the number one issue that he talked about being different than japan that was our strength is immigration i testify that that's true but that's the strength of this great country and today in america we have a problem with immigration we have porous borders that need to be fixed we are mr president the united states senators i repeat members of the greatest deliberative body in the history of the world with the honor of our office comes enormous responsibility and we must resist the ever present temptation to do what is expedient at the expense of what is right when short term gain divergence from long term good we must choose the good this is our challenge today i ask every one of my colleagues democrats and republicans not shrink from this to support us moving forward on this legislation for the good of our country the greatness of our country there are a hundred of us if each one of us were given a few days to draft an immigration bill we could probably do a better job than what was because been done here in our own mind but some of the greatest legislative minds in this body have worked long and hard to come up with this bill perfect no good yes i would hope mr president that we can do the right thing and move this legislation forward i'm not here to tell you this legislation is the greatest thing that ever came along but it is something that is badly needed we need to continue this process as president four point four billion dollars for border security is it going to help all it will help a lot three hundred seventy miles of fencing which we authorized of course done nothing about three hundred miles of vehicle barriers twenty thousand new border patrol agents more than one hundred ground based ra as i would also say to my friend from alabama i would never rudely interrupt him whenever he's giving a speech i have never done that and i wish he hadn't done that but i will continue mr president thirty one thousand thirty one thousand five hundred new detention beds in las vegas when someone is picked up on an immigration violation there's no place to put them that's what this legislation does actually money not authorizing money but actual money that's important creates a mandatory employer verification system so important and is a pathway to legalization for twelve million people just like my friend tommy who searchlight from searchlight called me what do they do they work they pay taxes they learn english they stay out of trouble they pay fines and penalties that's important ag jobs the dream act so mr president this legislation is important it's come about as a result of a lot of hard work for example we've had i know the vote for everyone here today is a difficult vote for some of us it may be the most difficult vote of our careers there's no perfect answer to this problem of immigration but there are two pass one path is diversion negativity while the other embraces hope one path embraces exclusion the other embraces the american dream one path embraces the status quo the other pragmatism democrats and republicans alike let's keep hope alive let's keep the american dream alive let's pragmatism pragmatism alive and well here in the senate i ask you to join in the path of hope collins mr conrad mr johnson mr kennedy mr schumer mr sessions mr white house mr coleman no mr lieberman  mr cole  any senators wishing to cast their votes on this vote the yeas are forty six the nays are fifty three three fifths of the senators duly chose an unsworn not having voted in the affirmative the motion is not agreed to this president majority leader is recognized as president the vote has been cast as i told a number of my republican friends even though the vote is really disheartening to me and many many ways i think i think as a result of this legislative work that we've done in the last several months on this legislation that there's been friendships developed that weren't there before trust that didn't exist before so i say to my friends democrats republicans that this is this is a legislative issue you'll come back it's only a question of when we're only six months into this congress we have so much to do and hopefully this a lesson we've all learned will be one where we now recognize we have to work more closely together and i hope we can do that so i say to all of you thank you very much for your patience and phone calls that i have made  e a while i twisted arms but not very often and i so appreciate my life and i think i speak for all of us being able to be part of this great senate that we were able to participate in decision like that we go into a period of mourning business centers loud speaker and for up to ten minutes each with senator robert c byrd be recognized when you want to speak now senator robert byrd be wrapping recognized speak for double what everyone else is allowed to speak twenty minutes without objection so ordered senators please take your conversation staff please take your conversations out of the hall let there be order in the senate president pro tempore is recognize for twenty minutes i thank the chair mr president i feel compelled older you get that shocking discovery that i am growing older i find it no surprise but then i have had some time to become accustomed to the increasing distance between the year  when you consider the alternative a recent associated press story ran in west virginia's charleston daily mail the headline read dramatic change in signatures shows today just catch your gap was senator byrd the newspaper offered as proof the signatures on my senate financial disclosure other people in the united states who suffer from similar tremors it is annoying it is the hard evidence that i am at death's door nor should it come as a surprise that i use canes to help me get around or that i'm not always as fast as i once was i'm not aware of any requirement for physical longer senators and i am no longer one of the younger senators but somewhere in print take conversations out of the hall all conversations please be taken out of the hall the senator from west virginia surely excusable even old people can be allowed a sick day or two now and then can't they that is really the crux of the matter here in this internet savvy media infused culture we have forgotten that people do get older even dare i say it oh oh  good thing an experience to look forward to a state where the of respect if i were fifty years old and used canes due to some injury or had a disease related tremor the news stories would be about my carry on despite my adversities but my own adversity is age age in real live lucky ones among us do get  get to be aged under the ninety's or even older a distinction i like to think is naturally paired with the wisdom born of experience we do get fired hair yes and we do get rickles and then move more slowly wary about falling down because we don't bounce up the way we used to our brains are still sharp or their tongues are slow or michelangelo is still working on frescoes and sculpture when he died at the age of ninety six is no barrier to accomplishment when the spirit and the mind i willing the creative juices continue to flow i like to think that i still have a few things left on my to do this i also like to think to some day all rapidly aging society will get over its failure and its denial of aging had better get over it quickly because demographics tell us that our seniors population is right really growing my colleagues still showed deference to me as the news article reported i hope it is due to my experience my position as chairman of the appropriations committee and my ability as a senator if they're patient with me as i turned a page i hope that that is an example of the golden rule they share patients with my the spring chickens you better believe it is not supposed to be the senate was designed to give age and experience a chance to twenties all of them served in world war two the senate will truly lose a great generation when they decide if ever if ever to my younger colleagues on the appropriations committee appreciate the opportunity to play a larger role as appropriations bills move through the senate as a recent article reported as i've gotten older i've learned to have great test and great respect for my colleagues many of whom i've worked with for abraham lincoln once rightly observed that in the end is not the years of your life that count it's the life in your years i still look out for west virginia i still exist zealously guard the welfare of this nation and of the constitution and i still work every day to move the business of this nation forward in this reckless adventure in iraq and to protect to preserve and to defend the constitution of the united gives out and drop i don't expect that to be anytime soon i believe that all ages and all occupations should be part of a truly representative body else who believe th society works then when the energy and idealism of youth youth youth pairs with the experience and wisdom  america is the land of opportunity i don't think there are some thirty six million citizens over the age of sixty five are disqualified from participating in the life of the senior senator from alaska is recognized i thank the chair this president today i pay tribute to brigadier general can taylor who was held will be buried at arlington national cemetery later this afternoon from his service as a pilot during world war two to his tenure as command her of the alaska air national guard general taylor was always a hero in every sense of that word and to all of us who knew and loved him as a young boy in oklahoma can set his sights on becoming a pilot after completing high school and two years of college can fulfill his dream by joining the army  pursuit squadron and it was there during one of the darkest days in our nation's history that cannes bravery shined brightest early in the morning on december seventh nineteen forty one after a long night of poker dancing and a little drinking at the officers club can go up to the sign sound of low flying japanese aircraft fighters and bombers on course to attack the navy's pe both pilots heard they pulled their eveningwear back on and sped off to cannes new buick towards how the out field down at dodging japanese strafing runs and driving at speeds in the an excess of one hundred gauging over three hundred on challenge japanese aircraft once airborne cannon george or me they came under fire can they to describe the ensuing combat as shooting fish in a rain barrel a definite understatement as the japanese shot back at their pursuers at least one of the rounds hit cans cockpit embedded shrapnel in his arm and lay determined to stay in the air as long as possible can a charge attack a group of bombers until they ran out of ammunition the but when another tactic of force air for air force personnel that is to scatter cannon george again took the chance to get back into the fight with a fresh supply of fifty caliber caliber ammunition can position himself on the runway to take off just as a group of dive bombers through overhead he described a second take off they are many times this way and i quote i took off right towards them which gave me the ability to shoot at them before i even left the ground i got behind one of them started shooting again the only thing i didn't know at that time was i got in the middle of the line rather at the end there was somebody on my tail they put a bullet right behind my head through the canopy and into the trim tab george welsh had shot down at least eight japanese fighters many believe their decision to take off the air prevented the fuller saw and how i was saving the field from sheer destruction by the end of the day the two the tennis had become the first heroes service as a nation was far from finished he went on to fight it was a kind of now where is credit strong another japanese plane after a broken leg ended a combat career can return stateside and serve for more than twenty seven years conant for our stay under cancer action the reinvigorated air guard units provided road asks with access to health care medivac disasters or even services as a set of lascaux is my privilege to work with can on many occasions during this  my wife catherine spot or build better scenery as a close friend of cannes and especially partner bill and i often spent long summer days fishing at cannes and talking about world war two to this day cannes family has strong ties to our state can sun can jr proud of his father's footsteps became the command of the air national guard they remain the only father and son team in our nation's history to achieve such an honor also can senior cance seniors grandson bravery during the battle to america into world war two and for those who remember he was one of the to the took the planes off and the movie entitled pearl harbor that gives me great pride to have known this man and on senator from missouri is recognized for ten minutes thank you mr president first let me pay homage to the senior senator from west virginia who and a very and in a typically eloquent  way spoke to the senate about his service his long service to his state and let me tell the people of west virginia they don't need to worry they have a very strong senator in this body and i think that any any comments about his age are misplaced to because his passion and his intellectual heft and his knowledge of history and the constitution far outweigh any considerations that one would have thought his age i rise as a president today to talk about something great congress did thirty years ago they passed the inspector general act and that act has provided a layer of accountability in our government that is very very important unfortunately there are still times that the inspector generals in our government are not given the respect and deference they deserve and that's why today i'm introducing the improving government accountability act if you think about the inspector general what they really our they are our first line of defense on behalf of taxpayers and against government waste and inefficiency they're the first line of defense because they're inside these federal agencies and let's be honest inspector generals inside of federal agencies are facing mountains of waste and inefficiency and if they are to do their job the way congress intended them to do their job they must be independent and their work must be immediately accessible to the public we have had some troubling incidents over the last several years as relates to the independence the qualifications and frankly the integrity of our inspector general that's why this legislation is necessary that's why this legislation is so important the legislation will discover all things first all inspector generals will be appointed for terms of seven years that will make sure that they cannot arbitrarily be removed from their position by a department head that is getting nervous about the information that they are providing to the public in terms of accountability second congress must be notified of the removal of any inspector general and very importantly the reasons for the removal before they can be removed from office third all inspector generals will have their own legal counsel to avoid using the agency counsel this is very important because if they're going to have independent they must have independent legal advice about their ability to do their job force no inspector general can accept a bonus the bonuses are given by the head of the agency that is an inherent conflict if you know that you please the head of your age unsee and you get more money then look at the short cuts are you going to take what are you going to be willing to gloss over in order not to embarrass the head of that agency with information you've discovered about waste and inefficiency fit in the event of a vacancy the council for integrity and efficiency will recommend to the appointing authority three possible replacements they will not have the ability to dictate the replacement for the i g but it will provide the appointing authority with three qualified people to take over the important function of inspector general net all i g web sites all inspector general web sites must be directly accessible from the home page of the agency i asked my staff to take a tour through government agency websites and see how easy it was to find out what the i g s have been up to in those agencies it was remarkably difficult many instances you couldn't even find the inspector general's information on the home page of that agency the public ought to be able to go on the page of any federal agency and immediately click on the last inspector general report what that inspector general found and frankly ought to be able to ask the questions what has been done about it there will be a a way for the public to anonymously send allegations of waste fraud and abuse directly to the i g offices our office found that only three of the twenty seven sample federal agencies have an obvious direct link from their home page to the i g is websites three out of twenty seven clearly were not focused on making this information available to the public and frankly all the auditors in the world all the inspector generals in the world do no good if the public can't learn the information because if the public doesn't know about it it really isn't going to do have a cleansing effect that it should have only six the twenty seven sample by g s have an obvious directly on their home page to report waste fraud and abuse and that's very important as i indicated i want to give credit to represented jim cooper of tennessee who has been working on this legislation in the house i'm i'm excited to join him in this effort i want to mention that senator collins and senator lieberman have some of these provisions in their accountability in government contracting act which i'm also proud to be a co sponsor of the there are  specific examples that have occurred recently i won't go into them other than to say we had one commerce i g who refused to resign after an investigation showed that he had committed malfeasance in office we have another inspector general who's been accused of trying to block the serving of a search warrant at nasa i think about that trying to block the serving of a search warrant that have been issued by a court of law we have another i cheat that was not  reappointed by president bush and he said publicly it was because at the department of homeland security he was seen as a traitor and he was intimidated about not issuing a report that might reflect badly on the agency bottom line we should protect inspector general there precious they're important to what we do we can talk all we want to about oversight but if we can't get the information from inside these agencies frankly we're not going to be effective in congress with any kind of oversight the information that the inspector general provided is a crucial to congress and crucial to the public and this law will make sure that they are qualified that they are protected that they are independent and the public knows what they're up to and i urge my colleagues to get excited about this legislation and maybe uncharacteristically move it quickly to the united states senate mr president before i close my remarks today i  know time since i've been here that i have been surprised and shocked and i gotta tell you this week was one of them when i saw the leader of my party that's why it's called senate bill one and keep in mind what the vote was it was ninety six to two now i gotta tell you there's not to be very many times that we do anything ninety six to two it was ninety six to two and that was way back months ago now all this time we've been waiting to send this bill to conference so we can move ahead and make it law this is ethics reform this is the essence of what we should be about we're here to do the people's business not big moneys of business we're here to protect average people in these united states not the lobbyist in the hallway ethics reform should be at the top of our list and what happens when our leader asked this bill to go to conference the republican leader objected what in the world is going on that we would pass a bill ninety six to two and then the republican leader would say i object to it going to conference the american people have been very engaged on the immigration issue for weeks that bill has come to its conclusion urge every american out there to use those same fingers and those same phones to use those same e mail and those same letters to immediately then calling their senator and say to them why in the world would you be blocking ethics forming the united states senate there is no good excuse except politics and if we can't get beyond politics to reform ethics then i think the people have a right to give us an approval rating in the cellar and so i call on the republican leader i call on our republican colleagues stop playing games with ethics reform let's move forward let's make this happen on behalf of the people we came here to represent if we can't do this we ought to put our tail between our legs be ashamed and go home thank you mr president and i ask for and so the senate goes into a quorum call in a period of morning business here after about twenty minutes after the procedural vote on immigration they failed to get the sixty votes necessary to limit debate on the bill and move forward the vote forty six knows and fifty three forty six eyes and fifty three nays and by the way that roll call vote is available on our web site cspan dot org we do expect one of the primary backers of that bill senator kennedy to be on the floor shortly to talk about that and we're likely to get some reaction from president bush as well who today is in rhode island speaking to the naval war college there and we've had reaction as well from republican senators over in the senate gallery of able to see that later  our program scheduled here on the c span networks some of the earliest reporting on that from the associated press is charles babington writing that the senate drove a stake thursday through president bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants likely postponing major action on immigration until after the two thousand and eight elections the a p story continues the bill supporters fell fourteen votes short of the sixty needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation which critics assa as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants again the roll call vote available on our website forty six eyes fifty three nays for limited debate and moving forward with that legislation a period of mourning business here we expect to hear from senator kennedy shortly if you're just tuning in the senate earlier taking a key procedural vote a cloture vote to limit debate and move toward final passage on immigration they failed to do that failing to get the sixty votes necessary for cloture to limit debate the vote was forty six forty six in favor of that fifty three against and senator harry reid said shortly after he will pull the bill from consideration continuing with some of the reporting on the on the vote from the associated press they write that a similar effort collapsed in congress last year and the house has not bothered with an immigration bill this year awaiting senate action the vote was a stinging setback for bush who advocated who advocated as an imperfect but necessary fix of the current immigration practices i thank the chair and i thank the chair for his inside in the legislation that we just passed i guess presiding officer when you just completed a tough campaign you talk to voters you learned some things  and hopefully our senate has learned some things that the heart of the american people is good that they are not mean spirited but they are concerned about a lawful system of immigration i was on  alabama based radio show rick and bob and they are fanning out around the conjuring and i do an excellent job and a very fair about immigration and one told me just the other morning he said senator let me tell you my philosophy my philosophy is if you've got a broken pipe in your attic and there's water on your floor you don't go spend all your time oppin up the floor you fix pipe so i guess i would say the failure of the legislation today despite the good efforts of my esteem colleagues who met together and wrote this bill and i didn't want anybody to change  eight point seven million people here illegally and so i think as senators after hearing that and having it founded and in seeing that this is not an exaggeration but really an objective report by the congressional budget office and then we heard a promise is it the only way to get a lawful system in america is a vote for this bill they weren't persuaded especially because the american people saw through it and rightly the american people have grown to be cynical about the words of congress on immigration it going to be cynical about this for forty years presidents and congress promise we're going to make a lawful system and we're going to do this don't worry about it for that bill last year and is it was going do this and do that double border patrol and but not the never happened we arrested a million people trying to interact country illegally last year a million people why do we have that many people arrested one reason reason is because the border is known worldwide to be in secure and that you have a very good chance of being able to enter the country illegally if you can change that and we create a clear message around the world that our border is secure and if you come you are going to be apprehended and you will be prosecuted if you come across the border illegally we could to me and asking me reason about president bush and his legacy i gotta tell ya like president bush he is a friend of mine are believe his heart is good i believe he wanted to do something good about immigration and i i have the highest regard for him what i would ask president bush to do with regard to his legacy on immigration would be a kerio net a much more effective and aggressive right then he has a movement toward unfortunately he has done things in the last several years to prove immigration enforcement more than the previous four five presidents but it's not been enough so i would suggest to the president make it your legacy to leave a secure border for america and force our current laws utilize every affective and appropriate to we now have which would make a huge difference i asked the congress for what additional two you need and less began to create a lawful system at the border and as the american people see that and gain confidence in us as a as a government then we begin to talk some of the more difficult problems what do we do about twelve million people that are here illegally one of the things that very much concern to me in this bill and it showed the man's that that seemed to be driving the legislation and it was and indication that there was no real commitment to enforcement was the moving that date the people who would be allowed to go and i passed the legality and even in citizenship even if you came into our country last year now last year's bill which was very grizzly criticized said that you would take advantage of the amnesty or the legalization process if you came into america after january first two thousand four this bill said you could take advantage of the amsi never be asked to you would be asked to leave and you could become american citizen if you broke in there our country asked before january first two thousand seven this year so after the president has called out the national guard after we've said the border is closed and it really hasn't been closed we made some improvement but it hadn't at all closed illegality at the border but if you could get past the national guard last the sembler thirty first get into this country this bill would have put you on the citizenship pass but that's not what our colleagues told us w supported the legislation they said that it was going to help those people who have deep roots in america who have children here and ones that we can ask to leave and i'm sympathetic to that and i'm prepared to work on something like that but that the a that  e single person who broke into the border a last the symbol or against past the national guard is being given all the benefits of citizenship all the benefits we give to somebody who waits in line to come legally makes no sense to me and in the case the man said we have here the man said is can fees is all i'm saying it has not the president the executive branch and the congress have not yet gotten the message and the message is we don't won't talk we don't want promises we want you to get busy and create a lawful system of immigration and then we can begin to talk about how to deal with people who are here illegally and what our future flow of immigration would be and they had some good ideas in the bill about how to improve the future process which we  select for admission immigrants who desire to come we know we can accept everybody eleven million people applied in a surprise for the fifty thousand lottery slots we had in the year two thousand it is in the case that the number of people who would like to come here a vastly exceeds our ability to admit them all so we must select some way those who come and i believe th touch they bit in this bill that tended toward a canadian type system was a great first step and should give us a model for a future flow so t projected to my friend the president united states to our respect so much i would say last make it a legacy of this congress and this president to do everything possible beginning today to have a secure border and our country i believe it would be widely approved by the american people i believe would be good for our country it would be a true contribution to american society and put us on the road to a set adopting new and better policies for immigration it's great to see my colleague senator hutchison from texas i thank her for her insight and commitment to creating a good system being from texas having lived with this issue for years and years she's sympathetic and compassionate to those who want to become come to america but she also understands the need to create a system of laws and this is a hard time this has been a very difficult issue and there's no question that so many people put hours and hours and to try to produce a piece of legislation that could get a majority or sixty votes to proceed and i think that it is important for us to take a moment and say yes it was a disappointment but we must go forward this should not be the end of efforts to deal with one of the most important if not the most important domestic problem in our country today and that is we are a sovereign nation that must have secure borders we know that there are terrorists that are trying to enter our country to harm americans we would be naive to look the other way we know that there are drug cartels that are trying to enter our country with illegal drugs we know that there are human traffickers who are avoiding the border and bringing people into our country illegally and robbing these people of huge amounts of extorted money and we know we must stop that we also know that there is a need in this country for work and jobs that are not being filled by americans and we must provide a legal way for people to fill those jobs and we must not equate the people who have come here for jobs to feed their families because they have little hope for the country of origin or being able to do that with terrorists and drug dealers they are two separate times of problems and separate kinds of people we need to provide an avenue for those who are trying to do better for themselves and their families to work in our country and to be in our country and within the laws that we have to go into the permanent residency and citizenship mr president we do have a crisis and it is our responsibility to me that just because this effort failed does not mean we didn't make progress i think we did make progress it was not enough to get the majority even of this senate to agree that this not only took care of the problems of today but would provide a standard for tomorrow and ten years from now so that everyone would know what the laws for and that the laws would be enforced so we have made progress and when i look at so many of our colleagues who worked so hard on this along with members of the president's cabinet and the president himself and i know how deeply disappointed they are that this was not successful nevertheless i believe we were in a much better place  year than we were last year and i believe if we start fresh that we can come up with a better approach to this problem so what would a better approach  forest i think it is clear that the american people do not believe that there is a commitment to border security i believe there is much more progress in this area th is known the apprehensions of illegal immigrants is down that doesn't necessarily mean that the number coming across is down because we know that the drug traffickers and the human traffickers find new ways to get people illegally but we do know that the apprehensions are down and that avenues that have been used in the past are being close we know that the catch and release program is virtually shut down it used to be that an alien coming into our country illegally that was not from mexico but was from further down and central or south america would not be able to be apprehended and deported because there were no tention facilities that could hold them so they were caught and released today that program has been virtually shut off and amazingly the border patrol agents that i talked to on the ground in south texas tell me that the number of people even trying to cross has completely dried up because the word went out that if you were and other than mexican trying to come in illegally to our country that you would be detained you would not be released as has been the case for several years before so we have made progress is it enough loosely not but we must have a renewed commitment to the border security and i think it is clear that the american people believe that we must show that there is that commitment as a prerequisite to addressing the other problems i would suggest mr president today that we might look at a fresh approach that has the commitment that was made by the president two weeks ago to border security the money commitment or the barriers and the commitment to following through on those border security measures that would be one step that we could take that i think would have universal agreement there is no one that has called me about this bill that has not said absolutely first requirement border security the second thing i think we should do as we are continuing this commitment to border security is a g worker program a guest worker program going forward that is a workable way for people to come into this country and have the ability to work out in the open legally to be able to go back and forth from their home country without being afraid they could not get back in a tamper proof identification for employers to easily be able to see that a person is legally in this country and i met with my good friend massive via ryall yesterday and he said where is the help  is who may not even be computerized and i said i know that the department of homeland security when the regulations would be made will have a provision for a business that has one employer employee or two to be able to have a clear easy way to verify with this tamper proof id there would be a picture on it biometric indication so i think we need to work on the the guest worker program immediately along with the border security program so that the economy of this country and the people who are seeking to work in our country to provide for their families wherever they may live would be able to be matched i think we should do those two things first that would be my suggestion of a new approach the problem that we ran into with this bill and the bill that we tried to pass last year was that tough issue of what you do with the six there has not been that workable guest worker program that would accommodate the economic needs of our country and the economic needs of workers who cannot find jobs in their own home countries dealing with that was the hang up on this bill make no mistake about it it was the perception that people would be a able to come here stay in our country illegally never have to go home in order to become legally processed in our country the american people rose up and said no my amendment that tried to fix that came very close fifty three to forty five i think that is a concept that we should revisit but not until we have addressed border security and made a commitment and significant improvements and a guest worker program a stablished for people coming in legally which in my opinion would probably also cause some of the people who are here illegally to see a clear path a workable path dependable path to come into our country and begin to work legally if we act now to set up that guest worker program and then start the long and arduous process of trying to handle responsibly the people who are here illegally some of whom have homes have american born children and which we must realistically address but maybe not all at once that would be my suggestion for those who are willing to say mr president let me just end by saying that i do believe that we need to take some time we need to look at the consequences of doing nothing which i do not think people focus on enough and try to have a fresh approach perhaps a more graduated approach that would secure our borders would have a guest worker program going forward and then follow up with the dealing with the illegals who are in our country now perhaps there would even be a safe harbor no commitments about what would happen but not to cause people to lose jobs that are not being filled perhaps there could be something along that line as we decide how to deal with those people who are here i do believe that there will be more acceptance of a responsible legalization process of people who are here illegally if the american people see border security and a guest worker program that puts the people in the front of the line who have come legally into our country to work mr president it is so important that we not give up it is so important that we not turn another blind eye to the problem facing this country of more and more illegal aliens coming in we must secure our border from terrorists and drug dealers and human traffickers but it is not the same as people who are coming to our country or economic help for themselves and their families and we must provide a way to attract those people two jobs that are not being filled by americans so yes to this disappointing today i applaud the feeble who have worked so hard and i want to say that they did make progress and to this is something from which we can all learn and do better as we move forward but mostly mr president we cannot shirk this responsibility of our united states senate and our united states congress working with the president to do the right thing for our country thank you mr president and i am before senator massachusetts mr president it is now clear that we are not going to complete our work on immigration reform that is enormously disappointing for congress and for the country but we'll be back and we will prevail the american people sent us here to act on our most urgent problems and they will not accept inaction i've seen this happen time and time again america always finds a way to solve its problems expanded from cheers and move closer to its ideals it's not always easy but it is the american way i learned this first as a child of my grandfather's need he taught me that in america progress is always possible his generation moved past the cruel signs in the windows in boston saying irish need not apply and elected that son of an irish immigrant as mayor of the city boston i learned that lesson first hand when i came to the senate in one nine hundred sixty two our nation was finally recognizing that the work of civil rights had not ended with the emancipation proclamation nor with this of ring court's decision hundred sixty five but we did not give up and we ultimately prevailed the same was true in our battles for fair housing for an end to discrimination against persons with disabilities and immense issues like these a minority in the senate was often able to create stalemate and a delay for time but they had never been able to stop the march for progress throughout all of those battles we faced critics who loudly warned that we were changing america forever in the end they were right our history of civil rights legislation did change america forever it made america stronger bera and a better nation immigration is another issue like that we know the high price of continuing inaction raids another enforcement actions will escalate terrorizing our communities and businesses the twelve million undocumented immigrants will soon be millions more sweatshops will grow and undermine american workers and wages state and local governments will take matters in their own hands and pass a maze of conflicting laws that hurt our country we will have the kind of open border that is unacceptable in our post nine eleven world immigration reform is an opportunity to be true to our ideals as a nation our declaration of independence announces that all of us are created equal today we failed to live up to that declaration for millions  women who live work and worship aside us but our ideals are too strong to be held back for long martin luther king had a dream that children would be judged solely by the content of their character today we failed to make that dream come true for the children of immigrants but that dream will never die it has the power to overcome the most bitter opposition and i believe that we will soon succeed where we fail today and that we will enact the kind of comprehensive reform that our ideals and national security demand soon word will echo across the country about the consequences of today's vote the american people will know that a minority of the senate blocked a record investment in border security h l mencken said for every complex problem there a simple easy answer and it's wrong a minority in the senate have employed a simple label against this bill and the city and they were wrong to a minority in the senate rejected a stronger economy that's fair and to our taxpayers and our workers a minority of the senate rejected america's own extraordinary immigrant history and ignored our nation's most urgent needs but where in the struggle for the long haul today's defeat will not stand as we continue the battle we all have ample inspiration in the lives of the immigrants all around us from jamestown to the pilgrims to the irish in today's workers people have come to this country in search of opportunity they have sought nothing more than a chance to work hard and bring a better life to themselves and their families and they come to our country with their hearts and minds full of hope we will endure today's loss begin a new to build the kind of tough fair and practical reform that is worthy of our shared history as immigrants and as americans immigration reforms are always controversial a congress was created to muster political will to answer such challenges today we didn't but tomorrow we will yield the floor i suggest the odds of a court clerk recall are all senator kennedy of masses of massachusetts speaking on the floor one of the backers of the immigration bill one of the fifty one of the forty six who voted in favor of cloture and moving forward with the bill they failed to get the sixty votes necessary to limit debate and the bill has been pulled on the floor there's a lot of reaction to today's vote today's vote we're covering news conferences with republican leaders democratic leaders also cabinet secretaries gutierrez and chertoff and we also expect comments from president bush who is in rhode island today speaking at the naval war college and some early reporting coming coming out as well on the defeat of the immigration legislation that procedural vote again the vote was forty six in favor of cloture fifty three against only one not voting senator tim johnson of south dakota you can take a look at that roll call vote on our web site just go to c span dot org and look at featured links congressional quarterly's michael sandler writing this morning that comprehensive legislation president bush's immigration legislation president bush's top domestic priority this year suffered a devastating blow in the senate thursday that may prove to be the death knell for the bill in the one hundred tenth congress on a forty six to fifty three vote the senate failed to invoke cloture and limit debate on the bill it was the second time this month that backers of the legislation proved unable to muster the sixty votes needed to surmount opposition to the legislation also we have some reporting from the associated press their lead line is the senate drove a stake thursday through president bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants likely postponing major action on immigration until after the two thousand and eight elections the senate in a quorum call members coming to the floor and speaking on any topic we've heard a couple of reactions to the vote from senator kennedy from senator sessions senator hutchison of texas and they are also likely to move on to defense programs the defense programs bill later today as the senate and house prepare for the fourth of july recess by the way the house today is working on the seventh of twelfth of twelve annual spending bills that working on the financial service this bill with the number of amendments being debated throughout the day and you can follow senate house coverage rather on c span  one vote so far in the u s senate today they failed to move forward with immigration legislation the cloture vote failing to get the sixty votes necessary the vote there was forty six in favor of cloture fifty three against two you can find out how your senators voted by going to our web site cspan dot org look at featured links and you'll see the roll call vote and stories are starting to come in about today's vote this is from the hill at the hill dot com they write a comprehensive immigration reform bill that has dodged attacks from the left and right for weeks survive poison pill amendments and was once pulled from the senate schedule failed its most important test there's a passage of the legislation now appears unlikely the article continues that the bipartisan coalition that had shepherded the measure through so many obstacles failed to get the sixty votes necessary to end debate final vote forty six to fifty three and again we are getting reaction from senators on both sides democratic leadership  republican senators also reaction from cabinet members like secretaries gutierrez and chertoff we're taping those events and we'll show them to you later in our program schedule we also understand president bush will have a statement about the about the immigration legislation sometime today he's in rhode allan speaking at the naval war college we'll show you those comments as well in our program schedule later on senator and texas president ask unanimous consent that quorum call be rescinded without objection observations on the important vote that we had earlier today on the immigration bill you know i know many people are puzzled when they watch us debate big and important issues like this and what usually happens is that our views are reduced to a bumper sticker and particularly on complex topics like immigration a bumper sticker doesn't tell the whole story so i wanted to just to offer a few thoughts on the the way forward on this important issue i have not found an issue in my short time in the united states senate now just a about four and a half years which has been more closely followed and in which there has been more passion then the subject that we have been debating this week in which we voted on this morning now sometimes we all know that  passion can produce more heat than light but what we need is some light and some clear thinking and some of better solutions to our broken borders and our broken immigration system than we have had so far now i don't say that with the intent to criticize the hard work that people have put into this effort i'm proud of the fact that since i've been in the senate that i have tried to constructively contribute to a solution to this problem as a member of the senate judiciary committee and is a former chairman of the immigration and border security subcommittee of the judiciary committee now is the ranking member i've tried my best to contribute to a solution but i think the one message that i would take away from what we saw happen earlier today is that the american people my constituents in texas are profoundly skeptical of big big government solutions with a lot of moving parts of a stone big grandiose promises when our history has been one of not delivering consistent with what we promised and let me just mention what i mean by that one thousand nine hundred eighty six we had a big immigration bill supposedly one to fix all the problems president ronald reagan signed that i remember ed meese that his attorney general wrote a piece in the i think it was the new york times explaining what was going through president reagan's mind as he signed that amnesty for three million people ed meese explained that president reagan was told in eighty six if you do this a just one time that will be the end of it you'll never have to do another one as long as we have enforcement of our laws that go hand in hand with that brand of amnesty for three million people a part of the skepticism that i think the american people and certainly my constituents in texas have had about this bill is that they saw coupled together with a path to legalization and ultimately american citizenship for roughly twelve million people they saw couple with that a promise that we really mean at this time we really are going to get serious about border security we're really going to get serious about eliminating the document fraud and identity theft that make our current employment verification system virtually unworkable and they saw a repetition of one thousand nine hundred six all over again now there were components of this bill that i thought were actually pretty good that represent an improvement over the status quo but i think some of the debate just got a little bit hard to hard to believe when people said the only way you're going to get border security is if you agree to a path to citizenship for twelve million people and mr president the american people are pretty smart they can see through that and they know that there's no obvious linkage between border security and a path to citizenship for twelve million people they know that if we really were serious about border security we would have already done it and so i think at least the lesson that i have learned from this vote this morning is not that we can give up because the problem is not going to go away  now it may get caught up in presidential election politics and you know maybe part of what we need to do is to continue this a grand national conversation about how do we solve this problem because i don't believe there is any problem that's too big for the american people to solve i mean certainly they're not waiting for some pronoun spoke from mount olympus here in washington d c about you know here's the answer and you just have to swallow it we work for the american people we work for the constituents who sent us here and the power we get to act on their behalf comes from the bottom of it and come from the top down and i think part of the rejection that we saw of this particular bill was the sense that that washington was trying to dictate a solution that the american people had a lot of questions and a lot of reservations about so i think we need to kind of go back to basics we need to go back and listen to our constituents we need to talk to him and explain to what the problem is we need to have a a transparent process that's an interactive process where we can listen to them and we can tell them what we've learned about this issue  about some of the problems and and try to come up with a solution and i think one of the one of the lessons maybe that big multi faceted complex  programs like this bill offered particularly on something where the federal government doesn't have a whole lot of credibility when it comes to actually enforcing the law or securing the border that the american people are just not going to accept it and i think that was reflected in the vote we had today that is not the same thing as saying give up because we can't give up this problem is not going away and as somebody who represents a border state with about sixteen hundred miles of common border with mexico we've got to find a rational solution to this problem and i know that that passions run high but i for one am very pleased with the sort of the level of the debate here in the united states senate because as we all know sometimes this topic is susceptible of some pretty a irresponsible of sort of language and dialogue and  this was not a rejection of our heritage as a nation of immigrants we are a nation of immigrants but we are also a nation of laws and i think what the american people saw certainly my constituents in texas saw is in the status quo a kind of lawlessness and a lack of commitment to simple law and order which they want to see restored and i think if we demonstrate that we have heard what they have the message they have sent us that we demonstrate that yes we are serious about border security yes we are syria about enforcing the law then i think we can continue that conversation and talk about the other aspects of this legislation that need we need to continue to work on what are the legitimate needs of american employers for illegal workers certainly we would prefer that they get legal workers rather than workers who are not respecting our laws certainly we would all want i would think to have a system whereby someone can show up at a workplace and presented tamper proof secure identification card and virtually guarantee that they have that they're legally eligible to work in the united states as opposed to the kind of document fraud and identity theft that now just runs rampant which makes it an impossible even for good employers trying to honor the law to know that the person standing before them can actually legally work here in the united states we recently had a an example of a of a company a swift meatpacking plant which was the subject of a raid by the immigration and customs enforcement service multiple states including my state of texas what they found was that this company was using the only government program the only government program known as basic pilot to try to match up the identity of people who came to work there with the social security number and of basic pilot confirmed that yes that's john cornyn and that's john cornyn social security number that's about all  all basic pilot could tell them but what they wouldn't tell them if it was somebody else masquerading as john cornyn and claiming his social security number and that company sustained a huge business loss because the federal government failed it and being able to provide it a reliable means to determine whether people who claim to be american citizens ineligible to work were in fact eligible so we have a lot of credibility we need to restore on behalf of the federal government when it comes to enforcing the law and securing our borders and i think if we perhaps break down this big problem into smaller solutions step by step and work our way through this that we can continue to find an opportunity to solve this problem bit by bit and piece by piece but what i saw all rejected this morning were big grandiose government solutions where our credibility was seriously lacking because of a lack of follow through on earlier promises particularly when it comes to enforcing our laws and securing our borders so i'd just like to say to for all of my colleagues who work so hard on this issue that you have my commitment that i will continue to work with you in good faith to try to solve the problems that's what i thought my constituents wanted me to do that's what i know they want me to do they don't want to suffer here pointing the finger of blame they don't want to see the calling each other names they don't want that sort of hyper partisanship that unfortunately too often characterizes our activities here in washington but they also don't want to be sold a bill of goods they don't want to be promised a lot when they know that we're going to deliver a little so this is a big issue one that is worthy of the greatest deliberative body senator john cornyn of texas one of four southern border state senators voting against moving forward with immigration legislation or for border states eight senators here's how they voted the texas senators cornyn and  voting against cloture and the new mexico senators senator bingaman democrat and senator domenici republican voting against cloture on the california arizona side all for those senators boxer and feinstein kyl and mccain voter in voting in favor of cloture moving forward with the the immigration legislation some of the reporting today on that vote coming from congress now they write that the senate today voted to continue debating the immigration overhaul bill effectively stalling and likely killing the controversial measure their rejection of closure came by a vote of forty six to fifty three approving cloture require sixty votes which are would have set a vote on final passage for friday a schedule sought by senate majority leader harry reid and his allies in both parties the failed cloture vote the article continues makes it unlikely that lawmakers will be able to pass legislation to control the nation's borders and deal with an estimated twelve million illegal immigrants before two thousand and nine can read some of the reporting on today's vote on our capitol news website capital news dot org and you can access to to today's vote find out how your senators voted by going to cspan dot org and looking in the featured link section senate's in a period of mourning business and general speeches over in the house they're working on on two thousand and eight spending in particular the financial services bill in the house the the seventh of twelve spending bills they've completed work on six of them so far and you can follow debate in the senate on the house rather on c span the supreme court today rejected school diversity plans that take account of students race in two major public districts the reporting of the associated press says the decision in cases affecting schools in louisville kentucky and seattle plans in hundreds of districts nationwide the decision could also leave public school systems with a limited arsenal to maintain racial we're waiting to see whether senators will return to general speeches when they come back to the floor or possibly move on to two thousand and eight defense program spending of course a bit of regrouping going on as a key procedural vote on immigration failed in the senate earlier today supporters of the bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill fell fourteen votes short of the sixty needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of that bill which would have taken place on friday the vote was forty six to fifty three a similar bill failed in congress last year for more details on today's a vote on immigration and how individual senators cast their votes go to our web site cspan dot org the featured links section and those are also stories on the vote at capital news dot org senator from utah has been asked and sent to the quorum call be dispensed with without objection mr president as the discussion over immigration reform demonstrates this body does confront tough issues and can find itself embroiled in some very contentious debates over the years it has not been uncommon to see judicial appointment debates at the top of the list of contentious debates and during those debates we've seen a lot of tactics and methods used but some tactics are simply wrong some methods are simply inappropriate there are some means by which no ends can justify some of these run tactics inappropriate methods and illegitimate means have been used to attack the nomination of leslie southwick to the u s court of appeals for the fifth circuit if we care about the integrity of this body and the good of the judicial branch if we really believe that there is something more important than raw illogical politics we should reject this attack on this good man and confirm his nomination judge southwick who served for a dozen years on the miss mississippi court of appeals has received a unanimous well qualified rating from the american bar association vitriolic and over the top rhetoric now thrown about the judiciary committee just months ago approved without objection judge south with nomination now for whatever reason that i'm a nation is in limbo first it's on the committee of agenda without action and now not on the committee agenda though the committee looked at the same qualifications the same record the same man with the same character found no objection whatsoever the only difference which is really a distinction without a difference is that judge southwick was then nominated to the u s district court but now has been nominated to the u s court of appeals the disturbing tactics being used against this nominee are certainly not new and they are no more legitimate or persuasive now when they have been used against other nominees in the past frankly i am amazed that anyone finds them credible level and persuasive judge southwick served on the mississippi court of appeals for twelve solid years it's not credible to focus only on a few cases among the seven thousand which he put in which he participated and the nearly one thousand opinions that he personally wrote it is not credible to focus only on the results of those two cases ignoring the facts and the law it is not credible to man that to demand that judges render decisions that serve certain political interests whether or not the law actually requires that result is not credible to attack judge southwick for phrases or language in opinions that he did not write it is not credible to ignore the limitations imposed on appeals court judges by the standard of review that they must follow it is not credible to say that a judicial ruling against a particular party amounts to a judge's personal hostility against a group to which that party might belong these are some of the misleading and offensive tactics that we have seen used against additional nominees in the past and are being used against judge southwick no these tactics are simply not credible and i'm amazed that my democratic colleagues seem to be going along with them simply do not recognize richard roberts former president the mississippi bar for example says that no other lawyer in the state is as qualified as judge southwick to serve on the fifth circuit court of appeals according to philip mcintosh associate dean at the mississippi common school of law where judge southwick now teaches a politically and racially diverse that county unanimously approved judge southwick for a path faculty position with no question about his integrity fairness or impartiality a laverne edney an african american partner and judge southwick former law firm clerk for him on the mississippi court of appeals he says the judge southwick applied the law fairly without regard to the parties that's s apostrophe affiliation color or stature these and other colleagues and partners of judge southwick know him best i can only imagine their shock confusion over the wildly derogatory and extreme descriptions offered by judge southwick some washington based critics i can only imagine the reaction by those who know judge southwick when those who do not when those who do not make such claims make them without knowing what they're talking about i think my comments would agree that the american bar association has never been accused of same fifth circuit position ran into trouble when the a b a rated him not qualified my democratic colleagues thought that was the most insightful thorough accurate and definitive a valuation ever done on any nominee to any position anywhere i want to say maybe a has unanimously given judge southwick its highest well qualified rating the highest rating the a b a can give and that means according to the a b a zone description of its rating criteria that judge southwick gets the highest marks for such things as compassion open mindedness freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice so here's the choice we face on the one side cr not know and have not worked with judge southwick look only at the results of just a few cases basically two cases in which he had he did not write the opinion and claim judge southwick has hostile views on issues such as race when there is absolutely no indication by anybody in mississippi or otherwise that he has had any hostility on the other hand side the a b a and those who do know of work with judge self w look at his entire record and given the highest marks for compassion open mindedness freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice under law these two radically different pictures of this nominee cannot both b true i think the tactics and standards used by just judge south which critics are wrong and illegitimate and the conclusions about him based on those tactics are simply not credible and what gets me is i justify disregarding the judgment of our colleagues the senators from mississippi who are this nominee's home state senators let me close with one more point in their opposition letter the congressional black caucus says that we hundred and twenty seven opinions and concurrences while on the mississippi court of appeals and only twenty one of them has been either reversed or even criticized by the mississippi supreme court in am very impressed with such a low reversal rate over such a long period of distinguished additional service and i note the cake ob former presiding justice of the mississippi supreme court the court that reviewed judge southwick decisions as have mentioned be placed in the record at this point without objection judge southwest has served his community volunteer ng with habitat for humanity since one thousand nine hundred three he volunteered to serve his country in the mississippi national guard and by southwick today is the same man with the same qualifications the same ability and the same character and i might add the same commitment to the rule of law he has a strong support of his home state senators both of whom are highly respected and he should be given the opportunity to serve on the fifth circuit the judiciary committee should report its nomination and the senate should confirm him without delay or a manifest injustice will have occurred and will lead to even more essence between the two sides in this body we have been used to some of these tactics in the last two months of a presidential reign maybe even the last six months the presidential right but hardly ever against a person of this man's qualifications and then we've used the naacp that type of criticism and just as decent honorable senators should knock him down and frankly this is a year and a half before this president is through with this wonderful office he's appointed a very sterling good man and he deserves being brought before the senate and voted up and i hope my colleagues will will stop this tragedy and put this man on the court he deserves it have a great on the court and be a person who will be fair and decent for everybody and i have every  we can almost touch lady liberty is that close to us from a state park called liberty state park the area that i had the privilege of uniquely representing in the house of representatives for thirteen years in an area that i still obviously represent as the junior senator from new jersey an area that i have very fond memories of because of the power power of what it means and from that same park we can cross a bridge and go to ellis island a place in which millions came to america to start a journey a journey that contributed enormously to its great promise enormously to the great country that it is today and so i come to the floor to discuss the recent cloture vote with that context in mind on immigration the senate had a historic opportunity to move forward today with comprehensive immigration reform that truly secured our borders that realize the economic realities of our time and that allowed people the opportunity to come out of the shadows into the light and to earn earn their legalization in this country unfortunately the senate decided to maintain the status quo status quo of broken  status quo that does not meet our economic challenges the status quo that permits human exploitation and human trafficking to take place now as someone who was part of the early  back in march of this year on the question of immigration reform i maintain then that the administration had leaped away from the largely bipartisan bill of last year that received twenty three republican votes and thirty nine democratic votes to a much more conservative much more impractical and a much more partisan proposal this year and so i was unable to join several of my colleagues and what has become known as the grand bargain and i want to say i acknowledge and appreciate several of those who advocated that because we're only on the floor on immigration reform truly a critical issue for this country as a result of their leadership my colleagues such as senator kennedy and salazar and graham to name a few of who truly believe in the that opportunity and at the same time because of the leadership of the majority leader who is willing to take one of the most contentious issues contentious issue that has been contentious throughout the history of our country and i've often remarked on the floor of the senate how on the question of immigration the interesting to have heard the language of that was debates at different times in our history abroad and ben franklin referred to no longer being able to accept those who were coming to our shores in negative terms he was talking then about the germans the former governor of massachusetts in the early one thousand nine hundred sixty said that in fact they are sending the most illiterate of their people to our shores he was talking then about the irish in one thousand and twenty five in an official report at the los angeles chamber of commerce they said quote we need the mexicans because of their bending  crouching habits which the whites cannot attain themselves to in order to pick our parents we had the chinese exclusionary provisions and so all this is always been a welcoming country the debate has not been as wel and on that day that when the grand bargain was announced i came to this gem chamber to express my opposition to the deal that was announced because i believe that it was deficient in some regards and  say that i would work to improve it and looking back at what i sent then in light of today's vote it's strikingly clairvoyant to me to say the least i said on that day that we must come together not as democrats or republicans or liberals and conservatives but as a statesman and in doing so honor the traditions of the senate as a body that values reasoning honest debate and compromise over sound bites and talking points but especially over the politics of fear unfortunately today the voices that appeared to that fear and the lowest common denominator one out only twelve of our republican colleagues were willing to stand up and vote to invoke cloture almost half of those that voted for last year's bipartisan immigration bill only twelve republican colleagues willing to move forward at lease of the final essence of debate that amendments and to a final vote about half of those who voted last year on immigration reform now personally i still had serious concerns about the direction of the bill but i voted to keep it alive because i wanted to work to make it better and because i believe and comprehend of immigration reform as something that is in the national interests and national security of the united states and because america's promise and its security should not have been snuffed out by one single i started back in that day and made that i said i said i should say back in that they had made that i couldn't sign on to the agreement because it tore families apart and it says to many that they are good enough to work here and give their human capital and slave but never good enough to stay here but instead of responding to those ernst while concerns from those of us willing to be supportive of comprehensive immigration reform the appeal was constantly made to the right of the spectrum to those who actually achieve some of the things they wanted in the bill but obviously never even intended to vote for comprehensive immigration reform not even to allow to vote for it to move forward and as it moved to the right it got less and less support from the right unfortunately instead of working with those of us that were willing to not only work to improve this bill but also put our votes where our mouth was they kept giving in to demand after demand from conservative republicans and in turn this bill moved further and further to the right in fact at least two members who were at the press conference on may seventeenth and got things included in the bill voted against keeping this process moving forward by voting against cloture today ultimately in my mind this came down to a president and a party that was once again there for the photo ops and the press conferences wasn't willing to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work to improve this bill and help it move forward for our nation every publican party that was not about progress but about partisanship every public and party that was not about solving our nation's problems but seeking political gain by stopping progress of any sort in the senate the same president that use large amounts of political capital misleading our country into a disastrous war in iraq little political capital on truly securing our nation's security time practical and comprehensive immigration reform president that use political capital on tax cuts for the wealthiest in our country but not into the meeting our nation's economic needs to calm fair and comprehensive immigration reform and it's either a president that has no political capital or one who just wasn't willing to use it finally mr president throughout my life and most recently on the i have heard the phrase those people those people those who use that phrase are the voices of division and discrimination they are the xenophobes that exist today and have existed at different times in our nation's history but whose voices have alternately been overcome to give way to the greatest successful experiment in the history of mankind the united states of america that we know today dimmer but it will shine again the course of history isn't alterable the human spirit cannot be shackled forever drumbeat for security economic vitality and most importantly justice was on the ground stronger and finally to those who have often referred to those people in this debate let me stay on behalf of those people that we have seen the just a few minutes ago you saw new jersey senator robert menendez follow other senators to the floor to react to the vote earlier today in which the immigration reform bill failed to move forward he was one of the bill's bipartisan supporters  the vote fell fourteen votes short of the sixty i votes needed to clear the way for final passage postponing a major action on this immigration until possibly after the two thousand and eight elections senator menendez was very h eavy supporter of this in fact he had an amendment that failed yesterday on the senate floor his amendment would have given more weight to immigration applicants who have extended family in the united states over in the house today fiscal year two thousand and eight treasury department and white house spending bill debate and votes on amendments expected throughout the day and final passage planned for later today nomination of lieutenant general douglas lute at the time until three o'clock the for debate on the nomination equally divided between senate my myself and senator warner or his designee that at the conclusion or yelling back of time that the nomination be laid aside the senate return to legislative session and morning business and that it four p m the senate return to executive session and the vote on confirmation of the nomination of general lute i also would hope mr president that there would be some votes on judicial nominees as well today but that is not yet been cleared without objection  nomination of return to general doug lute to be assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser easier for iraq and afghanistan and i would yield myself eight minutes general lute is an accomplished senior officer with a distinguished record and great experience in both military tactics and national security strategy and policy general looters been serving as the director of operations j three on the joint staff since september of two thousand and six immediately prior to this assignment sir for more than two years as the director of operations j three at u s central command overseeing combat operations in iraq and afghanistan and other operations in the centcom area of responsibility well i know of no concerns as to general lute's qualifications for the position to which he has been nominated by the president there have been some other concerns expressed about this nomination the first concern questions the need for the position itself as well as the potential for confusion as to who is responsible for iraq and afghanistan policy and the one hand the position implies a direct and independent relationship with the president as assistant to the president and on the other hand as deputy national security adviser for iraq and afghanistan the position impl subordination to the national security adviser and one can argue that the responsibility for act in afghanistan policy clearly belongs to the national security advisor as well as the responsibility for directly advising the president on those issues creating a position with ambiguous subordination to the national security adviser could needlessly complicated and confuse and already confused policy process i too have some concerns in this regard but not to the extent that i will oppose the president's decision to create such a position the other concern which has been expressed is that appointing an an active duty military officer to such a political position is a practice which should be avoided in that for the officer in question it needlessly blurs the distinction between recommendations that he might make based on unbiased professional military judgment and those based upon or colored by political considerations in a larger sense it is counter to the traditional american approach to civil military relations for the individual officer it may also create difficulties in subsequently returning from a political position to a uniform a political military position and i emphasize that general lute will remain on active duty during this period however this would not be the first time that uniform military officers remaining on active duty have served in such positions one of the most notable examples being colin powells own service as first deputy national security advisor and then as the national security advisor and subsequent outstanding service as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff now i don't believe that should be the norm for a military officer to serve in these kinds of positions i do not believe that this should be a disqualifying concern in those rare circumstances such as this and therefore should not disqualify general l from his nominated position i do believe however that general lute has been nominated for an unenviable position he will be responsible for bringing coherence to an incoherent policy a policy that is still floundering after more than four years of war in iraq general lute told the armed services committee that the quote position is an advisor and coordinator without directive authority beyond a small staff he further said that the ability to move policy forward had to do more with such factors as quote presidential direction and support acceptance by other policy principles broad commitment to a common cause cultivated interpersonal relationships personal integrity and meaningful results close quote well secretary rice described as a close personal friend of the president indeed almost a family member was either not able to get that presidential direction and support or not able to employ it to bring coherence to the president's policy and one must wonder how gen lute can be expected to be more successful no secret that several retired four star general officers were offered the position and turned it down according to media reports one reason given by one of the generals was that the administration remains fundamentally divided on how to carry out the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan retired marine general jack sheehan who declined to be considered for the position said that quote the very fundamental issue is  doesn't know where the heck they're going to close quote general sheehan reportedly expressed concern that the hawks within the administration including vice president cheney remain more powerful than the pragmatists who are looking for an exit president bush last january and d general lute confirmed that doubt at his hearing the surge is now complete and the results are not very promising american casualties are at some of the highest levels of the war sectarian violence is rising again after a short reduction and the insurgency is as active as ever especially in the use of mass casualty producing car bombs against iraqi citizens and improvised explosive devices against u s and iraqi forces the stated principal purpose of the surge was to give space in time for the iraqi politicians to make progress on the critically important political reconciliation benchmarks such as implementing legislation for the equitable distribution of revenues from oil sales the best occasion and constitutional amendment that would lead to reconciliation among the three main iraqi groups progress is not of him of parent in those critically important political reconciliation areas again the stated purpose of the s believe that the only chance to get iraqi politicians to stand up is when they know that we're going to begin to stand down our soldiers risk their lives while iraqi politicians refuse to take political risks and make the necessary compromises to promote reconciliation those are the compromises which everybody agrees must be made if there's going to be any hope to end the violence in iraq we can continue to have the lives of american service members held hostage to iraqi political intrigue and intransigence i hope that once general lute confirmed that he will be willing and able to redirect iraq policy to exert maximum pressure on iraqi leaders to achieve political reconciliation the beginning of that is a phased redeployment of u s troops from iraq as the only leverage on those leaders with any hope of success with them finally understanding that their future is in their hands and that we cannot save them from themselves but as today's nomination i support the confirmation general douglas lute to be the special assistant to the president and the deputy national security advisor for iraq and afghanistan and i yield the floor senator from virginia president i note with some great respect and approval of your comment to support this nomination you and i have discussed this the nomination and i strongly endorse the  nomination of general lute and welcome that of our distinguished chairman of the committee you made reference to general sheehan and others who apparently had some contact with the white house personnel or all those with regard to possibly taking on this assignment but i no way can i believe their comments be held against this distinguished nomination of general milley if they're part of the record the public record but i think sometimes when the  president speaks with individuals about the possibility of serving him those matters are best left as confidential and with any price but it's just there any others i certainly do you know in that way and i was somewhat taken back by the comments of general sheehan and others but i think they're not if i may say with just no disrespect to the chairman of no significance here this is a highly distinguished officer he fought in this second armored cavalry regiment and operation desert storm he headquarters european command and then that capacity played an important role in responding to the impending humanitarian crisis in liberia it was in that context i first met this distinguished officer general jones at that time nato commander i talked with him about the problems we were experiencing off the african coast at that time and as you may recall elements of the marine corps and other naval units were so sent down there to try and lead they did succeed in contributing to a station of a lot of the tension could of which could have erupted in a civil war at that time general lute was director of operations for the u s central command where he served over two years and i was privileged to joining off the coast board those naval vessels and then to he accompanied me when i went in and worked with the ambassador in the  that potential conflict as a key member of the joint staff i have visited him many times in the department defense and received excellent briefings from him about the worldwide situation and i have witnessed firsthand extraordinary professional capabilities of this fine officer he in the estimation of general david petraeus and i quote general petraeus quote doug lute knows iraq rack region and washington would be a great addition to the team that is striving to achieve success in iraq he is also a doer add more ambassador crocker added quote his knowledge that newt's knowledge and experience for make him a valuable partner to our efforts in iraq and i look forward to working closely with general lute in the coming months as president has also been some indication that people are concerned about the precedents connected with this pot assignment and i know to put into the record a list individuals who have served presidents in this capacity over the past years notably among them was general haig was military assistant to the president for national security affairs that central intelligence at present time on active duty and i would like to tell you one minute i would like to also put into the record at this point celeste and from the white house their views with regard to any duty military officer to serve in the white house office as deputy national security adviser to the president an assistant to the president there is no constitutional issue arising by virtue of such service all military officers are part of the executive branch of our government and there is no break in their chain of command as the president's constitutional duties include his role as commander in chief of united states armed forces likewise such an appointment is consistent with u s law section ten u s c paragraph six zero one as you're aware in the past our nation has been served by active duty military officers holding the same position to w is eminently qualified that the president has indicated and it's a personal prerogative of the president to select those who wish to divide him in a confidential vein and that general lute will undertake with great distinction i held how much time is remaining on each side so our colleagues would know the senator from michigan has seven and a half minutes the senator from virginia has ten minutes if  unprecedented appointment that is consistent with was done been done before and up eva going to have their own ad it is about exactly how the chain of command should work but that fundamentally the question to be answered by the president let me join with senator warner in saying how much i admire the record general lute is a three star general he's was a director of operations the operational section the central command he did that for two years is intimately familiar with the a middle east and he has demonstrated in his positions with the department of defense in recent years with the joint staff his willingness to question ideas that many consider particular in fact it's reported that he asked a lot of tough questions about the surge how that would go and how it should be handled if done and i think if anything we know for sure that he will do what he believes is in america's interest but let me tell you why i do truly believe that we need a position like this and a man like general lute the problem is this we have a and let me say one more thing first we have about one hundred seventy thousand plus all yours in iraq and afghanistan they are serving us in a dangerous area of the world we know and had so many of our colleagues i most articulate in saying it's more than just the military and there's a political settlement there's reconstruction as a konami issues involved all in gas water electricity all  key components of having a government affective in iraq that serves the people of iraq and afghanistan so this is important that the problem is that we ha all our agencies involved in iraq not just the military we had the state department the state department is the one responsible responsible for trying to move the government along in an affective way they also have responsibility over the economy trying to help iraq have a good economy they're responsible for trying to negotiate safety agreements with its neighbors are responsible for infrastructure actually they're not responsible for law and order and the court system in prison system which is not done well at all i've been a major critic of that that's in the under the responsibility not of the department  justice but if your court system is not working and you don't have an adequate jail system you can't get the water turned on or the electricity turned on our soldiers are at increased risk of their psyche and so it's absolutely critical that all our agencies of government work together agree work out differences and create the greatest possible opportunity for that those fabulous soldiers we've sent there to be successful in helping to create a stable and decent government interact is not at the level of cooperation we need of their best defense department steps back and they interface but the state has these responsibilities and justice has these responsibilities interior has responsibilities interact virtually every department agency do and they're not at the highest level of effect a miss in my view is not as important i gotta say for justice to get a court system up and running as it is for the defense department because it's their soldiers at risk if we don't create a good justice system in iraq you see so i have thought we needed somebody like this to go out into iraq go into afghanistan to find out what's going on and be able to tell the president where the problems are and when there's a dispute between agencies one person can fix it and as the president united states he can say i want it done this way or your resignation amar mr secretary or you and i have a lot of friendship over the years but i want this done you don't want it dawned on me i'll get somebody to get it done by hacket he know all these different problems that are occurring how can he be personally on top of it and likewise for the secretary of state she's expected to be in china to go to brazil to go to chill a in the neo r europe or kosovo or south korea or japan the national security advis all on the his responsibility he's got to be managing all these issues and personally advising the president and and the secretary of state has to manage all the bureaucracy in contained in the state department so i guess what i would say to my colleagues it's obvious to me that the national security adviser or can't drop all of his or her responsibilities and spend his time  carefully and with good judgment analyze the different disputes and try to get him settled so we can get on with producing oil and gas having water for our citizens having the sewage system working the electricity on and helping to make sure that we have a legal system with sufficient bed spaces to detain criminals i've discovered that we have one night as many bad spaces in iraq as we do in mass state of alabama saw a similar story for new new york i mean they're just not enough places to put the criminals and we've got to increase that and the bureaucracy is just sitting around and not getting that done but if you catch and release terrorists they're going to go out and kill again and there's been several articles that have picked up on this and and i gotta say it's been a theme of mine for three years now and we still haven't got the justice system like we'd like you to see the  former attorney general and in his state and senator salazar we were there together in iraq and talked about these issues and i know he shares a genuine concern that things are being accomplished as fast as possible so i think that operating in the name of the president trying to find out what difficulties or are our currying in iraq where the bottlene are and being able to get the parties together in the name of the president he has no direct authority to order department of justice department defense to do anything but he has the authority given by the president and if they can agree then he can appeal to the president because i missed the president's state laws to do this justice was to do this defense want to do this my recommendation is to do this but you need to call it that decision and make that question and you need to tell them make lute says we have a disagreement between state and justice and i'm inclined to say this is the way it ought to be settled but the president told me when i call him tomorrow to let him know if it has any difficulties i'm going to tell him that you two children can agree and so use when i get together and settle they don't want to have the president have to come in and settle these disputes and get involved and now we've got a lot of things on the on his plate so that the concept that i think could be helpful in making us more effective in creating the infrastructure of the  civil justice system and all in iraq and afghanistan thereby enhancing the ability of those governments in that country to be successful therefore enhancing their ability to be effective against terrorists in violence therefore reducing the threat to our salt that's the bottom line and increasing the ability of them the basics are still i am pleased to say support this  think all the serious questions that have been raised have been answered i see my friends and colleagues the genya he raises a good point about this matter of the uniform parson being in the  morning and i was not able to be here when my friend and colleague the senior senator from virginia made his comments but he did give me the letter that had been provided to him by the counsel to the president which  letter that there is no constitutional issue he mentions generals scowcroft powell kerik and admiral poindexter as recent examples of active duty military officers holding this type of position and i would like to say that i would have risen in opposition to all these are individuals under the circumstances that exist today and i'm going to try to clarify that i don't record to indicate that i have any question with respect to his competence in the way that he has served the country over the past thirty years or so but i do believe that this is a very important issue  and it goes beyond the opinion that was in council fielding's letter he addresses the direct constitutionality because the military is a part of the executive branch my difficulty is that the military must in this country remain separate from politics that doesn't mean that the president cannot bring an active duty military person on to his  staff senator warner said in another meeting the president has the authority to bring anyone of value to his administration that he wants into the administration the question becomes should that individual remain in uniform and sure that individual be able to return to the active duty military once a service is done i asked general lute during his confirmation hearings if he believed that the advice that he would be giving in this position would be political in nature and it unavoidably is so we have a situation here that says recent history mr president this that this this type of situation does not go back long in american history where we have broad active duty military people inside the political the political circle of an administration and then allow them to return and as active duty members back to the military this hasn't happened with any frequency other than in the past twenty years or so that individual returning to the military in a uniform unavoidably causes questions inside the military about political ali s and tends to politicize the military that is my problem and there is there is no way that general lute can go to the morning meetings and give advice that is not simply operational but that is political in nature with with respect to how administration parts of policy into place and then can return to the active duty military and be viewed as politically neutral and i would say that again with respect to the other individuals that were named in fred fielding letter so it is my intention during the time that i am in the senate to ask any military officer who is being put into a position of political sensitivity whether or not that individual intends to take the uniform off and keep it off and any individual who otherwise is qualified who intends to return to the active duty military service in my opinion is violating this very sensitive line with and there is no time remaining to senator warner i thank the chair when appreciate hearing just how he approaches this a spoke to people he said about this position quote to a person does with him i have spoken conveyed to clear messages first a message of concern for the well being and safety of our men and women in harm's way and second that we would all like to see us pursue a course of action that makes our country safer while safeguarding our national interest in the region surely this is our common ground he said he went on to say but the stakes for the united states in the region are high the region where the united states has vital national interest the iraqis not key regional partners not the us government not the american people to change this we are in the midst of executing a shift in the course of course as announced by the president in january early results are mixed conditions on the ground are deeply complex and are likely to continue to evolve meaning that we must constantly adapt often measures that  one problem in a complex environment such as this reveal challenges elsewhere he said and that's certainly true but one factor remains constant general lute said the dedication and sacrifice of our men and women military and civilian serving in these combat zones they are continuing source of inspiration to me the position for which i've been nominated is designated for one fundamental purpose to advise the president on how divide our troops and civilians in the field with increased focused full time real time support here in washington he goes on to say the aim is to bring additional energy discipline and sense of urgency to the process troops deserve this support close quote i really think that's a good statement a sense of urgency for all our agencies and departments of government not just the military and he concludes this way message chairman i am a soldier and our country is at war it's my privilege to serve this position represents a major personal challenge and i am humbled by the responsibility it entails if confirmed i will give the president my straight forward candid professional a today what would happen with the next judge which is a virgin judge and madam president it would be my intent i have to talk certainly when i have a meeting with him this afternoon or that we do reconsider be laid on the table the senate insist on its amendment request a conference of the house on the discrete votes to house and the chair be authorized to point conferees on the part of the senate with a ratio of forty three with a buff occurring without intervening action or and i will not object i was on the floor tuesday when the majority leader first brought this issue to the senate floor i was out of the white house pleased that he's ready to go to conference on lobby reform the first bill introduced in this congress as water passed with a vote of ninety six to two almost six months ago on january eighteenth i'm also encouraged a democratic house finally i decided to pass a bill after many months of trampled as they were in the supplemental as the senate will recall the majority drafted that bill includes matters not related to troop funding and not part of either bill this was designed obviously to get around  forty one republican senators here in the senate obviously putting those items in a troop funding bill made it very difficult to oppose the bill and we know how that story ended so just in that vein i would ask my good friend the majority leader to commit that consistent with the provisions of s one to restrict dropping extraneous to commit not to drop extraneous provisions in a conference and to this conference report not dealt with by either body i think that it's important that this very significant issue which we've had extraordinary bipartisan cooperation on continued to things in that bill like minimum wage first time in ten years to disaster relief for farmers first time in three years first time we got money over and above what the president wanted for homeland security review to get six sample billion dollars for katrina but having said that madam president the distinguished republican leader has my sure that this bill will deal with subject matter that came out of the senate out of the house and with ethics and lobbying reform i would further say to my friend that he and i have had long discussions on this bill will i'm sure we will continue to have some this will be a real conference as we have had for many many years not recently but this will be a conference where there will be a public debate on what we should do and what we should do we hope to finish that week we get back we'll discuss in the conference as quickly as  appoint conferees has been a request that we not appoint them today i accept that we will do it when we get back but there's the minority need not worry this bill when it comes back this legislation comes back perfect for room that i've got to deal with so i would get respectfully request that we have a very short quorum call so i can consult with one of my members and if the majority leader would not object i would like a very br so senators are taking a short break now live week spectum back to pursue more scheduling and floor business we have heard that minority leader mitch mcconnell will give a speech on the immigration bill vote from earlier today again to recap the senate voted earlier  they did not get enough votes to limit debate on the immigration bill the vote to move the measure forward fell short of the required sixty votes needed the final tally was forty six to fifty three majority leader reid has pulled the bill from the floor and from further consideration it's unclear right now whether members will be back in tomorrow before the july fourth recess