eternal father who is above all you are the source of our joy continue to lead lawmakers on the right road enter their heart and in the light and their mind so that they become instruments of your glory strengthen them to take up their daily cross with willing hearts and open hands may they abandon all of life's petty concerns and embrace your loving providence make them exemplary models of merciful service made the matter of fact orientation of this scientific age never blind them to the glory the wonder and the mystery of life we  washington d c june twenty sixth two thousand and seven to the senate on the provisions of rule one paragraph three and the standing rules of the senate i hereby point to honorable claire mccaskill as ever the state of missouri to perform the duties of the chair by robert c byrd president pro tempor sixteen thirty nine debate time will extend eleven thirty this morning of that time it will be equally dividing the children centers candy and n z or the desis of eleven thirty the two leaders will control ten minutes each with the republican leader controlling the time for eleven employee free choice act regardless of the cloture runs or regardless the outcome of that vote even of closure is invoked on that motion the senate will then proceed to cloture and vote to vote on the sixteen thirty nine immigration bill following a second vote the senate rush recess until two fifteen in order from its respective party conference meetings and present schedules difficult last week we worked things out so we didn't have to be in on the weekend and that was because one cloture vote did not succeed and we save some thirty hours had that succeeded we would have had to work and if we can changing direction here just a little bit madam president yesterday the united states conference of mayors highlighted the toll of the iraq war the toll it's taking on our health safety and well being here at home by voting for a resolution to bring the war to a responsible in stamford connecticut mayor said the war is draining desperately needed funds from classrooms and municipal services david selln the mayor providence rhode island said and i quote continue u s military presence in iraq is resulting the tragic loss of american lives warning of american soldiers reducing federal funds for needed domestic investments in education health care public safety homeland security and more end of quote how to present the mayors understand this as much as any other political body in the country they're the ones that are seeing this desperately needed funds that are not going to projects that they feel are so important to their constituents people live within those cities because the money is going at the rate of ten billion dollars a month to iraq ten billion dollars a month so i appreciate the conference of mayors for taking an important stand they did finally madam president last evening just before the senate went out richard lug former chairman of the agricultural committee the foreign relations committee and ranking member on the foreign relations committee day made a very important speech one of the most important speeches that we've had in the senate them a long time he's a soft spoken man and doesn't really talk a lot he's a rhodes scholar a brilliant and an academic with also experience prior to coming here is a mayor of one of the major cities in america i appreciate what he did last night but he said last night on foreign policy he has the credentials to speak yesterday he gave voice to the growing sentiment among his republican vital interests over the long term end of quote i would recommend and suggest to all senators democrats and republicans that they read the brilliant speech given by dick lugar last night it was very good it was i'm sure prepared by him every word i understand mr president that's not easy to speak out against the war and i can vouch for that i can i also recognize how difficult it is for republicans to speak out against the war it's been hard enough for this democrats we count against the war senator lugar's comments and those of a handful of other republicans who share his view to this point to have said so publicly takes real courage the courage the only way we will change course in iraq some four speeches go unnoticed most four speeches go unnoticed that senator richard lugar's speech last night is not one of them when this war comes to an end and it will come to an end in the history books are written and they will be written i believe that senator lugar's we're just a could be remembered as a turning point in this and  put his words into action by delivering a responsible and to the war that the american people demand and the american people deserve under the previous order the leadership time is reserved under the previous order the senate will resume and block the motions to proceed to h r eight hundred an essex two hundred thirty nine which the clerk will report motion to proceed to the consideration of h r eight hundred an act to amend the national labor relations act and so forth and for other purposes motion to proceed to consideration of the sixteen thirty nine a bill to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes under the previous sort of the time it eleven thirty will be equally divided from the senator from massachusetts mr kennedy and the senator from wyoming mr enzi or their designees and with the time from eleven thirty to eleven forty reserved for the republican leader and the time from eleven forty to eleven fifty four the majority leader the president would be an abrogation of their rights to a a secret ballot i believe that there are a great many important issues which need to be considered on this matter debate that is procedural only and that my purpose in seeking to discuss the matter is so that we may consider a great many very important and complex issues and i express not specify that there should be a secret ballot or a card check but says only that they employ representative or will represent the collective bargaining where that representative has been quote designated or selected for that purpose of the courts have held that the secret ballot is preferable but not exclusive in the case captioned lyndon lumber division versus the national labor relations board the supreme court held that employer has no right to a secret ballot where the employer has so poisoned the environment through unfair labor practices that a fair election is not possible so the analysis is what is the status with respect to the way elections are held today  membership in one hundred fifty four thirty four point eight percent of the american workers belong to unions that number decreased in nine hundred seventy three to twenty three point five percent and nine hundred eighty four to eighteen point eight percent in two thousand and four to twelve point five percent in the two thousand and five to twelve percent in taking a look at the practices by the fired a number of workers for for motoring the union workers filed unfair labor practices in june of two thousand seeking to require the employer to bargain in february of two thousand and one the voted for the union and threatened that immigrant workers would be deported or sent to prison if they voted for the union the union lost the election in august of one nine hundred ninety one although workers filed an unfair labor practice faced with  in harrisburg and july of two thousand before and i last heard of testimony from a woman named jetter quote to union representatives came to my home and made a prepress representative presentation about the union they tried to pressure me into signing the union authorization card and even offered to take me out the downright refused to sign the card and shortly thereafter the union representatives called my home and visited my home again to try to get me to this february witness karen matthews testified about offensive pressure tactics by the union i would cite some of my own experience with the issue when i was assistant district attorney in philadelphia i tried the first case against the union coercive tactics that come out of the mcclellan committee investigation  case was brought to trial in nine hundred sixty three resulting convictions of all six of the union officials that lay all went to jail without elaborating on the detail testimony if it was  horrendous what the union practices work in that case there is no doubt if you take a look at the way the national labor relations board functions that it is  four to four hundred forty eight in two thousand and six in another category declined from almost forty one thousand in one thousand nine hundred forty two slightly under twenty seven thousand in two thousand and six o to fifteen in two thousand and five and twenty five in two thousand and six or the full table shows a great deal of the it after two just what is going on so what you have essential  is a very tough very bitter contrasts on elections very oppressive tactics used by both sides and no referee the national labor relations board is inert it takes so long to decide a case that the election becomes moot not important anymore and what they do is order a new election and they start all over again and again reduced by the amount that of the individual has earned otherwise which is in accordance with the general legal principle of mitigation of damages but there is no penalty which is attach so vast when you take a look at current laws are adequate and whether there ought to be changes and whether there ought to be remedies we ought to take a look for example with the canadian system when i did some fundamental basic research here i was held five detained ten days after petitions were filed and i believe that this body ought to take a close look at whether the procedures could be shortened whether there could be mandatory procedures for moving through and a swift way justice delayed is justice denied we all know whether there ought of a spending for the injured parties to go into court for  have a partisan ship wind up on this matter too to the virtual extreme there is really no effort behind the debate which we are undertaking today to get to the do more by way of analyzing it to see if any corrections are necessary in the existing legislation it is worth noting that in the history of the united states senate there has been considerable the extremists on both sides are always displeased without doubt the future course of our action of this area will be played with our usual emotional arguments political perils from powerful pressures which always surround the subject  senator john f kennedy was prescient when he made those comments i ask for one additional minute is there objection without objection in conclusion it would be my ho e that we would take a very close look at this very important law in this very important field and recognize that a harmonious relations between management and labor are very important and i've enjoyed the remarks as always of the senator from from pennsylvania it's not a bad idea to consider in a bipartisan way labor management relations a good place to start doing that is in the senate committees where that belongs rather than bring it directly to the the floor the question of whether we should just one day decide to debate getting rid of the secret ballot in elections the senator from pennsylvania has done a beautiful job of looking at history let me point to some history is well made thirteen eight hundred sixty one was the day set aside in north carolina for the election of delegates to the state convention on secession from the union this is a book by william trotter about bushwhackers part of the united states in which my family i grew up my families come from where counties were divided and families were divided during the civil was an ardent spokesman for secession he had been elected according to the author and supported by the wealthier farmers and merchants nearly all of whom favor the idea of secession the share got a little whisk and was boisterous and encouraged by his supporters went around town making it clear that the prevailing sentiment in the county was for secession he was in exuberant lou because he knew at the end of the day that would be exuberant was it that he shot one of the union this and that person's father then shot the sheriff and it's called bloody madison that day in west in western north carolina but the point madam president was that when the secret ballot was counted despite the sheriff from the wealthy farmers of the merchants there were only twenty eight votes for secessionist delegates and one hundred forty four voted to stay with the united states of america the secret ballot that they exercise that day was for a reason it made a difference and a little more personal way a few months ago we had a contest here among friends for our number two position in the republican side of the aisle i sought it so did my friend of forty years trent lott the senator from mississippi going into the election i had twenty seven votes when the votes were counted i had twenty four the secret ballot that we employ in our senate caucus we employ for a reason it makes a difference the unions in the one nine hundred thirty s when they were gaining a foothold and were to be established insisted on the secret ballot they still have it when the vote is to decertify the union in our democracy the right to vote is prized we keep candidates away from polling places we don't want people looking over one shoulder while one votes we help you if you can't read the bell we got rid of the poll tax to keep you give you access to the ballot the voting rights act has become the single greatest symbol of the civil rights movement in the one nine hundred sixty s the right to vote essence of our democracy this is brazen cowtown in the union bosses madam president it creates the possibility that large recruiters might come stand around you at the work site encourage you to sign a card they might visit your home they might make phone calls they might be like the sheriff in madison county elected by the powerful very persuasive if you were going around with this pistol or his gun or his influence but or looking over your shoulder while you voted but instead of that we have a secret ballot and we ought to keep what's next mr president if we get rid of the secret ballot for union elections where we get rid of the secret ballot for union leaders for senators for governor's mansions of the managers of the pension funds even most union members want to keep the secret ballot according to his agi poll in two thousand  seventy one percent said that seventy eight percent said they favored keeping the current system in place so madam president whether it's voting day in madison county at the beginning of the civil war whether it's a senate caucus on the republican or  democratic side whether it's a union election to organize or to decertify the vote is precious in america not having someone looking over your shoulder while you vote makes that precious right just even more precious there is a reason we have a secret ballot madam president that makes a difference i intend to vote no on cloture i urge my colleagues to do the same senator from wyoming ating two things here this neighbors senator from tennessee relative to carjack it is totally inappropriate that you would eliminate secret ballots in a democracy but i wanted to arise day to talk a little bit about the immigration bill and briefly this is going to come to a vote here in a few minutes or about an hour and there are some serious issues well as of the process and since this is a process vote i wanted to raise those issues issues are these this bill could have been handled well it could have been addressed in the process that would have allowed in the men once the members want to hear and take up but it hasn't been what has happened is that there is a working organization which produced the bill and is now controlling the amendment process now for example i have requested that we have an effective clean amendment on the issue of how we do h one b s h one b s are critical element of getting quality people to come to united states and do jobs which we don't have presently people to do mostly in the science field those people create jobs they don't lose jobs by bringing a person like that you're graciously creating a job center because that type of individual adds value to the american workplace so we need a robust h one b program i wasn't saying it had to be in the bill but i did say we have to have a clean vote on it so that we could get an up and down vote on whether or not we're going to have a robust and effective h one b program what's happened however is that through this process which is being developed here which prejudices those of us who are not members of the process and since they're only five or six people in the process as prejudicing obviously about ninety of us there is a situation that's been created where even if i get a clean vote on h one b which i not sure that they will even give me that under this clay pigeon approach there will be language put in the manager's package which will basically got the h one b program it's called the durban language in the practical effect the durbin language is this it says that if you bring somebody in under h one b you must pay them and prevail going wage on the skill level two of prevailing wage well the practical effect of that is that is actually means if you bring someone in under age one be after you played all the fees after you paid all the finding fees after you paid all the tourney fees which adds a lot to bring that type of individual into this country you then must pay a wage which is significantly higher than other people working in that same area or take a small software company in new hampshire of which there are many who would use h one b type individuals scientists come in from out of country but say they had ten positions but they could only fill nine they had to bring in a tenth person they would be paying the the average wage for software person would be about eighty thousand dollars in new hampshire for nine of those people but the person who came into the country would get one hundred thousand dollars on top of that of course they'd also have the fees for the attorneys fees for the getting the permit to bring the individual into the country obviously the practical effect of that would b would not work and so this language which is essentially killer language the h one b program has been is going to be put in the managers and packages i understand although i don't really know that because nobody will actually tell us what's going on this is just rumor or  alternatively it's going to be put in somebody else's amendment which we know will pass but anyway there is a deal in the works which says that the people who drafted this bill are going to lock hands and make sure that language is put in the bill which even if we get a decent vote on a decent h one b program well got that vote that is that raises serious issues of process and obviously fairness and i just want to make it clear that i'm not comfortable with it in its present form and severe significant reservations madam president and you know back down to my time stronger nation is stronger when the union movement is under attack the middle class is under attack and when the middle class is under attack our nation is weaker economically and politically let there be no mistake the union movement and our middle class are under attack just take a look at the numbers since nine hundred seventy three twenty six percent of the workers in america belong to unions the pay and benefits of working vission is the basic dignity that they fought for spilled over to the rest of working class americans and we're all better off for it i'd like to show you a couple of charts of between nine hundred forty seven and one hundred seventy three if you look at rising income growth and based on the percentile  in this chart a sexually everyone from forty seven to seventy three rising tide lifts all boats and lifted all homes there was an actual real income growth of almost one hundred eighteen percent for the lowest twenty percent tile the top twenty percent on grew over eighty percent there are some genuine equity that technically what happened is the union movement began to take blows from the supreme court and the n l r b there used to be card check back in those days by the way you wanted to join a union you had a card check a little like we're talking about now look what happened between nineteen seventy three and the year two thousand really did come growth of all the twenty percent who just about twelve percent top the drop over two percent all right cross the board everybody but the top one percent and you have to have an income roughly of four hundred thirty five thousand dollars to make it into that category average salary income in that category is one point four plus billion dollars per year the only outfit growing and look at what happened if you got a bike and superimpose a chart year on organized skyrocket this time it changed today just twelve percent american workers belong to unions and the spending power of paycheck is actually lower than it was in seventy three the median income is lower but productivity is up more than eighty percent since seventy three it used to be way to grand bargain in this country as labor increases productivity as they did more as businesses and stockholders were able to benefit from the encroached increase productivity they benefited now it's in inverse proportion of the sweat and their backs they've increased productivity and they've been to live for it even to my state of delaware the hourly wages down says two thousand the median family income is below its two thousand level the number of workers represented in protected by unions has fallen from one in four in seventy three to one in ten to day in the basic social impact the build our economy the build our middle class that built our country after world war two that compact has been broken that compaq said that if workers produced more they would share in the gains today that's not true unions help to cut the debt deal and they kept their end of the bargain business and government have not kept their part of the deal it's harder now to organize harder to get a union certified to represent the interests of the workers it's hard because business is fighting back and harder because this administration has launched its own unrelenting attack on the union movement it's not just pay this taking a hit basic benefits health care pensions things unions fought for and won they are more and more just a thing of the past and more and more the american people have no health insurance forty six million last year the number that just keeps growing in my state a delaware one hundred thousand uninsured just imagine the fear the insecurity the helplessness of the families must feel going day to day the man lying in bed with a woman lying in bed at night staring at the ceiling having no insurance leaning over looking at his pregnant wife knowing it's a premature child to literally lose their out by asking i you know myself three more minutes without objection quarter of a century ago nine out of ten american workers will count on a pension plan a guaranteed pay off they can plan their futures they had security of knowing they can pay their bills today only about one third of americans are in that shape membership means more security the facts are clear union jobs are in thirty percent more than nonunion jobs madam president we have to stop and reverse of the client of union membership and that means pass the employee free choice act which i supported from the beginning and which used to exist in delaware right now the laborers international unit of north america says the majority of the workers at the walker international transportation company near my home in new castle delaware want to join them they w join because they need the benefits like decent health care pay and working conditions that unions have fought for shanks made union has filed for complaints with the n l r b complaints of the companies interfering with their organizing efforts under current law this process could be drawn out and definitely they should be able to revolt resolve this with a clear simple count of cards certified by the national labor relations board the employee free choice act will make the will of the majority of workers clear it will punish employers or break the law and it will guarantee that new unions will get their first contract not just another runaround madam president is time to bring the strength of the union movement back within the reach of the american people it's time to rebuild the middle class by giving organized labor the strength to fight for decent and benefits and ladies and gentlemen my friends my colleagues on the floor i believe it's time for a new social compact a new social capital of white collar workers we never thought they needed the unions all of a sudden are finding out their companies are not so generous with them when they walk in and shut down a division shut them out and ladies and gentlemen i my fellow colleagues i believe i believe that the american workers white collar workers who never thought about the union movement are prepared to think about it now i don't want to just reverse the slide of organized labor in america i want to energize a new compact between white collar workers and blue collar workers to give back power to the middle class so that this graph here from the year two thousand and eight through two thousand and twenty looks more like this crack that existed from one hundred forty seven to one nine hundred seventy three it's the only only way to keep the middle class in the game they're getting crushed now they're getting crushed i'm president senator from wyoming as i allocate the time here i do want people to know that the next sentence i say is tongue in cheek i had no idea that taking the secret ballot away from america's workers could solve all the albums of the world madam president the tremendous creativity that exists here in the united states senate just by virtue of the name of this act they were discussing today the employee free choice act and to of course he the my colleague from the senate from delaware talk about some of the ills that faces labor today and certainly i want to say that as someone who was as worked as i live or someone who has worked people who are in labor work with people who are in labor i want to make sure that the american people have good wages i agree with that one hundred percent and i think all of us in america want to see people make a good living be able to raise their family in a way that it certainly is full of respect and i want to see the same things occur but i just want to say that this debate today is is most unusual to talk about this vote that we're going to have a little bit later today as being one about free choice is most ironic and like unlike most people who serve here in the united states senate i've actually carried a union card i've actually pay union dues i've actually served as a trustee on a pension fund to ensure that employees of mine that were union employees rival to receive their pension down the road so i've worked with labor i have been a laborer i have been one of those people that certainly was talked to about organization and people being members of a union and i just want to say again to reiterate what the senator from wyoming just said it's amazing that all of the ills relating to the labor movement today can be brought back to this one act this one act that we're talking about today that has to do with card check and let me just talk about i know people have talked about supreme court rulings people have talked about books people have talked about a lot of things but i want to talk about what it really manes to be out on a job side and to be talking with union representatives whether it's on a picket line or on the job site itself if this act or to pass instead of people having a secret ballot just like we have here in the senate we select our leadership just like people have when they go to vote for us being in the united states senate instead of that what would occur is that each individual would be discussed would be talked to about whether they would like to see a union come in and i've witnessed this where people would go up to a water cooler on a construction site in four or five large people representing the union gather around that person and ask them if they would like to be a member of the union and i've witnessed this when people are living out in rule areas and they really don't want to vote for the anyone but people pay them of this is it in the dark of night suggesting that they should check off a card if you will so that they can call the union to form and the organization that they happen to work for this is not about free choice certainly this is about making sure that that union leaders don't have to do the job that's necessary to cause people to want to join their union offering the membership things that they would like to have but instead would have the ability to strong arm people that calls people to do things that are not and their own an interest what's amazing to me is that union membership doesn't even want to see this happen what this in essence would do is call it an you and later ship not even have to carry out their jobs in a way that would call people to want to be a member of a union but instead threaten people at the job site threaten people at their homes light at night to call them to be a member of the union for that reason and because of the time that we have here at this point i would like to urge all of those here in the united states senate to vote against this piece of legislation which goes against the very thing that we all support and that is a secret ballot that is freedom of choice and i vehemently oppose this legislation because i believe i believe that th think that was intentional but we'll shift gears and go to immigration old yield five minutes to the senator from alabama lead balloon but we have a issue that has galvanized the attention of the american public will be voting on that in the same time and that's the immigration bill that we're about to go to so i think it's  allocators of time allocated or rather a small amount of time to center the engine to allocate among those who oppose this legislation let me since i only have five minutes maybe now for let me see if i can succinctly cite to my colleagues why the legislation before us today is a bad piece of legislation yes we need to reform immigration yes we need to reform immigration in much the way those who are promoting this legislation say it should be reformed but the bill that we're going to vote on will not do that very much like nine hundred eighty six when the promoters of that bill said let's give this amnesty for three million people and we will create a legal system in the future that will work while with us today that why would i say this bill does not work immigration would only be reduced thirteen percent but a an astounding number only thirteen percent and we've been hearing we must pass this immigration and if you  they have concluded the same they say they will be a twenty five percent reduction at the border but an increase in visa overstays netting only a thirteen percent reduction that in the congressional budget office report available to every senator we should look at that how can we vote for alleged lies in that we know is not going to work as it promised to work secondly i don't know the the american people are members of this body  the legal immigration flow into america over the next twenty years giving twice as many green card status is legal permanent resident status is as the current law provides so we're not going to get any substantial reduction in the illegality we're going to double illegality it will cost according to the congressional budget office the treasury of the united states thirty billion dollars not from expenses of enforcement none of that class this is not a little issue i don't know that his numbers were exactly correct but for suntanned i have been troubled by the fact that middle and lower class working lower income lower skill workers who's who have not seen their income levels rise at the right that corporate executives of seeing their income levels rise friday when i left this body right down the street there was a gentleman out there iya gray hair and a gray beard had a little sign about jobs i spoke to him he said he opposed this immigration bill he was a master carpenter from melbourne florida he told me that he in the ninety's was making seventy five thousand dollars a year now he's making a fraction of that is going to have to get out of the and we're concerned about the middle class we have to ask how many workers this country can accept without seeing a market departure a drop in their income the american people do a president i was forwarded a copy of the transcript of an interview with the white house official yesterday that commenting on his remarks i made on the floor with regard to the immigration bill and i want to speak to that i've argued that the current bill sets up the department of homeland security for failure because it requires the department of homeland security to grant full work and travel authorization to applicants for xiv isa's within twenty four hours of their application whether or not a background check is been completed that's the text in the current immigration bill yesterday though the white house told reporters that this was part of a misunderstanding and mythology surrounding this provision but let me quote the text of the provision it reads no probationary benefits should be issued to an alien under until the alien has passed all appropriate background checks or the end of the next business day which ever is sooner that's what the bill says no mythology no myth on misunderstanding i know people i know people think that the draft language is a perfect draft and believe it should somehow attain its own mythological status but this is pretty straightforward if an alien applies here she gets a legal status full travel and work authorization no later than the next day now the white house official believes that this provision is workable because he says four of the layers of the background checks are almost invariably completed within twenty four hours almost always completing a background check within twenty four hours is not always completing a background check within twenty four hours he acknowledges that one of the checks takes longer than twenty four hours so by his own admission the department of homeland security will confer legal status to nearly every applicant even though they have not completed a background check this is not what the american people are hearing when they're selling this bill the american people are being told that foreign nationals will have to pass a background check before the granted legal status this is not true according to the of the underlying bill and it's not factually possible according to the lead negotiator from the white house not to be deterred by facts however this official believes this should be of no concern because if anything comes up in the background check beyond the twenty four hour period than the department of homeland security will declare that person eligible and deport them certainly that's a concept that we can support that is if someone isn't eligible they should be deported my concern is the gulf between the promise being made to the american people and the likelihood that that promise will be carried out the white house said this is of no concern because they'll just declare them ineligible and deport them but the question americans are asking is will that candy if they already have this capability why has nothing been done about six hundred twenty three thousand alien absconders already the department of homeland syria has reportedly created a unit to track down after him and deport these fugitives but no appreciable dent as bin laden made in this number and the department of homeland security has information on these individuals already but let's keep in mind it is th department of homeland security is so diligently tracking down the thousands of aliens that have already had a chance and have gone underground or of left the country and reentered illegally based on a deportation order they've got to do a lot of other things that americans are asking can they really get all of this done can they train hire and deploy up to twenty thousand additional border patrol agents can they implement a worker verification system to screen more than two hundred million workers throughout the country can they build a three hundred seventy miles of fencing and three hundred miles of vehicle barriers can they deploy to secure border initiative can they deploy the exit monitoring system of the u s visit program can they process twelve million an initial  can they build one hundred five radar and camera towers can they detain all removeable aliens caught in the southern border use the line utilizing detention facilities with the capacity of only thirty one thousand five hundred pe president i think the american people can be forgiven in doubting the commitment of the federal government and the willingness of the federal government to actually do all the things that it's promising that's why this bill is such a tough sell to at least to say the least especially as of two years ago we were doing nothing to beef up border security to take the commitment at face value that yes now we're really serious about it so madam president i fear that like nine hundred eighty six we're being promised something that the american people know that we cannot and will not deliver we should slow down read this bill offer and debate amendments that will improve the bill and before one minute the fact is this the president if we if we say take this bill if we vote against this bill we won't even try to do all the background checks we won't even try to get the border into terms of security we know what so many of the members of this body are again but we have now yet to hear what they are or senator from texas outlined very considerable detail the kind of security that we believe is that this legislation is submitted to defeat this legislation and all of that security is out the window it's better not be perfect but it's the best opportunity we have that something significant and substantial and i believe that the bill is good i see my friend historians who take a clear eyed look at the last thirty years will tell you that productivity has been rising our economy has been expanding corporate profits are up executive salaries are way up yet the workers responsible for our nation's prosperity if not reaped anywhere near the share their share of the benefits the hallmarks of our economy for generations has been those people who produce the wealth the people that work with the here their hands of people that work with their minds the people the employees in this country those who produce wealth will share in the wealth that they create is productivity goes up so have through much of our through most of our history certainly in the last hundred years is productivity has gone up so have wages that things have changed in two thousand and five the real median household income in america was down three percent from the median income in two thousand in ohio it was down my state it was down almost ten percent meanwhile the average c e o makes four hundred eleven times four hundred eleven times more than the average worker in one thousand nine hundred eighty average c e o made one hundred seven times so you can see it's productivity continues to go up for workers executives make more profits or hire workers are not sharing in the wealth they create that's what matters speaker makes the two thousand and six election so important because the middle class spoke up understanding the middle class understanding their wages stagnated understanding that that the wealth they created they've not shared in that wealth and what that's what makes today so important were we are considering today landmark legislation supported by workers supported by employers supported by religious organizations by civil rights groups by advocates for children legislation which will give employees a real choice and whether or not they want to join a union this legislation probably won't pass this week republicans of again one more time have threatened to filibuster and one more time we probably won't get to sixty votes to pass this legislation but it's clear that a majority of the american people it a majority the house of representatives wants it a majority of the senate wants it and we will keep coming back year after year after year supported by these workers and these employers these religious organizations and civil rights groups and advocates for children  mr president i'd like to point out and in this pursuit for economic justice in why this employee free choice act is so important so what's happened to our economy in the last six decades be each of these bars represents twenty percent of wage earners in this country the lowest twenty percent wage earners in the highest twenty percent and you can see from one hundred forty seven one thousand nine hundred seventy three the height of unionism in our country when the period where the most american workers belong to unions you can see what happened there was strong economic growth for for all of society for all workers every category but the strongest economic growth came from those the strongest the kleins and other things were going on to trade surplus went to trade deficit some other things but a big part of that was unionization now look at one nine hundred seventy three to two thousand there's still economic growth in all segments of our society all all in the average in each category workers incomes went up but the lowest twenty percent had the lowest percentage growth in income the highest twenty percent had the highest growth in income so you can already see it splitting apart where productivity were wage growth did not quite trace productivity not quite track productivity now since two thousand we can see something else happen this trend has has exploded so that since two thousand all five categories and seen their wages go  down the lowest twenty percent of had the biggest decline only when you cut off the top one percent if you've seen if you've seen incomes go up so the top one it's one percent is seen their incomes go up six percent the lowest it's seen their incomes drop about five percent and again that's in large part because fewer and fewer americans are and are belong to the labor unions and it's more and more difficult to join a union employers are stronger employers spend more money employers hire more firms more firms with great expertise on how to decide to stop union drives to defeat unions to refuse to bargain if the use boy voted in to in india engaged in literally tens of thousands ideal five minutes the senator from iowa mr president and while i urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture on the check off they'll i urge them to do this for the reason that secret ballot is so much not only a part of the political process in the united states but a part of a process in many organizations to make sure that people vote their convictions and not their emotions or emotions that have been forced upon them and i would like to use a personal example of why i think that particularly in union elections a  secret ballot is so important i've told some of my colleagues not very often but in past debates on the floor of the senate while i was a member of the state legislature i worked at a factory in cedar fall waterloo register company we made furnace registers and i had the glorious job for those ten years of putting screw holes with a small punch in those registers and i was i worked there from september one thousand nine hundred sixty one until the plant shutdown march of seventy one and during that period of time from february of sixty two till the plant shutdown i was a member of the international association of machinists and everything was going all right for that plant until about that period of time of sixty seven sixty eight sixty nine when our products made by the international association of machinists were not being installed by sheet metal worker union members in pennsylvania is what i was told at the time and and  company wanted us to change from the international association of machinists to sheet metal workers now this is an instance of which the company is not trying to keep the union out there was already a union there the company was getting behind the sheet metal workers union in dispute that involved in the illegal secondary boycott against our products and so our management thought that if we short sheet metal worker union that we would be get our products installed better around the country by sheet metal worker installers and presumably we were one of the few companies making registers at that particular time that were members of the international association of machinists as opposed to being a member of the sheet metal workers and so our company and that union pushed to have an election to change unions from international association machinist to sheet metal workers and it was highly debated obviously machinist's and their members loyal to the i am one of the machinist union to stay in the company and some orders were sympathetic to the company point of view i would rather have the sheet metal workers union because we were told that they would not stay in business if if the sheet metal workers weren't there we had an election and i forget the exact date and i tried to look up newspaper stories of this for this debate and i couldn't find them but in my recollection is in march of one nine hundred sixty nine or march  the international association of machinists because i had had membership for six or seven years i thought they were serving my interest right i wanted to keep them in there and i didn't believe the story of the management and i didn't believe that we show auto ratify an illegal secondary boycott by for well in the meantime we obviously got a lot of pressure both ways from the machinist to keep the machinist and we got a lot of pressure from management to change a lot of intimidation but we could go into that secret voting vote and cast our ballot and nobody knew how we voted and we did vote and we changed we kept the international association of machinist in that particular election and so i know that the overall reasons haven't changed in the last forty years to have a secret ballot they have been devoted well here but i thought i would share with my colleagues a personal story about the intimidation that can come from management not necessarily from the unions to vote a certain way and consequently i was fortunate that we were able to keep our international association  machinists and everybody went on happily until the plant plant finally closed down a couple years later so i urge you to vote against cloture so that the intimidation that can be acted by management as well as labor my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to proceed to sixteen thirty nine the immigration reform package this immigration reform legislation has been long and coming immigration has been debated here on the floor for the last year for almost a month we debated a earlier this year for several weeks it's been the subject of multiple hearings and the fact is that this national security problem is not going to go away until the members of the u s senate have the courage to stand up and to deal with this issue of the legislation that we have before this body may not be the perfect legislation that everybody would want and there are people who will find fault with the legislation but at the end of the day it addresses three fundamental principles that we must address on immigration reform the first of those is that it's a carer's america's borders and it does that with tough provisions in terms of how we put lisa borders the additional  the addition of more border patrol agents three hundred seventy miles of fencing seventy ground based radar and camera towers two hundred miles of a pickle barriers new check points of entry and so on and so forth secondly mr president this law will enforce our nation's immigration laws for the first time for far too long for the last ten twenty years what's happened is that america has looked the other way america has looked the other way and turned a blind eye towards the enforcement of our laws here in our country this act which is supported by more than eight hundred organizations and farmers and ranchers and the agricultural community throughout our great nation secondly it addresses the can i make needs of america by moving forward with a new temporary worker program that will address the needs of america today in terms of jobs other people do not want and finally it sets forth the realistic solution for america's undocumented workforce and it is a far cry from what those on the  other who are on the other side of this issue would say that it is amnesty it is not when you are having people pay the kinds of penalties that we have them pay here and you have them go to the back of the line when you put them through an eight year program torrie when you put them through that probationary period of time we are saying to them is you have broken the law you're going to pay significantly in order to get back into the line relative to the possibility of having a green card which will not come until eight to thirteen years from now so mr president i think we have struck the right balance here and i would urge my colleagues to move forward and to give us a yes vote on the motion to proceed to debate this fundamental issue of national security and finally mr president i would say that the moral issues which are at stake which are at the foundation of this debate on immigration are moral issues which we cannot escape from and this senate has to have the courage to stand up and say we're going thank my friend from the colorado for putting into three short minutes the compelling case for the support for cloture that we'll be voting on in just a very short period of time and for not only is eloquence free elections are in the employee free choice act they are in the legislation we've heard a lot of issues and questions about whether they are in the nati and they are in the legislation but let me really point out in the few minutes that remain by this legislation is necessary and it's necessary because of the impact of what is happening today to so many workers who are trying to be able to  pursue their economic interests this is vernor bader a machine operator and taylor minnesota verna wanted to form a union to address health and safety problems at work these senses so often the case it isn't just their own economic interest it's the health and safety problems that they see on the job she and other union supporters were harassed by the foreman who threatened if you do get a union in here you're going to find out that you ain't going to have a job we've heard about intimidation this is the kind of intimidation that so many workers when they're trying to form a union are facing after employees voted to form a union the harassment became unbearable for bernie there's days that i literally went out  crying this is the kind of conditions that the employer had set taylor machine illegally shut down the department where you didn't support his work to benchley the n l r b open the company to give them back at their jobs the company refused to appeal the me union at the hospital began increasing nurses patient loads and force them to work mandatory overtime many times these workers would come down at the exhausted at the end of their eight hour shift and be told no you're going to you're going to have to continue to work they may have the children at all or picking up at school and they're told that they have to go out and do the work is have tried to find out they couldn't get at least as some kind of recognition of their needs we needed some help and some representation we needed someone to listen when management would not that's why we called the union hospital started a campaign of fear and intimidation despite a shortage of nurses work has killed off the patient to be forced to attend and he union meetings during their shifts this is again the kind of intimidation that takes place the meetings were demeaning and dehumanizing we felt embarrassed and insulted by the half truths that they put forward against the union the nurses won the election but one year after the union were certified they still have no contract management has come to the bargaining meetings happens every year these are the figures over the two thousand and five thirty thousand workers thirty thousand workers have had to get back pay by the national were labor relations board because the examples that i've just given up here this afternoon are not the exception this is what's happening all over america and it didn't used to be that way didn't used to be that way years ago when they did have the card to check off the numbers that were actually being talked about at that time were a thousand fifteen hundred individuals now as has been pointed out of the course of the debate the powers that are out there to defeat the so work is humiliate these workers intimidate these workers a very very effective and they have thirty thousand get reinstated employees are fired one quarter of all the private sector union organizing campaign employees one in five workers are openly advocates for a union during election campaign get fired that is the technique that is used in order to destroy that is really what we are trying to deal with in this legislation that is what this legislation let's let the workers have the choice and the employer ploy recognize that they do both know they don't vote but not have the kind of intimidation final point here mr president what are the penalties i mentioned thirty thousand different instances where they had to get back pay and the average back pay owed to an employee in two thousand and five is two thousand six hundred sixty imagine that working out of work for eight years and finally gets the back pay and the back pay is two thousand six hundred sixty dollars if you had the violation and smokey bear image would be ten thousand dollars mr president this is not only an economic issue it's a moral issue we have the open letter from one hundred and twenty four religious leaders that we as leaders of the faith communities represent the entire spectrum of us religious life call upon the u s senate to bring the employee free choice so that work has to be able to represent themselves it's a civil rights issue the leadership conference on civil rights the  governors understand this there's a letter from some seventeen govern is a republican a democrat governors that think that this made sense and then an extraordinary letter from a former chairman of the secretary of labor ray marshall and he for the balance of my time we're actually debating two things here this morning because we're going to have two cloture votes right now roe and there's some similarities between the two bills the big similarity is neither of them has been through the process neither of them has been to committee and i tell you you don't send bills to committee around here in my eleven years i don't think i've seen one pass that didn't go to committee why because people don't feel like they had any input into it a coalition gets together and puts bills together and leaves everybody out and then tries to limit the amount of amendments that can be done ana and the way the coalition works is one person has this piece of a bill that they're really enamored with but hardly anybody likes it and another person has this piece of a bill that he's really an emirate with but hardly anybody likes it and you get another those people together and throwing their bad part of the bill in and agreeing to support it to the bitter end and you pass a bill but it's  conglomeration sometimes of bad things so it shouldn't be a surprise when cloture isn't invoked on these things the only chance for the the person that's not in the coalition to have any kind of a voice is at the time of the cloture both of these bills both the immigration bill and the card check bill have not been to committee now the main one that i'm talking about the employee free choice act i have to give him a lot of credit for picking a good name but iraq likely it's not about free choice it's about taking away free choice it should be called the employee intimidation act or the take away the secret ballot act it should not be called the employee free choice and i urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture on the motion to proceed for generations this body has faithfully protected and continually expanded the rights of working men and women this legislation does exactly the opposite and would strip away from working men and women their fundamental democratic rights now should cloture be invoked we get to talk about this for thirty hours and i'm going to go through each and every one of those charts to show that statistics aren't always the truth but everybody knew that already i mean we see some charts that show how much people made during one twenty five year period and which group which twenty percent made the most and then we switch to another one and we show how that changed in the next twenty five years and then the third chart that's the fun fascinating one now if you if you count the spaces on that chart we've gone from five slots to six slots because the emphasis is on what the top one percent in the country made now if you're going to have on a charge you've got to show what the top one percent made on the first two charts as well statistics yes get them to say what you want thirty thousand people got back pay that isn't thirty thousand people that got back pay because of organizing effort that's thirty thousand people that the neighbor named national labor relations board through all of their proceedings had backpay they do a whole lot of cases don't have anything to do with union organizing and those results in rather quick decisions that arrive at the settlements but i don't want to go into all of that i'll have plenty of time if we if we do invoke cloture  and i suspect that there are plenty of people around here that can see the flaw in something called a free choice organise an act that takes away the right to vote for people so i won't dwell on that for generations we've guaranteed all workers in our country the right to choose whether they do or do not wish to or be represented by a union and we've secured that right to the most basic means of a free people the use of the secret ballot election now however the proponents of this legislation would cast that right aside one could almost feel the discomfort from our colleagues across the aisle as they grasp at straws to ultimately prevent a futile effort to justify the shameful assault on workers rights that we have had this related it would solve fair trade it would would solve executive pay an untold things in the world would just be solved if we just took away the right to vote for people that are being  organized we've been told that the system is broken the bill is needed to fix it simply untrue unions participate in a democratic election process have never in history enjoyed as much success as in the last decade a record of ten straight years of an increasing winning rate in the last two years their record rates of sixty two percent i guess are upset that thirty eight percent of the votes they lost employer unfair labor practice allegations are down dramatically more than forty percent over prior decades and most importantly the national labor relations board has only found it necessary to invalidate less than one percent of the elections in the last year in fact we took a look at twenty three hundred elections and there were only nineteen that were rerun and some of those were because of union violations as well as employer violations so we're told that and secondly that something must be wrong with the system because there's less unionized employees in the workforce that's true but i'd suggest that unions need to look elsewhere to explain this phenomenon many observers believe the problem for unions that today's employees see them as out of step too political it talks about not enough money to take on the management if they took some of the money they put into political campaigns and went after management they'd probably win more of the elections and their members see them as being too political and too concerned with their own agenda rather than the workers i don't know if that's bill seeks to radically alter the law governing unionization in the law providing for the secret ballot has not changed for sixty years it's the same today as generations ago when union membership was at thirty five percent the law is plainly not the problem third we've been told that increased unionization is necessary to boost worker pay and benefits increased benefits and pay costs money and unions do not contribute a penny to such cause this and notion that these two are casually linked is simply smoke and mirrors but even if that were the case the promise of higher wages and benefits is exactly the kind of appeal a union is free to make to employees in a free election process with a secret ballot it's not an excuse to strip them of the right to vote this bill is nothing more than a transparent payoff to union bosses to help them artificially and unfairly boost their membership numbers to increase their bank accounts through more union dues and increase their political leverage that such money buys pandering to special interests is a bad enough problem but when the cost of such pandering is the most basic the most basic of american rights for american workers it's disgraceful the president i urge my colleagues to reject this effort and to vote no on cloture and i ask how much time i remain enzi for their hard work on the card track issue they have been passionate and persuasive in defending worker rights the republican conference and the american worker are grateful we heard a lot yesterday from supporters of the so called employee free choice act about the potential effect this bill would have in expanding unions but we heard next to nothing from them about how it would bring that about well the way we do things in this country is just as important as what we do this is what's always set us apart as a nation and so it's important we be clear about what this bill would do and how and why it must be defeated first what it sixty years ago gave americans the same voting rights at work that they had always enjoyed outside of work work or intimidation was common during union organizing drives in those days so congress amended the national labor relations act to include a right for workers to vote for or against a union without somebody looking over their shoulder as a result a lot of workers stopped joining unions since the one nine hundred fifty s the number of unionized workers here in our country has fallen sharply for one reason or another voters opted out this is their choice today less than eight percent of private sector jobs in our country are unionized the so called employee free choice act would reverse that law it would strip workers of a sixty year old right that was created to protect them from coercion rolling back a basic worker protection that no one has questioned until now this is what the bill would do who's behind the effort it should be obvious the unions are desperate they're losing the game and now they want to change the rules but in this case the rule they want to change happens to be one that so deeply ingrained in our democratic traditions that few people would believe it's even being debated today on the senate floor surveys show that nine out of ten americans oppose rolling back the right to a private ballot at the workplace including an astonishing ninety one percent of democrats indeed many of our colleagues on the other side have defended the secret ballot with passion and eloquence in the past this is why we hear about the effects but not the cause the democrats are rolling over in support of this anti democratic bill but two democrats in the house voted against their version of it in march i expect even fewer senate democrats will defect from the party line today they know the bill will fail senate and house republicans  valid to block it the president about to the tow it yet senate democrats are forcing us to vote on it anyway why well as the saner senator from delaware told a reporter yesterday i'll be completely candid i would not miss that vote because of the importance to labor well republicans appreciate the candor and will be candid to this anti democratic bill will be defeated today but it will not be forgotten republicans rove and our constituents about the fact that democrats propose to strip workers of their voting rights no one can put voting rights on the table and expect to get away with it were democrats they and in this case clearly justifies the means but the american people with the mange and they end voting in this country is sacred and it is secret republicans will stand together in defense of that basic right today by proudly defeating this dangerous and anti democratic bill akaka majority leader is recognized as consensus call economy terminated without objection president franklin delano roosevelt said it is one of the characters excess of a free and democratic nation that had free and independent labor unions roosevelt's new deal lifted america through the great depression by showing us the rights of working people can go hand in hand with economic growth his call for the quality and basic fairness which guaranteed our country a permanent workforce of skilled trained professional ploys is something that is one of his legacies but now seventy years later for many americans many americans the new deal has become a raw deal today  america hourly wages are down way down while the number of uninsured is up way up today in america household income is down way down while the average chief executive officer pay is a staggering record shattering four hundred eleven times higher than the pay of the average working person and going up every day this happened in part because to use a term from las vegas the boss holds all the chips that we proceed to the employee free choice act a bill that will level the playing field for the american worker is in question and when employees join labor unions their standard of living improves and they become more productive employees it's a win win for employers and employees alike yet too often some employers corps harass and threaten their employees to keep them from organizing and our current law gives employees little recourse when that happens  the employee free choice act puts the choice to organize squarely on the shoulders of the employees and that's where it belongs this bill requires employers to recognize the formation of the union when a majority of employees express your support  signing a simple authorization card a card check to give both sides a right to bring in the federal mediation service to mediate the first contract once the union is formed and enforce a stronger penalties for companies that interfere with the right to organize providing american workers with free choice will ensure access to higher wages and better benefits better fringe benefits that means more working families will have good health care will be able to save for example a college education for their children and maybe even for a better retirement and they will be guaranteed fair benefits like vacation time a reasonable work day better on the job safety this is particularly true for african americans latinos and certainly women mr president there are some who claim that this is a political vote a gesture to labor it's a gesture mr president to the american working men and women i can only venture opponents of this bill i guess see it differently lobbies for big business argued that the status quo and big secret ballot election works just fine well it's not just find it doesn't work just fine in reality the status quo is often unfair and undemocratic big business wheels tremendous power in secret balloting and too often they use that power of use of big business controls the paychecks of the voters and livelihoods of labor big business sets the work schedule in terms of employment and big business has a captive audience and unfiltered audience to voters mr president all of us save our new colleague who was warning three fifteen yesterday dr brussel have earned a place in the senate through an election through an election but i guarantee everyone here everyone within the sound of my voice than any elections  the other ninety nine senators who serve here now if our opponents controlled one hundred percent of the information that voters received none of us would be here that's what this is all about there is nothing more democratic in politics and government in the workplace and a level playing field for those for those who are skeptical of this legislation let me remind you that it's already working and all are be permitted to use a majority sign up or carjacked as it's often described for example in nevada a state where business and labor work together most union organizing drives are implemented through majority sign up and let me say this mr president let me be very clear this bill does nothing to limit employee options in right to work states like nevada desert eliminate secret ballot elections as some have said it simply gives employees the choice to determine their path to union representation that seems fair that's a level field that we're talking about skeptics of this bill should look to nevada to see that labor organizer does not have to be adversarial the employee free choice act will be good for both sides be good for labor good  management this legislation will help provide the fair square deal to working people that president roosevelt first promised seventy years ago and we'll keep our economy strong and certainly more competitive so i encourage all my colleagues to join and supporting the employee free choice act that's what it is a free choice act as president after we vote on the employee free choice  will return to immigration our attention we brought back to that issue which is so critical of comprehensive immigration reform we would not have been able to revisit this issue of democrats and republicans had put aside differences to move forward we made all agree on the destination but we do now do at least have a road map the process for this debate and the number of members we will consider were decided with the complete support republican leader senator mcconnell sir mcconnell and i have worked together in good faith to ensure a full alben and productive debate on an issue of such overriding national importance that this bill will not get it done without republican support explaining to them this is not a democratic bill they understand that we had a democratic bill last year and it died because republicans would allow us to go to conference this is a bill that was negotiated in good faith with the total support of the president he's made public statements that he supports this legislation throughout this debate democrats have done our part eighty percent of us voted for the president's bill fourteen percent of the republicans did the same that's not enough we're not asking republicans equally match our support although i wish they would for their presidents bill if they deliver even fifty percent of their congress this legislation will pass as president we need twenty five republicans to support us in this matter this is important legislation the stakes are too high for action we are the senate o the united states people said the issue is too complex let's not do it we have to take hard votes that mr president we have an immigration system that's broken and needs to be fixed that's what we're trying to do is fix this we would be derelict in our duties if we did make every effort to get this legislation passed when we finish here is it over with of course not it goes to the house and they will take up a measure they will do what they think is appropriate that will go to conference will come up with something that hopefully will solve most all the problems of immigration i believe that to be the case comprehensive immigration reform will close tackle a number of issues difficult issues border security and mr president we have done really a remarkably important thing regarding border security in this bill previously you say there was authorization for money to do border security and this bill gives direct funding of four point four billion dollars to address border security if for no other reason people should vote for this i'm confident this bill will take care of border security more than anything we've talked about in recent years we'll also look at a fair temporary worker program and there is in this legislation a agricultural workers program that is excellent there's in this legislation there's the dream act for education for the children who previously couldn't be educated employer sanctions which which is really important i'm confident that we and then this bill address all four of these issues in a way that once that honors our country our strong immigrant history sets on the path to a stronger future mr president i was looking at some commentary talking about me and immigration actually made fun of the fact that my father in law came from russia negative my father in law my wife's father was born in russia but mr president that's the strength of our country my mother my aunts are my grandmother was born in england i used to talk to my grandmother she didn't remember much about him going to she remembered a few things as pres the fact that my father in law came from russia my grandmother came from england makes us a better country immigrants are the strength of this country and this legislation honors that fact we need to proceed with this legislation and send of the american people a better life for everybody that's what this legislation will do it will you allow us to solve a problem secure our borders have a temporary worker program that meets the demands of our country puts twelve million people a pathway to legalization a pathway to legalization as secretary said it's not sanction it i'm sorry it's not it's and is not amnesty he said if we do nothing there silent amnesty what this bill does is make sure that people learn english yet make sure that they pay their taxes it make sure that they work they stay out of trouble they pay penalties and fines and then even grand mr president they go to the back of the line but remember these people whether we like it or not have american children and this will allow me to come out of the shadows be productive citizens and with the great work we've done on border security stop illegals from coming in this country in the future that's what this legislation is all about it's good legislation it's we have an obligation as the legislative branch of this government to do something eight hundred the free choice act of two thousand and seven signed by eighteen senators by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived the question is is that the sense of the senate the debate on the motion to proceed to h r eight hundred and act to amend the national labor relations act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form join or assist labor organizations to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts and for other purposes shall be brought to a close the a is a naser mandatory under the rule the clerk will call the roll jerk aka the traveling pay under mr al martinez mr mccain this snow mr spect mr stevens martinez mccain mcconnell stevens tonight and that  mr white house  to greg no this is still no the job i'm a i was rach mr hatch no mr cochran mr cochran no mr coleman no no mr kennedy i by mr smith no five other any senators wishing to vote or change their vote number two zero eight sixteen thirty nine signed by sixteen senators senate will come to order the senate will come to order please take their conversations off the floor by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been the question is is that the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to proceed to ass one six three nine a building provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes shall be brought to a close mr by mr bannon mr biden mr bang on then mr bond mrs boxer mr brown mr brown global char mr mccain mrs mccaskill mr reed of rhode island mr reid of nevada mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schum mr sessions mr schumer mr schumer mr lieberman mr lieberman mr martinez mr martinez as mr third and mr nelson of nebraska mr other any senators wishing to vote or change their vote on this vote the yeas are sixty four the nays are thirty five three fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative the motion is agreed to