united states senate will come to order the reverend dr barry black will lead us in prayer let us pray holy god we praise your name bless your work in all the places of this world strengthen those who labor in distant mission field and protect those who fight for our freedoms in foreign lands touch the lives of third world victims of disease and destruction of poverty and p tyranny and neglect lord remember our own land quicken the hearts of our lawmakers that they may be forces for good guide the efforts of those who work in our governments executive and judicial branches providing wisdom for the challenges they face re deem us from selfishness as you build into us a holy reverence for others and a desire to pursue your purposes we pray in your bless that name  c byrd president pro tempore as president the majority leader is recognized today following anytime that will be used by the leaders the senate will resume consideration most in proceed as thirteen forty eight the immigration bill on the senate resumes in motion senator sessions will be recognized for up to three hours following that time the remaining time will be divided between the two leaders cloture vote on the motion proceed to the bill will occur at five thirty today if memo which i understand we laid down this evening as president over the weekend seven united states soldiers were killed in iraq in two days bringing the total to over seventy so far this month and the total since the start of the war two as of this morning three thousand four hundred twenty two three thousand four hundred twenty two dead american soldiers hundred was known in high school and his family's alex serving in the military was his ambition and he worked very hard to earn his ged so he could arrive at that goal of being able to join the military for lack of a better description mr president my heart in the heart of nevadans all americans a quit the loss of this one thousand year old young man yet we have to be proud of his willingness to serve his courage and certainly are humbled by the sacrifice he's made giving his life this week the senate will begin conference on the urgency supplemental bill to go she should have been easy as president bush continues to stand isolated in his commitment to this endless war will continue to go shoot with good faith and spirit of bipartisanship will send the president bill that fully funds our troops but we stand firm in our commitment to change course and bring the war to a responsible end with us while the supplemental conference committee continues to meet and will begin addressing the complex crucial issue of immigration reform and will do that today we all agree mr president that the current system is broken and lawyers don't know who they can hire and who they can fire produce is dying on the vine as farmers can't find enough workers to harvest the crops there are no winners under the current system only losers in the senate will have an opportunity to step down to vote on whether to begin debate on comprehensive immigration reform the bill we debate eventually pass will give us a chance to strengthen border security put in place and effective and efficient employer verification system design a new worker program take pressure off the borders give those twelve million doctor immigrants they opted to come out of the shadows into the light of america proving border security is only part of the puzzle as long as the identities of those who cross the border unknown our national security is at risk there's no question but that we need more border patrol agents better technology and equipment there's also no question that in force alone can't solve the problems of immigration we've tripled the number of border agents over the last twenty years and increase the border patrol budget ten times over yet the probability of catching someone illegally crossing a border has fallen from one third to only five percent during the startling figure population of los vegas crosses the border every year that's almost a million people who find their way into the country despite our best efforts and enforcement fences alone won't stop them years of dangerous border crossing showing show us that millions their lives for the opportunity the weights on the other side of that border and we must not forget that just as these immigrants depend on america for opportunity our economy depends on them as well an overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants  live here for years contributing to our economy lawfully honestly causing harm to no one many have children and spouses who are u s citizens or permanent residents many on property and contribute to their communities yet unlike us they live their life in hiding their victim of crime they can't report it they can't because they have to avoid contact with the place they're treated unfairly at the workplace they have almost no recourse if they're discovered they face deportation and separation from their families their families as we've indicated are many times u s citizens we should not allow them to jump to the front of the line for going card and front of those who played by the rules are we should give them a place in line a chance for citizenship if they do what we ask of them we could continue to track down the undocumented housekeepers dishwashers farm laborers who live among us or we can provide them the chance to earn their citizenship with all the responsibilities it requires and refocus our limited resources on those who would do us harm rather than those who would do us proud we can embrace the honoree of unrealistic rhetoric calling for mass deportation but we could pass laws require them to pay taxes learning body english we put rhetoric aside we have the opportunity pass a law that treats people fairly and strengthens our economy over the past several weeks a group of senators spent countless hours and days negotiating in good faith and in spirit of compromise last week democrats and republicans standing with the secretaries of homeland security and commerce announced they had finally reached an agreement on immigration reform the bill they've drafted will be offered as a substitute amendment this evening for us to debate and amend this week i'm grateful to my colleagues for their hard work reaching agreement on an issue as controversial as immigration requires extraordinary hard work and compromise consensus building they've taken that important first step i was not heavily involved in the negotiations but like some of my colleagues i have reservations about the agreement that was  h the bill impacts families in a number of ways and i believe our unwise bill also allows four hundred thousand low skilled workers to come to america for three two year terms that requires them to go home for a year in between isn't practical well for the workers and for the american employers need a stable reliable workforce center being an unlawful amendment almost immediately when the bills lay down to reduce that number to at least two hundred awesome you must not create a law that guarantees a permanent underclass people who are here to work in low wage low skill jobs but we don't have a chance to put down roots i'm sorry let me say that again  president we must not create a lobby here and he's a permanent underclass people who are here to work in low wage low skill jobs but do not have the chance to put down roots or benefit from the opportunities in american  lying these temporary workers to apply for possible citizenship through a new point system is not good enough or must be more certain opportunities for those who are willing to work hard and contribute to our economy finally let me say a word about the idea of this so called  touchback which would require the head of each household eligible for legalization to return to their country to file their application for green card i understand that this concept is important to many my colleagues but this seems to be a plan that will only cause needless hardship for immigrants and bureaucracy for the government nearly everyone agrees that the existing bill is imperfect the problems i've outlined will be addressed here in the senate and house and of course in conference but we have now though is a starting point i urge my colleagues to vote for cloture so that we can begin an open debate bipartisan legislation before us is not perfect i repeat but i think we can all agree that the spirit of bipartisanship behind it is encouraging we continue along that road in the coming days i'm confident we can write another chapter in america's great immigration story that makes our country safer these people with dignity keeps our economy moving moving in the right direction under the previous order the leadership time is reserved under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to ass one three four eight which the clerk will report motion to proceed to counter number one forty four thirteen forty eight a bill to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes under the previous order the senator from alabama mr sessions is recognized for up to three hours this the junior senator from alabama is recognized for three hours as president and more than three hours worth of discussion that needs to go on concerning this bill that's for certain  appreciate senator reid's comments but they expressed some concerns about what i understood him to cite just a few moments ago he is the democratic elater he does have the power to call up legislation in the as a real leadership capability and trying to set the agenda but not the total power to do so i think i heard him say that he'd like to say this bill  won't last to say debate and amendments this week well i just have to say there's no way that this bill could be voted on and amended only this week we've had legislation like werder for two weeks just the reauthorization of our water resources bill when i was on the judiciary committee and worked on them on a bankruptcy reform bail which mainly was i really working on the existing bankruptcy law with some changes it was months that we debated so there's no way that we could and should produce this bill after one on the question about the schedule for this week also i want to say that i'm not pleased and oppose i motion for last year's bill we talked about this bill last year i pointed out seventeen loopholes and a series of speeches in it and people began to take to heart a number of the things that i said frankly and they've come back with a bill that had the intention or at least purports to deal with some of the concerns that i had last year i have to say that i was pleased to hear that that we were considering a point system a light canada is that that we were considering a temporary worker program hours told by the people that met and drafted this legislation that would actually work and be an actually a temporary guest worker program that could serve our economy i'm afraid as we read the legislation that's not so that's not what we have in either case and to any significant degree as a bit of window dressing some movement in those areas and some fairly significant steps frankly that we need to hold on to and  reject the idea that a movement to a system like canada or australia that's based on mary and skills for immigration is somehow as i think senator reid said an attack on the family now i'm offended by that a person who comes to this country asked to be admitted into the united states of america says i have not been a criminal and i want to be a productive citizen who made our standard comes here then that person has a right to demand that their parents be allowed t aging parents that will fundamentally be supported by the american taxpayer that they can bring their brothers and sisters and they can bring their children so this is somehow an attack on the family if you say that you can con you can be a citizen but right out brought you don't bring your family you don't have any special rights to do so but they can apply if they qualify like everybody else why should the fact that we g one person our glorious thing citizenship in united states and title i am to bring maybe tens of other people just does not make sense so i reject that canada does not believe that sure you can bring the nuclear family spouses and children i'm not talking about that i'm talking about iraq form of the current system that focuses on  the extended family yes which show this chart here briefly these are three approaches to immigration by nice and similar to the united states and we have fifty eight percent of the people of god to our country are family based fifty eight percent of family by only twenty two percent scale by we have a six same percent humanitarian immigration policy unconnected and that is i ask the people do you have education do you have a language skills can you speak english or french what kind of skills that you have that canada needs what prospects there you have as an reid and others have said that this is a this bill that will be introduced has not yet been introduced is a good starting point that makes me a bit nervous i have to cite most of chairman a cause of the ledger and the bill could be moved through this committee perhaps this week with some real strong arm tactics which would be a very sad thing but perhaps it could be of representatives and not have the free period of debate that the senate does the house leadership speaker pelosi could bring this bill up and hammer it through in a matter of days even and then it goes to a conference committee  so it's a good starting point and i say well what might happen in conference american people have a right to be nervous about this they have a right to base cynical about how we in congress have handled immigration we have consistently protested that we want a lawful system of immigration people have run for president for the last twenty five years or last fifty years saying that they believed in a lawful system of immigration but in fact they don't do anything about and never take the steps necessary to make the system lawful to make it principled and to do what it absolutely must do as a matter of national priority and that is the bill should serve our national interest i think about that simple concept any legislation that we passed should be a product that serves our national interest not special interest and one of the things that's worried me about my colleagues who've been having these secret meetings and all is they talk about that they have stakeholders i believe senator kennedy said i think secretary get the areas from the white house  he said interest groups i don't know who diaper danda be mating with and deciding these issues with but i'll tell you who was not in those meetings and it was the american people not only were we not there we were excluded from those meetings and we haven't been informed on how those decisions were reached all watch in it until perhaps we could see saturday morning now this saw started brewing last week when them the majority leader really said that he was going to bring up last year's bill and he gave the people who were working on this legislation a limited amount of tammy told him they had to come up with the bill when judy and so they fiddled around and worked hard and compromised and rushed and rushed and rushed and came forward with a bill on  said it would be ready thursday and it wasn't ready thursday that he said it would be ready friday it was ready friday it came in early saturday morning to i am staff has been working all night bleary eyed trying to put this grand compromise together in some sort of fashion small print it was three hundred twenty six pages avidly and that's a buyout this thi follows pages together that's about what the stack looks like at three hundred and twenty six pages but it's not three hundred twenty six pages and one of the few times since abin in the senate perhaps the only time i can recall we've had a major piece of legislation not written not reviewed by a committee that here to review our language and ryan and bill format they didn't do it so i'll wave seign is a bill written on a bill well i can't do it how can you take three hundred twenty six pages and put it in proper legislative language overnight when this thing guns into i am saturday morning and  if it is put in proper bill language and i would hope it would be at some point because the the group that works on the language really does a good job of professionally making sure was written in a proper way they found a lot of arrows just doing that but i would hope that we would and it would turn out to be not three hundred twenty six pages that closer to a thousand pages of bill language about three times twice that are more times that this thickness of bills we don't pass that this week how many amendments we have possible be able to get up this week when people need to talk about first and foremost the fundamental principles and policies embodied in good immigration reform we should also talk about what's going to be coming up in the legislation so as i understand that apply in the majority elated tentative file for cloture this afternoon on last year's bill and then he proponents that he and that uses up a lot of cans say you have to which started with a new bill would have had to wait until it was printed and then bring it up and then have to move cloture on the motion to proceed in cloture on final passage and  the procedural matters they've been moving on a bill that isiah they never intend to bring up in any way last year's vital a flawed bill that should never ever become law so they're all that but that's what we're going to do this afternoon we're going to move to cloture on that bill and then we're told this entirely new bill is going to be substituted like an amendment so the first amendment will be i substitute to wipe out the last year's bill and get an accelerated start without the opportunities for debate on the new bill and presumably that's how we can ram this thing through in record and not predicted that's what the plan was last week several times and it does look like that's where we're going so we've got a flawed process our suggest in a lot of ways that  the american people to be troubled and members of the senate to be trouble i don't deny that the people who attempted to work on the legislation and a draft this new bill are good people good senators but they put themselves in a situation based on what i asked the of their results and which the document does not have the strength the effectiveness needed to be the solution for our immigration problem today i wish it were different i wish i could say that it was something we could be excited about and should support so i would sigh that it's all right that they've met i have affectionately referred to them as masters of the universe that they would go into these sacred matings and they would get together and they would talk to special interest groups and they would listen to everybody i guess but the american people and put together a bail but that's what we've done and they've they've got some good parts and some troubling park so we are at a point in our history where that time is right for comprehensive immigration reform the senate however in my view is not ready for debate today and the planet as we're moving today is unwise it has been produced as a result of on the pressure an artificial timeline  we won't bring up this bill we'll bring up the old bill and we'll we'll do these things and i felt this pressure and for days when i first heard about the plan on friday may fourth i stated this the democratic leadership in the senate actually like this is just another piece of everyday legislation but it's not the immigration bill is one of the most important to come through the senate in a decade that i've been here staff drafting of the bill was not finished until saturday morning and the legislative council had not yet converted the build into the proper format even today we have no assurances that the product they produced that had across the top of it quote drafted for discussion purposes only close quote marks the final agreements reached in the bill and will be the document actually introduced presumably tonight and last week press conference to two individuals remarked and with great pride and enthusiasm that they were taught as children that this is what they had been doing as how a bill becomes law one said quote i have never been more proud to be a member of the congress and a member of the senate this is what my ninth grade teacher told me raiment was all about and i finally got to experience it a bit we've been in rooms together early in the morning and late at night where they weren't smug faile rooms used to the small feel rooms going live by a line trying to figure out what started today how did they are with illegal immigration and it wound up being what it means to be an american on good actually secretary chertoff said this is pretty much what i was taught in grade school about the way the process works not that everybody gets what they want but everybody works together to achieve the best results for the most people well i want to share a few things about how bales should become law and what we were taught in grade school about it we were not given that and so we've we've moved forward and the bill is being rushed forward at this point and i remain concerned that what i heard senator is filed in the senate i preferred to the proper committee i don't agree that was done last year although there was a tremendous effort last year to rush that bill through to completion and many of the tactics utilize this year are very similar to the tactics utilized last year let's talk about what happened last year bill was introduced like jane kennedy it went to the  the kennedy mccain bill was was substituted for then majority leader bill frist gave my dad line you have to finish this bill as our call it by next monday if you don't bring up the bill next out of the committee next monday i'm going offer on the floor of the senate allow enforcement tough they all that will just focus on border security and this was supposed to be an incentive for the committee to act and apparently it worked because a bail passed out of committee  worse by far than the bill senator specter had introduced and here it was on the floor and hardly been written nobody had saying really what was in it and they were bringing in a the next morning tuesday morning and we were on the floor in the bay and senator reid then the democratic leader pushed to have no amendments and had the bill voted on that week and it became a big brouhaha and not self and others had amendments we wanted to talk about so we pushed back and complain and complain and finally them majority leader frist said let's pull the bail down i we're not going to bring it up until we have an agreement they have a folder by and i've an opportunity to offer amendments and that's what happened it was brought back up and we spent two or more weeks on it i would just point out however that that legislation was on the floor bill that we now are talking about going to but will base up that suited an entirely new piece of legislation that the senators have not had an opportunity to see except from saturday morning if there were here and most senators have been home this weekend so that's what's going to be wrought up that have not gone through the committee process like classically a piece of legislation should and it is not known to the members of this body what's in this bill of perhaps off thousand pages and we're hearing that they might want to move to it this week that is a matter that's breathtaking really and its scope we should not do that and this is how the heritage foundation describes the process on its web site heritage foundation is one of our nation's most all gust and respected institutions that  with public policy they've been engaged in major issues for for several decades they say this on their web site quote where king behind closed doors for months a handful of democrat and republican staffers along with a few senators and principals from the administration have been drafting a quote comprehensive immigration reform package close quote until saturday morning the legislation was unavailable to any other senators or staff let alone the media policy analyst or the general public this legislation would be the most significant reform of immigration policy in forty years affecting not only our national security and homeland defense but the fiscal economic and social future of the united states for several generations for the psyche of open deliberation and public education the heritage foundation which got a copy of the bill somehow is making this legislation in draft form publicly available to encourage widespread debate and discussion what i going to say they did make it public but who knew they had it on their website i don't know maybe it was sunday that  not not an opportunity really for the american people to know what's involved the heritage website goes on to say quote the document made available here although mark draft for discussion purposes only is being relied upon by senators and staff as a final language to be debated beginning monday may twenty first with the expectation of a vote on final passage without congressional hearings wrote yesterday on online article entitled summary of the fine print said this quote i have spent a lot of my weekend reading the draft bill as requested by both john tony snow there are so many problems with this bill that it should not be introduced in the senate absence a period of open hearings on it and the solicitation of expert opinion from various analysts across the it illogical spectrum even if it were somehow true and probably make its way to the president's desk if it does so before these problems are aired and confronted the congress would be inviting a monumental distrust of the institution close quote in other words a monumental distrust of the congress and the united states s he goes on to say there's simply too much here to trust us and move on the jam down of such a far reaching measure drafted in secret and very difficult for life human much less lawyers to read is fundamentally inconsistent with how we govern ourselves close quote not what we were taught in grade school last year you well i couldn't agree more with that this is not how the process is supposed to work we should not be asked to trust our colleague and vote to put a bill on the floor when we do not know that the bill text is even finalized we that the bill has not been drafted by alleged council the bill has not been introduced even given a bill number the committee process was up and not in and not followed a congressional budget office go or has not been request gracile budget office go or before a piece of legislation is introduced you're supposed to have a score and that is how much it costs how much should the bill calls how much would it impact our budget and deficit if we passed the legislation how basic is that congress should be passing a bill that we don't know what it costs they haven't even asked for a save the score although we had one from last year that said the bill was exceedingly costly in the first ten years and much more costly in the years outside of that imo talk a little bit about what the heritage foundation says about the score it will take your breath away when we discuss said it's almost something you hate to discuss something we have to discuss because it's supposed to be a serious institution one reason of course they have requested the score is you have to send the bill language to the congressional budget office well i don't even have the language i guess yet it's still being call a draft language and is eight hundred pages how would you score how much a bill like that's going to cost allan you think it would really tight so there's some sort of a problem here and majority latest sighing that we're only committed to spend one week on this bill and we don't have a  don't have an idea how much you're going to call from the official instead to sion the congressional budget office has charged with doing those things not good policy in my view in one thousand nine hundred fourteen former supreme court justice louis brandeis wrote quote sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants electric light the most efficient policeman so i want to trust my colleagues i really do trust them but i have to verify because this bill is very very complicated and it really should be introduced in the proper way as a a new bill is very different from last year's bill an in number of areas it should have been introduced as a new piece of legislation that should have been referred to the committee of judiciary primary committee of responsibility and we should have had hearings on it and by we should have called policy experts from harvard and university of chicago and we did a little bit last time it mind systems found out what it really means to our economy to the working people of america are they going to have their wages crushed down because of a flood of low wage workers which is what those experts told us last year would occur that's what they told us so that's what should have maybe these members of the senate who been meeting think they got it right in the bill is read it to them to come to the floor but there are eighty five other senators here who have no idea what's in it there's no way they could that day the first day they are back in d c after the new bill to act has been made available for them to read this bill needs some time to be this infected by the light of day before it's ready for this floor and before we should be voting on that just fundamental because it's so important and we have small bills we have bills that come before set of that we've dealt with and that a legitimate to bring up on fairly close notice about a bill of this importance perhaps the longest piece of legislation the greatest number of pages of any bill and since i've been in the senate is not something that ought to be popped through here plot down as an amendment to the bills substituting out an entire bill and then going forward to file passage and i don't like that and don't think we should do it is not the right thing just not on fire to the american public i'll tell you one thing the american public care about this issue they know more about this issue oftentimes and politicians themselves know and the american people for the last forty years have had the right instincts and they want a lawful and fire immigration system that i do not want to endow immigration they know we are a nation of immigrants they believe in immigration but they want a system that works that does not pull down the wages of working americans that furthers our economy does not enhance the welfare state and is lawful is consistent with our principle of law and they want the law in forward it's the politicians who have failed them consistently and the politicians just like last year same to be on the move and and move is we don't want this below now floor along the longer it stays here the more the people will get upset the more they're going to find out about it and we are they'll get with this and so we really don't want them to know what's in it we'll bring this new bill we'll plop it down we all voted out this and get it off our plate and maybe they maybe they won't know and maybe they won't care but it is too important for that we have but beyond that the american people do care they are engaged we might as would have been better if this group had conducted their meetings and really public had open meetings and everybody discussed it for several months now that might have a really made the american people feel better about the system when i first heard the white house power point presentation and this was a presentation made by secretary chertoff and gutierrez fine members of the president's cabinet and i had a powerpoint presentation late to the press at some point and presented it to certain senators i was invited to participate i fail that we've made some big strides from last year it did in fact in the movement to a canadian tie point system they did assert that they had created a temporary worker program that was actually temporary last temporary worker program was exactly the opposite of what they said it was it wasn't temporary at all the big print in the bill last year was temporary guest worker and you know what those workers were and how would actually they carried out a person could come to the united states as a temporary guest worker when you got to the fine print they could come with their family they could stay for three years that  real for another three years another three years and another three years and they get applied for citizenship or a plaque for a green card permanent residence permanent resident status in the united states the first year they were here that was not that was not a temporary guest worker program it was a joke shame and an attempt to mislead the american people so all so forgive me if i'm a little bit it today and how it actually meets with the public presentation of the principles and outlines and framework as stated in the white house power point  it's been my hope that the negotiations would produce a bill that followed the principles laid out in the twenty three white house power point presentation that was that was released in march those were much closer those principles to the framework for a bill that i asked said should be a in any legislation last year i stated that i thought the framework from the power point could produce a bipartisan piece of legislation that could become law but i stated and even this could even become law this year but i had stated clearly i intend on reading the fine print now i haven't had time to read all the fine print but i've had time to read enough to know that i will have to oppose the bill in this current form the questions members should ask themselves is this if we invoke cloture today a last year bill this all bill will the new bill that delayed it will file as a substitute amendment fulfill the promises laid out in the white house plan let's look at the four main principles and see principle wants an enforcement trigger among the first principle the power point promised to secure the us borders and quote not repeat the nineteen eighty six failure before any new immigration programs or green card adjustments could began the white house power point stated that quote enforcement triggers would be met on the several i don't for listed several items were listed under the trigger eighteen thousand three hundred border patrol agents so many miles of fencing the end of catch and release and the initial implementation of the workplace verification system that's the system at the workplace that ends the job magnet that makes it such that they business people will stop hiring people illegally because they'll have to produce a work on a work card identification card it's very very difficult to forge something that i think could be very effective but i don't think this list didn't think this list was going to be exhausted that things i had on their their agenda as a trigger that things would be the only things in the trigger that they would be the only things needed to ensure that we quote secure u s borders close quote and make sure we did not repeat the immediately as a these and probationary status against twenty four hours after department of homeland security begins accepting applications if the trigger is not met it is unclear if that status will ever  name the debate over the trigger it was a very important debate senator isaacson offered something that i had offered in committee and he worked on it and offered it on the floor of the senate and the trigger basically said nobody gets amnesty until we fix this system and the reason that was important was because in nineteen eighty six when that big amnesty occurred they both said ok we're giving you amnesty and an american people we won't have amnesty again we're going to fix the border but we're going to have a lawful n'est at the border but of course it never happened three million people were given amnesty in eighty six they were given that amnesty on a promise that we'd have enforcement in the future and today now we have twelve million people here illegally and then enforcement never occurred so the american people are cynical on this point i am cynical on this point i know how this institution works and so they concept in the trigger was way would insist on the critical components of an enforcement mechanism begin place before any kind of legalization or amnesty  let me tell you some of things that are not in it the u s visit exit system is not included as a requirement of the trigger and nine hundred ninety six eleven years ago congress required the administration there was a clinton administration then the set up a system that recorded the exit and entry of persons are crossed the border i m voted people go to work they put their cards in the machine you get go to the banking check out money by sticking a card in the machine it's not difficult they have an exit entry system at the border if you make up your mind to do so we lie to give ourselves more time to finish the exit portion of the exit portion or not completed we move the day the exit portion from us visit to the end of two thousand the recipients do not overstay you get it it's one thing to be recorded when you come in but if you come in for a thirty day basis you come in for a one year work technologically to accomplish i think is is blowing smoke of course we have the capability of doing this if we desire to do so well it's not a part of the trigger so i'm not sure how valuable it is i have an entry check as part of the us is it but not have the exit j that is important i would say to you if you intend when we pass this bill to actually say it in force and actually have people go all when the bill says they're supposed to go home but if you don't put it in then we've got a problem a separate section of the bill section one thirty own requires the department of homeland security submit to congress a sketch you for developing and deploying the exit component there's no requirement that it be finished as part of the trigger thing said they put a trigger in but is not an effective trigger operational control of the border is not required by the trigger current law requires it by april two thousand and eight the date to secure fence act eighteen months after the secure fence act that i offered and passed was signed into law that the homeland security secretary shall take all actions to determine necessary and all actions the secretary determines necessary and appropriate to achieve and maintain operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the united states close quote eighty senators voted on that last year arrive for the elections that this should be the standard that we would have operational control over the border now only eighteen thousand border patrol agents have to be deployed by the department of homeland security on this day this is three hundred agents less than the power point listed the intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act of two thousand and four requires two thousand new border patrol agents to be hard each year through two thousand and ten so we are already on track to have that many people in the next two or three years we've already funded towering of over fourteen thousand border patrol agents and the h s is already planning on herring the eighteen thousand without coming appropriations well so this  so they're they're being built but that was a key part of the trigger the trigger said we must in the catch and release and some progress has been made to in this situation in which individuals coming across the border are apprehended if they were from mexico it would be pretty easy to transport them back to mexico or to canada if they were on the canada canadian border but what about somebody caught at the border from brazil what about somebody caught at the border from china or in the nasal india are all africa what about that what happens to them what we were doing is kick apprehending showing up so we've ended some of that already secretary chertoff has made some progress in ending that situation where those other than mexicans are actually moved out rather quickly except in a few instances the catch and release provision of the bill there actually conflicts with the bill sponsors claims that the catch and release will be eliminated forever as part of the trigger that section found on page ten lines three through twenty three allows other than mexicans caught at the border to be released on five thousand dollars bond being released on a bond is being released a practice a practice of catch and release the other than mexicans is ended by this bill it just now calls for a bond they provide a five thousand dollars they have some guy out they bring him across and they bring another five thousand bond they can post a bond and be released and immediately into the country and now the questions that came up as a part of the bed space was that to have sufficient prison capacity to detain people while they're being deported instead of releasing them on bail you came in the cat in malaysia if there is no place to hold our persons apprehended the senate has appropriated money for nine thousand new bads already bringing us to a total of twenty seven thousand five hundred bags this is the money already been appropriated is the current level of funding so nothing new is added by this trigger that would strengthen our capacity later in in the bail i separate section one thirty seven requires homeland security to conduct our quar twenty thousand additional beds that should be in the how we know will ever be done while we want to authorize our quar twenty thousand more beds to be built because we've decided we need those but let me tell you american people just because we authorized something like this does not mean in any sense that somewhere down the line a future congress will put up the money to pay for it you can't bail beds places without money what's not appropriated wall bail additionally twenty seven thousand five hundred beds are far less than the forty three thousand detention beds required on the currently on the current law to be in use by the end of two thousand and seven as required by the intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act so we are bhalo what we need to be and that should be in part of the trigger and where to guarantee we are moving in that direction filing there's no guarantee that the additional enforcement items in title one border enforcement entitled to interior enforcement will ever be funded there's no guarantee that the additional enforcement i don't will they funded the phrase subject to the availability of appropriations is used eighteen times and the phrase authorized to be appropriated is used twenty times in the bill we all know that this does not require any money to be available or any a money to be appropriate that should make us nervous ladies and gentlemen that the language in the bill says we'll do this and we'll do that bill the items in title one and tile two the bill but it will be done subject to the availability of appropriations close quote and then they go on to repeat many times monies that are authorized to be appropriated now towards this bill and processing of applications of aliens are fine but they do nothing to make sure the border is secured before the new guest worker and receive program again so i'm disappointed that the promise  and effective trigger is not what we see in the reality of the bail l that's what was in the they frame work and the power point a power point proposed a new program where workers would be admitted for two years and could be room renewed two times for a total of six years each period of admission would be separated by six months at home get that this is what's in this new bill as we understand it in rated so this is going to be a temporary worker program workers would be admitted for two years that can be renewed for two times but but must for total of six sick years but each period would be separated by six months at home so i stated i was very concerned about this time frame argued last that a genuine temporary worker program should be a one year program and that workers would come without their families and for work on my own the max to be about  months was amassing yes and then they would return home to be with their family and that this could be renewed year after a years long as they were being satisfaction employed in the employers are designed to harm again and they had work to but i like the fact that the power point stated this is what they promoted a few weeks ago a month or so ago and the power point that workers would not be allowed to bring spouses or children but can return home for visits  plan the plan invision an annual cap set by the secretary of homeland security in consultation with secretaries of labor and commerce and that to set this cap how many would come secretary good me he thought it might be around two hundred thousand three hundred thousand if workers wanted to apply for green cards the powerpoint stated they would be able to apply a permanent residence a green card but they would have to follow the normal merit based channels and compete for the green card just because you are allowed to go into the program and work temporarily in a low skill jobs did not give you a leg up on somebody who is apply because they have a masters degree in mathematics and that they would have to leave the country when their work period expired even if that grange charge status had not been granted but was pending  central to the success of the project well does the new bill fulfill the principles in principle number two that was stated to us will a truly temporary worker program break created that is comparatively simple and efficient as promised i have to say the answer is no there at least three flaws that will make this program unworkable first of periods of too long the bill sets up a program where workers come for two years at a ten hour really strongly believe one year is a better time period two years i think is just too long and the periods curiously are limited the bill only from from it workers to come for two or three two year period why do you limit that it makes no sense to me to prohibit a worker who's come here for two years gone all in two years gone to continue to work to do every day when they can become a citizen when i may have no desire to be a citizen we were in columbia last year was senator specter met with present your e bay and he talked about their temporary worker program he was concerned he thought united states was being hostile to immigration and he expressed concern about that and he said why don't you do like canada we have people that fly up to canada they work f immigration we're not against workers but we want to make sure the numbers of workers is a legitimate number and if the system works assets them is not working i'd love to have your system clause based on market demand so that the real cap is six hundred thousand a year due to the fact that the bill's market escalator fifteen percent is available in the first year of the program the new program can result in just under one million workers coming into the united states in a second and third year of the program just over a million come in under that program now that it will have an impact on wages in america it will be about nine hundred twenty thousand in year two here those two year programs and nine hundred eighty nine thousand in year three these numbers do not include that twenty percent of workers will be allowed to bring their families with them for their two year stay so instead of complying the promises that we would have a temporary per worker program without families we ended out with twenty percent of the temporary workers to be able to bring their families with them for the full two years so that's what makes this new temporary worker program unworkable families can come with they work the new temporary worker program allows workers to bring their families passes means that could bring children and spouses for thirty days at a time there's no reason for a temporary worker program that should allow workers to bring their families with them workers can easily go home could too at a time the cost of one person to travel would be cheaper than a family to travel for visits allowing workers to bring their families for a visa the two year period or the thirty day period will cause many practical complicated ripple effect now we've got to be serious about this we don't have enough federal people to go out and sort for everybody that's over staying in our country and not complying with the laws we to create a good framework that reduces the number of people that are here illegally so they don't have to be run down and apprehended so they to some of the things that will happen with children coming for two years local school calls will ask lights escalate as children attend scoots the language barrier will create additional problems for no child left behind requirements difficult problems for teachers and principals who have to have a language skills that they didn't have to have before local emergency room and health care costs will likely ask alike so we're creating a magnet for dual citizenship what worker wouldn't want to bring their spouse in during her eight month in pregnancy on a thirty day  this would guarantee that their spouse would receive great medical care during the delivery and would give the child dual citizenship down the road members of congress now supporting to be enforcement a halt when they have to talk about removing a family leaving a child here is a citizen of the united states what will i do then ask admit they will crumble you have to create a situation in which that's not likely to occur not create a bill that in courage is or incentivizes this kind of thing to happen it's just going to be too hard to require that families always have kids don't going to be in screw some can be united states citizens as not going to work temporary worker program in this bill i believe is set up to fi principle three in the power point presentation was a drain card allocations would be adjusted to focus more on merit and chain migration and a visa lottery program would be and this is a good deal that was a good friend civil historic move in the right direction in my view following that canada and australia as i just pointed out as something that was never even discussed last year except basically by me senator mike enzi on the health education labor and pensions committee agreed to have a hearing at my request to discuss that we could never get a hearing in judiciary committee where the immigration bill came forward and we learned a lot about it and i think everybody that learned about the merit based system liked it so the white house power point cited the bill would change the way we distribute green cards to focus more on marriage and described how the current green card system is quote out of balance and quote favors those lucky enough to have a relative over those with talent and education close quote it noted how the united states currently dedicate fifty eight percent of the one point one million green cards issued each year to relatives and only twenty two percent of people selected for the disability this is the chart we had up and it just reflects that this is what united states does fifty eight percent of the immigration was a based on relative ability not marriott the power point noted how in other developed countries canada specifically sixty percent of the green cars go to employment based immigrant selected for their abilities the powerful and described that in the initial years quote diversity vases and some parent preference they says would be used for the merit based selection creating one hundred thousand openings in year one close  in the powerpoint study we would launch a vase of systems that sort applicants according to national needs and married the system was described as a way to quote boost  competitiveness emphasize education and make it quote easier for the best foreign students earning stands as technology engineering and math degrees at u s colleges to stay either describing the merit system describe the implementation of a point system which selects legal permanent resident applicants based on their skills education language abilities and a that's good in you into a value by people who apply based on their skills education language and age well to give you just an inside friends and colleagues into how significant this is we had a temporary we have a lottery anybody in the world from any country can apply to  be a resident of the united states they can submit their name and it goes into a pot and they draw out fifty thousand names out of that pot and if your name is drawn out you get in whether you have any skills married or anything else  then perhaps you couldn't get in if you had a bad criminal record well you know to to give some perspective on the situation the united states now finds itself in i would note to you my friends and colleagues that one million people and the year two thousand i applied for those fifty thousand slots corrected my family staff in the hayden has corrected me how's your hat ours wrong not one million people applied for the fifty thousand lottery slots eleven million people applied for the fifty thousand lottery slots what does this mean if we are trying to establish an immigration policy that serves our national interest what does that mean it means that we have far more people who applied to come to our country then we can ever accept and it professor bor hostage at the kennedy school at harvard himself a cuban refugee has said in his book heaven's door that for a poor person anywhere in the globe coming to the united states is a tremendous benefit to them they will benefit all of them will benefit almost universally they'll benefit by coming here is not a question of whether or not the individual will benefit if they come here it's a question of who can come here since we can't allow and have no capacity to come close to allowing everybody to come to america who would like to come here but what is canada and australia done that i said we're going to set an immigration policy that serves our national interest how common so i believe it was a columnist charles prof timer and one of his columns about this subject mused is there whether or not we should invade like in africa all football draft and look out all over the world and pick the best and brightest that would flourish in america and strengthen our nation and make us a better stronger more vigorous and talented country and has much to be said for that so that was the promise all i'm saying to my colleagues that we were made that this new bill was going to make a move toward the canadian system and there is i some steps in that direction but i would suggest unfortunately not i expressed concern at the time that the white house plan appeared to increase the number of green cards available each year by twenty one of the bill in the k t that one point four million would be available each year we now at one point one also stated it would be critical to examine how the point system was actually written that the actual task had to ensure that low skill workers would not receive preference for green cards over skilled workers even though some business might think that's right to have a bunch of low skill workers that may not be the best thing for the national interest why does the bill this new bill fulfill that principle that we were stated we were told should be included in the immigration bill where the green card allocations be adjusted to focus more on merit will chain migration be end bill will only do a fraction of the good it could have done that's what's so frustrating to me came close and made some progress and we'll talk about that but it could have been solved much better we could've made such a cleaner sisters into the country if you have been made a citizen also i thought it meant you would in the ability to bring in aging parents but that typical of the cutting migration the new bill only stops accepting new chain migration applications bill's sponsors take the numbers they eliminate from chain migration categories about two hundred thousand for a year and then allocate card number freed up through elimination of the visa saw lottery program fifty thousand and also dedicate those numbers to processing not have high scale people but the cha migration backlog application even after a year when chain migration backlog is supposed to be eliminated points for family members will be issued through the merit system so we're creating i still call merit system but list you'd also not to marry but the family six points are given for adult sons and daughters a permanent residence four point four siblings brothers and sisters of citizens and prominent residents and two extra points if you had applied for a chain migration category between march my first and two thousand and five and now so we're giving substantial points tipping value points to lower skilled workers because i happen to be involved in the amnesty process i don't think that's a good pri let me make this phone an american system as proposed in the legislation will not receive quote one hundred thousand openings in year one along close quote as the power point presentation we were given promised for the first five years current employment by the current employment by the salt levels are kept the same one hundred forty thousand until two thousand and fifteen only after eight years rilla number of employment by that skill based green card to be increased to three hundred eighty thousand so in reality chain migration numbers between now and tuesday twenty fifteen will skyrocket chain migration is going to increase until twenty fifth thing the portion of family based migration verses mary migration will be worse than it is today perhaps much worse going to be more chain migration and it will be a worse in terms of merit based migration than exists today several characteristics of the merit based system will work to undermine its stated purpose which is quote to boost u s competitiveness that's a good go to quote emphasize education and quote make it easier for the best foreign students earning stam fast technology engineering and math degrees at united states colleges to stay here and work close quote the merit based system will set aside ten thousand green cards a competing among themselves for the ten thousand annual slots additionally the merit based system includes points for characteristics that love skilled workers in the united states are sure to ha now the words how do you create a temporary worker program that can bring in almost a million people in a two year period that do low skill work and then you create a permanent system of immigration that's supposed to focus on merit but the and then turns around and provide extra points for low skill workers to help them get into this system sixteen point four examples are given for employment in a high demand occupation and this list to be produced by the bureau of labor statistics is secure is sure to conclude jobs in the service industry the construction industry food processing industry insider to polish for a year up to ten are given for the years of work the applicant has done for us firm is a z to see how a temporary worker was allowed to work in the united states for six years will get ten points here and the mines the merit system in many ways so there's a lot of subtleties here now when senator kennedy and the others had their press conference to announce the grand compromise senator kennedy or his staff about that time in the katyn that it was only thirty percent of the people would come into our country based on merit and that not to worry we were still going be as one of his staffers said a family based system chain migration system not a merit based system and if we look these are the people that are here illegally the white house power point described how the proposal would give legal status to illegal aliens currently in the united states through new the visas but would provide them with quote no special path of citizenship close quote as a basis sounded better to me than the plan last year which was very bad and should never have become law th power point told us that as a visa holder would be able to apply for green cards but quote only through regular programs close quote through quote point by merit selection close quote according to the power point is a visa holders would be an eligible for adjustment of status from the us head from the us heads of household would need to return to their home country and follow the normal channel to be admitted into the country on a permanent basis well does a new bill that we have been presented saturday morning at two a fulfilled a principled and contained in principle number fall where the current illegal alien population be treated compassionately but not given a special path to citizenship as i promise and they answer i'm afraid and i'm sad to say is no the new bill clearly creates a system where back current illegal aliens are treated differently than those who tried to come to the united states lawfully it may not be jackpot and misty but is some form of amnesty my definition is banned those who broke the law to come here should not receive every benefit this nation has to offer like those who come  lawfully namely citizenship and certain economic benefits you come on lawfully you should never get those things that's a important process of nine hundred ninety six should have told us that we need to establish family and your children your work and you'll be able to you've been here many years maybe we can accept those kind of compassionate realities but to give them every benefit of citizenship as a result of breaking in a line of having other persons is not the right thing so i was very glad that our republican leader in the senate senator mcconnell when interviewed yesterday by george step on this week drew a line in the sand for republican position on this issue he stated quote one thing is for sure if this bill gives in any preferential treatment towards citizenship well most people who came into the country in the proper way that's a nonstarter well i agree the one thing we can all agree we shouldn't do is trade the illegal alien preferentially so i'm sad to say that after reading the bill i think there are several ways in which the language gives preferential treatment to those toward citizenship to the illegal alien population over people who've waited in line to come the proper way first illegal aliens that rushed across the border between january seventh two thousand and four a day contained in the last years senate bill and gentle first two thousand seven will be eligible for an initiative as soon page to sixty line twenty five of the legislation this includes illegal aliens that have been here a mere five months contained you would at least have to have been in the country before january first two thousand fall this bill says you get amnesty if you are in the country up to january first two thousand and seven just a few months ago  our five months ago we put a national guard on the border we've enhanced our border patrol we've put fencing and all of this but if somebody abate the system last october last november last they samberg thirty first and got into our country they are going to be given amnesty on of this bill that is not sensible it just indicates that we are thinking politically and not as a matter of princip they claim that this bill is necessary because illegal aliens have deep roots in the united states and are therefore impossible to remove this is simply not true in all cases it's not true in all cases for some cases there are tough alien that have rushed across the border in the last few years without their family including those who came just five months ago will be given all the same amnesty benefits as those that have been living here  a more years in the united states and raise children in the united states and never been arrested are there anything wrong the american people may want us to treat the illegal alien population compassionate and they do and they do but there's no reason to lump all illegal aliens into the same amnesty program org our list of when they got here or how deep their roots are into the united states the bill also after may first two thousand and five you've got to start your process all over again a burden to the lawful a to live and work here for ever as long as i are renewed every four years and they have a special point system that allowed the z visa holder to adjust status to permanent status without regard to numerica limits these these are not available to anyone living in the united states they came here to work legally and who will have to go home once their visas expired third under the bill unlike any alien who wants to come a proper way illegally here will get legal status twenty four hours after they apply even if their background checks are not complete forth on of the bill unlike any alien who wants to come the proper way illegal and their property for tyson or removal orders can be way even if they never left otherwise if they have been apprehended in some fashion and then ordered deported and given a removal order and they can still be exempted from that even if they refuse to leave the country as they were ordered to do show if they can to show hardship  and without being subjected to the regular annual numerical limits which is a real advantage would submit to them say my colleague senator bunning here i'd understood he wanted to speak and million people that's because all the word is out all over that we don't enforce our laws and that you can come into this country unlawfully and get away with it now we have to make a decision as a nation will we create a system that's lawful that's principled and that will work will we do that or will we not now i have said in the last couple of years that when we make a proposal someone comes up with an idea that will actually work to enforce our law and end the that's what gets subjected to if you come out with an idea that won't work i will only have an incremental benefit people are glad to pass it and say they did something about immigration he just fully nine feet but doesn't get across and falls to the bottom agood is that that's what we've been doing an immigration law we've been passing a bill they've had lupo after lupo gimmick after gimmick impassibility after and possibility and they've never worked and i think it's god and our base in the congress we and the president have not really wanted to work this time for us to listen to the american people their heart is right on the subject they believe in immigration they believe in a lawful system of immigration that should serve our national interests so it's a pleasure to  and your insight into what has gone on for the last eight weeks can we and thank you for your explanation today on your perception of what is in this bill and i'd like to add a few other comments and i do have a couple charts that are on their way down here so senator from kentucky is recognized mr president thank you i rise to address some of the concerns i have about last week's so called immigration compromise and the way it is being are trying to be shoved through the senate this week last week so called immigration agreement is not a compromise in the traditional sense of the word the proposal was written in secret by a small group of senators and our current administration they came to live where the government respects the individual excuse me this bill may not be a compromise but it is a compromising to this country's economy national security and very foundations as a democracy rooted in the rule of law america is a democracy operating under the rule of law since the very beginning of the american experiment people came from all over this world many many countries with corrupt governments where the lawley applied to some and could be bought by the highest bidder for others they came to live where the government respect it's the individual and where the individual respects the law in our recent history we have seen an alarming increase in immigration from people who don't think they have to wait in line our play by our rules instead of punishing these people a few senators and the administration have crafted a large scale get out of jail free pass no matter what you call it vetoes this bill will grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants all over this country be my wife are nine kids are thirty five grandkids are all descendants of immigrants  have taught our family to be grateful for our nation's rich tradition of immigration but more importantly we have tried to instill in our family a deep respect of law appreciating the contributions that the immigrant brings to our nations does not mean we will surrender the right of our nation and its citizens citizens to decide who comes here like many people in the commonwealth of kentucky and all over this nation i have serious concerns about an immigration policy that rewards law breakers is granting amnesty to those who are lucky enough to be born or get to one of our borders countries and the there are countries enter our country illegally fair to those potential immigrants who have been waiting in other parts of the world i just wonder what message does rewarding those who willfully break the law all send to our nation's young people what message does it send to the rest of the world doesn't it make everyone who's trying to play by the rules rules seem foolish more practically how many people do you think are going to come over our borders are you going to reward five million people for breaking the law all our will it be ten million or maybe twenty million isn't that a distinct and is the to do those who came here only to do our nation harm these are questions that i am willing to get serious about for the american people but does anyone else today we're going to have a vote to move the process forward some things are clear this bill will grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants period it's true it also creates a massive new guest worker program for low skilled workers that does not truly limit cost to the system what remains unclear is how much this great compromise will cost if you look closely the numbers are staggering in two thousand and four there were about four point five million low skilled immigrant households in the united states about five percent of our population and that number has only gone up let's look at this chart each of these households pays about ten thousand five hundred dollars in taxes that's less than almost thirty thousand a year in immediate benefits so they earn our bring in then and they get benefits of thirty that means each low skilled annecy household could cost the american taxpayer approximately twenty thousand dollars each year well actually nineteen thousand five hundred and eighty eight twice what they're paying in let's go to the second ch if we look at a breakdown in what they are receiving that's thirty thousand a year and social security medicare transfer programs cash food housing social services medicare choosing medical care public education and popular and population based services like police fire thirty thousand seems like a pretty hefty welcome basket just for crossing our borders and here shows all the other benefits and it all adds up to thirty thousand six hundred dollars and these are the benefits that i just described will take now to chart three most american families are tax payers during their working years and tax takers during their retirement years not so with the low skilled amnesty family the low skilled amnesty household takes more from the government than it pays in at every level therefore claims that we save souls just curity and other kroger programs by importing young immigrant workers are simply a myth and you can see households under twenty five pay in eight take out fourteen to ninety five household the head of household from twenty five to thirty four ten thousand paid in benefits of twenty five thousand four hundred eighty five households whose head is thirty five to forty four twelve thousand paid in thirty four thousand in benefits all the way down to where the biggest burden is when that immigrant family and the head of that household become sixty five or over they pay in forty five hundred dollars in taxes and other things and receive th irty seven thousand five hundred dollars in benefits the most expensive group of course is the sixty five and older crowd they cost the american taxpayers on an average of almost thirty two thousand every year if we consider only the illegal illegals given amnesty those costs would add up to over and this is kind of shocking if you want to really think about it two trillion dollars that's trillion with a t over the lifetime that's there here from very young when they come in at twenty five to when they become sixty five there are currently eight million non elderly immigrants and low skilled households eight can you imagine the strain on social security when these people reach the retirement age right here where they're receiving the thirty two thousand dollars in benefits that they don't pay and they don't match at that moment the program will be going into crisis at very moment because if you add them now the baby boomers and they will reach the age of sixty five about at the same time our social security system can handle that now what are we to do if we had ten fifteen twenty million more upcoming budget that stifles the economy by levying the largest tax increase on the on ever ever ever on the american businesses and taxpayers and what have we left our kids and grandkids with the biggest bill ever that they will not i say will not be able to pay these may be hard numbers for some people to understand but i would like to talk for a moment about who will be paying these bills look no farther than your neighbor families that have two mid wage earners now fall into the top forty percent of our nation wealthy according to the inner internal revenue code wealthy my daughter amy and her husband are now wealthy with four children to raise a recent study by the tax foundation found that these working families the middle class are carrying the weight of the nation's tax burden on their back and let's not forget about our small business owners forty three percent of the people in the top twenty percent of the tax bracket have business income meaning that they are creating jobs in wealth in our economy can you imagine the effect that continued tax increases which will be inevitable to fund this kind of amnesty program will have on our middle class families and our economy is anyone willing to get serious about this for the american people i don't know about my colleagues but these numbers over two trillion dollars are pretty hard for me to comprehend what is even more bull is that no one is talking about them in fact the senate is being asked to pass this incredible expensive bill in less than one week less than one week how our nation chooses to deal with immigration is one of the most serious questions congress must address our immigration policy directly affects our economy communities the rule of law it requires a thorough thoughtful and serious debate and we should be debating each and every one of these issues that i have put up here on the chart right here on the floor of the u s senate and not rushing to get something through so that the president can sign it but here we are about to vote to proceed to a bill that is not even in bill farm it's three hundred and ninety six written pages by the time it goes into a bill farm it will be close to one thousand pages and you know we don't have a c b estimate on the cost not one see below estimate it didn't go through the committee process at least last year we had one and went through the committee process voted out very sharply spent two weeks on the floor of the u s senate debating it so at least last year we had a much more thorough discussion the bill that we dealt with are dealing with this year is not even been considered in committee and we're supposed to pass it by memorial day that's a seriously flawed process and with the the many questions that we are currently being asked about this bill we need to debate it thoroughly each and every questionable paragraph when they finally get it into bill farm we're going to have a substitute amendment shortly after we pass a bill that means absolutely nothing if they do pass in cloture last year's bill and then the majority leader will move to substitute this new bill would it be interesting if someone objected and made the clerk read every sentence in that bill how long do you think that would take two days maybe more i know the clerk would be very tired by the time the reading of the bill would be over and i'm sure everyone in the senate would realize exactly the seriousness of this bill so i'm asking all my colleagues here in the senate less not rush to judgment on this so called compromise immigration bill that we have before us must consider it like the senate should consider it if we're the most delivered to body in the whole world we should deliberately look at all the nooks and crannies in this compromise bill i ask my colleagues to do this deal the floor and thank from alabama for the time thank you mr president obama i would thank the senator from kentucky and i hope that people heard what he said and saw the am part of the chart he just produced the numbers us so large it almost goes beyond our ability to comprehend but according to the senior fellow at the heritage foundation mr robert rector they to acknowledge experts on social welfare in america the architect of the start welfare reform that work far better than the critics ever said it would work just at a press conferences center bombing posted this morning to give those figures that he said and his opinion of what the correct me said to bonnie but he said in his opinion he started this new added up the numbers for days and weeks and months actually and he came up with the figure to pay point three trillion dollars as a net loss to the united states treasury all over the lifetime of those persons who would be given amnesty out of the twelve million is that basically what he said well with a half million based on the fact that about half of those were not high school graduates that alone was a key does senator yield just for as i have a place i know how desperate some of my construction people are in kentucky my heart's farmers to justify general farm community the service industry is a motels and hotels for workers to be here but they've got to be here in a legal form they cannot be here and cheating to get across the border we have to have legal immigration to service those jobs i don't think this bill gets us there and that is why i have serious doubts it is the right vehicle to take care of those workers we want to make sure good here to service our economy thank you and i agree and we are at the point of needing to start reform i believe we could do that and but we ought to consider what canada and australia new zealand have done to avoid this to lying graduate in law review to lying sort of losing thank you mr president i too rise today to strongly oppose the motion to proceed that will be voting on in a few hours and to strongly oppose this absolute rush to judgment on this bill rushed to pass legislation that will have a huge impact on our country for twenty five fifty years or more want to start by thanking senhora sessions for his hard work in defending senate procedure that is in place for a very good reason reasons to ensure the deliberative process to ensure that important weighty matters get careful careful consideration that's what the american people deserve here and that is what is absolutely threatened by this rush to pass this legislation starting with the most motion to proceed will be voting on in a few hours and i must present the senate is supposed to be the world's most deliberative body yet i and many others senate offices have not have added had adequate time to look carefully at this so called compromise proposal before this very important vote this afternoon the first time the legislation was available to me or any other senator was to i am on saturday and yet right now monday in a few hours we're being asked to essentially start voting on it through the motion to proceed i'm especially disappointed because i join sixteen fellow senators urging the senate leadership to provide one week prior note before we're asked to cast votes on this massive immigration reform bill and rather than one week of course we verily get a day at least of the work week as i said this bill was not available for anyone's consideration until two a m saturday here we are monday about to start voting on this massive massive bill eight hundred to nine hundred pages at least maybe it'll be near a thousand when it's put in proper bill form which hasn't happened yet no committee consideration no committee markups and vetting which is the normal course of action which is at least happened last year during senate consideration of immigration reform senator reid the majority leader rushing urging us to finish this week before the memorial day recess so a massive bill folks haven't had any chance to study yet today and that should tell you something i urge my fellow senators to vote against this motion to rush to judgment because that's what it is and join the american public in urging the leadership to postpone any participated in crafting and that all centers have not had any adequate time to study carefully i was president is an obvious and why are we in the midst of this rush to judgment rush to pass this bill i believe there's a very simple political answer and it is that if the american people fully understood what was buried in this bill there would be a massive outcry against it and senators politicians at heart would have to react to that price i believe that is the simple cold hard political fact that's behind this rush to judgment and rush to pass this bill and of course the biggest item that i would argue falls into that category is the z visa section of this massive immigration reform proposal it would grant amnesty i truly believe there is no other appropriate word for it to millions of illegal aliens who have broken our laws to come into this co who have broken more laws to stay in this country and in many cases get jobs but busy visa section of this proposal better known as xevious that amnesty would give all of these millions and millions of illegal aliens the opportunity for pure and unadulterated and the spin make no mistake this zeevi that is the pure and simple it will wards folks for breaking the law it lets them stay in this country without ever having to return to their homeland forever i have an amendment that will strike the entire text of title six and remove the z visa amnesty program from the bill i hope at least we have time for consideration of that and other crucial amendments and i'll certainly offer this on the when the american public absolutely wants to have all centers votes on record on that amendment and other important amendments again mr president we should not absolutely rush to judgment and rush to pass this bill eight hundred and nine hundred pages are more we don't know because it's not in proper bill form yet language only available to all centers starting to a on saturday and yet here we are monday the first day of the work week rushing to start voting on this bill what's more no estimate of the cost of this measure a cost that will be with us for decades and decades to come no estimate of the cost and today the proponents of the bill has haven't even asked the congressional budget office to start working on asking that which should give you some inkling of what that cost estimate might look like and yet in the midst of this the majority leader pushing for final consideration of the bill this week before we leave this week and yet most of us have only begun to look at his exact language was president surely our founding fathers didn't intend for this to be a legislative process surely they didn't intend  very few to represent the many even in the senate we have one hundred senators who have votes in this spotty all of them not just the proponents and crafters of the bill all of them all of us should have reasonable opportunity to digest a massive bill a legislative process to afford elected officials and our citizens the opportunity to reach a man debate bills and we honestly say that we have honored that principle by going forward with votes on this legislation starting today with the leadership rushing to try to finish the entire process in the senate by the end of the week i asked my fellow senators exists a precedent we really want to establish for future very important legislation legislation like this that will affect our country for decades and  and decades to come clearly mr president this is not the right process and clearly we should have time to read the bill before we start voting on and we don't hear clearly we should have time to hear from the american people about the very important elements in this bill and we don't hear clearly all of us should know the cost estimate of this bill we should get the c b s score before we start voting on this bill and we don't hear and we're not likely to have that score before the end of senate consideration with the proponents not even even having asked it knowledge today clearly something is up with this rush process clearly this should process needs to go on beyond this week through the memorial day recess so we can have an adequate and full national debate that just senate debate but national debate among all our citizens and then be allowed to come back flesh out details offer a more  digested the entire bill on any vitally important matter mr president on any key bill numbering of files and pages or so on any legislation that will affect our country for decades and pose cost in the trillions and trillions of dollars that's the right course of action and one hasta wonder in that context why the senate leadership is pushing for exactly the opposite course of action as president again i urge all of my colleagues however you're leaning on this bill which of only begun to remove the no on this motion to proceed to preserve the integrity of the senate of the deliverer deliberative process and to respect the american people and not to give them as well as ourselves the time to digest all important article saturday and once again we're hearing statements from the people who met to write this bill as we did last year that any amendments threaten the whole thing and it may just not pass in my fall apart if somebody in the senate were to disagree and offer an amendment that was different than something the self appointed negotiators agreed upon and not i agreed upon maybe some outside influences in special interest been working behind the sayings to say this legislation become reality from the beginning i remember last year in the debate i have an exchange with one of my colleagues and they objected to amendments and said that he couldn't do this amendment that  well who was in this room where you all met or you elected to be in this room did outside groups submit information and approve or disapprove various provisions in the legislation are those of people that are going to be unhappy have some member of the senate duly elected by the people there stay disagrees and vote sit down to guess it decide what's in a piece  upset the framework was quote well i would like to have seen the bill follow the framework that secretary good to aries and secretary chertoff provided when they said we're going to have a new bill it sounded pretty good to me that framework but the details of it are not holding up to the principals in that framework secretary gutierrez says quote you take something out and you're creating a problem throughout the system you might think that you're only tweaking one part we've got to be very careful as to what is proposed to change clothes quote in other words i douby mass in with what we worked on now  interest groups also saying to be well and fallen down the quote we're going to lie we're going to fight like mad to fix the parts we don't like close quote said tom snyder the national political director unite here a service workers union comprised largely of immigrants not a normal union a service worker union comprised of immigrants  then a liberal activist to call the manager a good start objective parts but i say they have quote a couple of bites at the apple to change it as it makes its way to president bush said frank cheri the executive director of the national immigration  forum another quote we're not sure that our support for moving forward will continue to be support if the bill approaches the finish line as these problems in it said cecilia munoz the national council seriously and the responsibility we've been given to craft an immigration policy that will serve surely we can all agree that national interests of the united states and the people who live here that just legitimate national interest that got to be the paul starr of what we are doing the guiding star of how we're going to do our work if we don't commit to that then we're going to be in real real problem we're going to be trying to adjust an immigration policy based on special interest groups what they think is important to them in the short run they have your business and can have people if you don't have to have health care for them and they get sick you don't have to take care of them but they can go down to the local emergency room and i have it paid for by the city and the county in which that person not all lives and you gain an economic advantage by i would you want to have a lawful american citizen if you got to have more benefits or pay more wages and this is a real factor we've got to talk about you can bring in another workers and in fact we are already doing it to the degree that it will drive down the wages of days an honest hardworking american citizens and can prohibit them in this time of economic growth and prosperity for seeing their wages rise as as those corporate leaders are seeing their wages rise in this time of prosperity with profits up in fact professor vore haas at harvard has written a book heaven's door himself a cuban refugee is very concerned about the large flow of low skilled immigration workers into america has it for a bit paper from having a chance to progress and make a rise in the ranks and be promoted in and get an even larger paycheck than just the lower scale may have started at right down on the mall not even on the mall right the foot of this capitol building last year doing this to buy i was thinking i saturday morning wall and on individual african american from montgomery alabama spoke to me and i went over in talk to him and i asked him if he was going to visit relatives in new jersey and i stopped by with the family to see the capital and i asked him out what he did and he said he was in the  drywall business in montgomery and i asked him how he was doing and he said well when we first talked about how good the economy alabama is doing and we've got good economic growth and and a lot of building had been going on and i asked him how things were going with him and he said yeah the county in this city is doing wonderful about we're not doing so well as our what you may need so i'm a father started this business as a young man and we've been carrying and so i said why did you think it has anything to do with immigration he said you know i don't have anything against immigrants like him but yes it really has we've lost a lot of work so i'm just saying to my colleagues it's not always true that nobody will do this work sometimes it's a question of whether they will or can do it at a salary and an income level we want them to have a salary  income level that will allow them to take care of their family that will provide a retirement benefit for their retirement our health care for their family if someone gets sick and that thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of individuals like the man just described who are seeing their piece of the economic path being a roadie now people disagree about that and i say it's not so but i would submit to you it's just basic economics from our farmers you know we grow cotton we go call on in alabama if somebody were to bring into this country to demand cotton called the price of cotton the file we'd hear from our farmers people would oppose it and say that's not healthy if they brought in huge amounts of corn to t mpacting adversely the wages of of and of workers in america today is happening do we need immigration do we have jobs  can't be filled by american workers i think so at talk to business people in my state of hannum tell me what's happening in their ideas and i'm convinced we do that's why after a post last year that we create a legitimate temporary worker program the one that would actually work the proposal in last year's bill was breathtaking in its in its a lack of wisdom the bill last year had a provision that called temporary guest worker and then when you read it what it said was that a temporary guest worker could come to america for three years as a temporary worker they could bring their families with them after three years i could really up again for another three years and another three years and another three years and after the first year here th be a green card holder or a permanent resident citizen and put on the road decision show not that's not a temporary worker program and those people were supposed to go home after a certain period of time but the way t you to go back home to mexico or honduras on our wrong on channel wherever they may have come from that's not a practical solution that makes no since we know we we're not going to want to confront that kind of situation so we objected to that and urged the end that they have a legitimate temporary worker program and a legitimate program that temporary worker program would mean that the worker came here throughout the world today groups from colombia are apply and they go to canada and they work for season him return home to colombia and never have any problem with this and i don't bring their families they don't settle in for three years and then expect to go back home or are part of the government of can expect them to go home they've created a system that actually works  on common sense and human nature you know what i suggest is that we create a genuine temporary worker program where people could come to our country to meet those needs certified by the department of labor and that are in crisis for example not colleague senator vitter from and a new on that i've talked about the hurricane as a national crisis they are not enough workers to do the roofing and other things that need to be done that would provide a basis for the department of labor to allow temporary workers maybe more than normal take on the united states to help through this crisis program and you could do that and still not pull down the wages of american workers and fill in critical ne in the united states it must be a system that does not allow families to be brought in adelaide strong urge my colleagues let's have a temporary guest worker program that allows people to come for ten months and no more  spend at least ten month at home and with a good idee they could go back in home for home during the year if they chose to that would work if they're well some companies aren't seasonal some companies need people all year well you could stagger the number by heaven sakes you know you used to return home period you could be staggered in maybe you would need on a given business to twelve workers instead what you could cover the whole period but the system would be clear that the person comes just a temporary work in the go home and frankly i'm not aware of why we would want to say that should end and you know as long as a person wanted to come along as a business wanted them to there to work on o c black they should should be required to end after six years or eight years or however many now under this bill what we find is on the temporary worker program that's supposed to be without family we found that twenty percent of them do bring their family not only that  they don't come for one year or less they come for they don't come for one year or last they would come for two years have to go home for six months come back for two years go home for six months come back for two years go go home and never return which is sort of weird to me so i'm just not sure that's been thought out carefully abla we could create a better more practical immigration system that way could be we could be proud o b and they would actually work and provide that amount of labor we really need in our economy without having an amount that depresses the wages of american workers but we've got to be careful about that we really really do as a senator corker from tennessee here my neighbor super mayor of chattanooga just across the alabama line to be in alabama thank you for this moment i arrived today to express concerns expressed concerns over the speed at which this legislation is making addressed this week i want to thank the many senators and all the staff members who have worked for for weeks and months to put forward a piece of legislation a piece of legislation that we received one fifty eight on saturday morning this is a condensed form mr president and then it's bigger form it will be three times this size this evening at six o'clock i'm going to be meeting with other senators to walk through this legislation to say it's an impact on the citizens of this country to say it's an impact on neighborhoods on public hospitals all and schools all counties on judicial systems on sherrod's on businesses on people throughout the this conference many of the pieces of legislation that we deal with in this body are piece of legislation that deal with with tax free fall on their piece of legislation that may deal with a program i don't know of any piece of legislation that touches as many people and as many ways as this piece of legislation does and so what i arrived today to do is to encourage my fellow senators to take a break to give us the opportunity to actually digest this legislation again thanking the senators who spent so much time and giving us a piece of of warke here for us now to debate but i arrived today to encourage my my fellow senators not to rush into this debate to give us the time to actually look through the intricacies the intricacies of this bill to see out affect everyone involved because this is one of the most major pieces of legislation that we will deal with in this congress my attempt today is in the know why to stonewall and no way not to deal with an issue that is important to our country but instead to make sure that way the greatest deliberative body in the world that we actually deliberately that we actually look at this veil and detail that we actually take our responsibility seriously i have great concerns over the content of this legislation my guess is that many of the people involved in drafting this legislation have great concerns over this legislation we all should take the time this week to go through to look at what this legislation actually says to hear from groups that are actually affected seriously by this piece of legislation take our normal recess or work the road if we made but come back and then as the greatest deliberative body quote in the world to actually s noun and deliberate and actually debate this legislation again i have great concerns that is not the reason yet that i'm rising here in the united states senate i'm rising today the police to please ask our other senators to to join me with caution to make sure that we put forth a piece of legislation that truly reflects the values of this country and addresses this emigre an issue in a way that it all to be addressed thank you mr president for the time i yield my time back to the great senator from the state of alabama  the more i see that you have to be realistic and practical and thoughtful and principled if you want to make this system work and we are a long way from there  said earlier about the cost of this bill is important for us to consider we my have i understand some work is being done on a  score i don't know if that's true but i've heard that that's going to rise above the budget obviously is attempting to score this but it's difficult to know they can't get a real score because we don't even have the bill in fallen yet it's still referred to as a draft and hasn't been introduced so until something is actually introduced there's no way we can get a score but i mean tell you a little bit about the way this thing was handled last  we asked those of us who were concerned about it i asked for a score on the bailout from the congressional budget office to find out how much it would actually cost and we got a  bling number and we use that sound right a day maybe a day before we had final votes and then a month or so later we got a a more complete score from the congressional budget office i don't think that bill now money that exploded from that the money we spent on enforcement that in count that this is based on lost tax revenue it was based on welfare directed benefits on to people who would be have been legalized under that bill how much more they would draw from the treasury and they would pay into the treasury and they came out with a cost of one hundred and twenty six billion dollars over ten years and a bit lie last year's bill this bill puts things off for ten years that's what the budget office scores normally on a ten year cycle and i scored on that basis and that's how they came up with one hundred twenty six billion but when we i asked them and once that i believe the public hearing what about the next ten years they said citizenship was delayed by that they all they were legalized in our country they could stay but they didn't get a permanent resident status which gives you many welfare benefits and the benefit it and citizenship until the second teen years you understand that that's when the big money is out there that's what robert rector told us that day at this press conference that's what his study at heritage foundation points out and he convinced us all last year one thing you know here is much as you used to we need this immigration flow of these hard working on a low skill immigrants they do a good job force and that's going to help us with social security and medicare because we're an aging population we need those people come into the country that's going to help us with so security medicare now mr rector demolished that argument i mean it is completely bogus it is off the table i hope nobody will suggest that anymore those are the people i said call the masters a universe up in wall way he has explained it last year and today with tremendous passion at a press conference half of the twelve million people here at least after maybe more maybe sixty percent different estimates do not have a high school degree some of them are illiterate even in their own language and he's studied the numbers on that they use the proportionate number on a low scale and an educated workers and he demonstrated as senator bunning just told us now that it's not this year not next year that the crisis hits us but it's in the out years in you know what he said he said they will begin to draw the largest amount of money about stand up but baby boomers drawing the biggest amount of money out of the u s treasury and medicare and solves as a curate he will be damage tremendously bad this program you know is hard to talk about that it's painful to talk about it in those terms i gotta tell you you just hate to do that but i mean a nation like canada and has had to deal with it and i wrestled with it and they decided that it makes common sense for them since they can't accept everybody they would like to come to canada they would overflow the country in the more people want to come than i can accept that they would accept people who have a job skills the education the language skills that will bank in mississippi could cast a j i was winning the argument well then we started finding out they were getting billion dollars the volatile oriole guy got two billion dollars two thousand three hundred billion dollars is what that is pretty soon you're talking about real money and it is just we've got to think about  we've got think about it and i hope that we will very much i would just raise it as a moral issue because remember now friends we have a certain zero sum game we will put and also an level on the number of people that can enter our country the question is who will enter our country we know is i noted earlier themselves to be acceptable so since we can't take everybody let's write this question on to the current wall here's the charge for the immigration officials you've got a  person who dropped out of high school who hasn't done very well and has no english skills but has a brother in the united states that's a citizen compare that to our knowledge young man in honduras he finished at the top of his classes valedictorian a took english classes because he wanted to take english you know people all over  america learn all of the world learn english today it's an international language millions of people know english all over the world so it's so we know that he took a lot of technical and college courses he could get there you had a couple of years in college and they both a plot of a citizens who get in well the answer is crystal clear that one the brother with no education no skills is going to get an in the autumn and will have zero chance to get in what about all we need family reunification everybody becomes a citizen need to be able to bring their parents why george groups are saying that i ask why if somebody leaves their family goes the united states of america decide to be an american citizen now feels they have a constitutional right to bring their aging parents and to be taken care of by the american health care system why do you why is that and if that parent is brought in if that parent is brought in it denies that young parson in honduras who has worked hard studied hard to learn english and dreams of being an american and dreams of the opportunity of come to this country because you will have a limit to how many people can come say if you can accept everybody what basis do you use to decide who gets to members of this group that are negotiating this bill said they were going to you can move to the canadian point system merit based system that is really the right thing for us to do it only makes common sense it's what australia new zealand as well as canada is doing and i understand the brits are moving in that direction i think they are in the netherlands in other dance countries to we ought to be moving in that direction and i am disappointed that the move was so small and such an start i mean it manes it well it might change on the floor of the senate and then it could go to nancy pelosi in the house of representatives and they may take out all the m system or it could go to conference where the conference committee will be followed to work out differences between the house bill and the senate bill and who will dominate the conference harry reid and nancy pelos she will put on a majority of the house members and harry reid to appoint a majority of the senate members and the building comes right out what they say is going to be in it and senator a just a while ago testers  kate is concerned about a move away from family migration so i don't know i'm nervous about this thing here we go we're going to get together and hit the  throw out a point system a merit based system like candy and this is going to be a big deal and we all buy it and it's not dire but i get hooked and i'll tell you what we do know is it's a very very small step maybe an important step but a small step according to senator kennedy and his press conference and his statements through his staff they a ten percent sol is going to increase the merit based immigration into america that's what he said he says to the people that the left is groups at all been hollering about this and objecting he ah worry it's really not into it it's not really a point system at all he said is staff i believe his press secretary said flat out this is a family based immigration system now you tell me what it is canada got this sixty percent australia sixty two percent on merit by now very happy with that i have met with the the director of the canadian system i met with an individual from australia that's involved with it i asked him how it was working out are they happy yes they are they consider things like well if you will only go to a more part province the navy's workers you get more points for that serves a canadian australian interest odd things like that could be made a part of a thoughtful bill that we don't have here i'm a n it's rector explained this to us last year saying you fail at heritage you get a sort of a skewed picture if you type the smaller number who come to america with any college she says just two years of college or above they do tend to do fabulously well laid and they demand to be very successful they've been thin and their children almost never go on welfare they pay their  medical bills they do well and they prosper many of them are providing scientific expertise at maybe the cure of cancer and diseases in the capable stuff that has tremendous  benefits to us but when you add them all up on average it out it makes a fundamental system look better than it is but if you take the lower skilled workers if they should then that's th productivity is not as great so i would just say this i do not believe we ought to create a system that they're not as people who come in a nation lay on a lower skilled work force basis the right to apply and compete on a merit basis so you choose to come as a low skilled worker you work as a bricklayer or something of that kind you take advantage of junior college courses and you learn english and and you learn gets a few hours or some years of credit in college and then you apply they should be very competitive they'll know english probably bought it so if a person is we're not creating an underclass that gives him no chance to apply and what the system should apply asked suggest in such a way that the temporary workers can apply for permanent resident status and compete against anybody else and i believe that could work and we have very little increase in the bill as we see it in the high skilled workers  ve haven't made a lot of progress toward toward dealing with those many of the half a league educated people who graduate from our best universities from foreign that come here they vanish at the top of their class non university and we're often send them straight home and we have a strong feeling i think that we should fix that but our immigration policy a policy that serves our national interests our legitimate just national interest and that will secure our border and create a lawful system these goals will not be accomplished by last year's bill and that's what we'll be voting on in a few minutes cloture on last year's bill which i have a great deal of  concern with and could delineate a host of reasons why it's a total disaster and they won't be accomplished with a new bill that we are being forced through today  so that's a concern for our side do believe that the principles set forth in the powerpoint presentation really attracted my attention i got my interest because i thought it was a move on a framework that last year's bill had which was a failed framework to a framework that could actually be affective to accomplish what we want i am disappointed almost heartbroken because we made some progress toward getting to this new framework but the political   the ball by ball and now we're going to be sorry i would suggest that my colleagues say now is the time to pass a bill i agree but i would say is in addition let's pass a good bill that's right and i say my colleague from nebraska senator nelson and not believe he wanted to share some remarks and be glad to yield to him in a moment and would just say that i appreciate his service to the country on armed services committee i just was a member of his delegation we got back a affective leadership on immigration a place to yield to you at this time the senator from nebraska the president i rise today and i thank my colleague from alabama and it's true that we did have a very eventful trip to iraq to talk about what needs to be done there and that today it's the opportunity rice to discuss the concerns that i have with the latest attempts by some of my colleagues to push forward with a comprehensive and i put that in quotes immigration reform bill mr president we've been here madam president we've been here before last year the senate pushed through a mammoth bill that sought to reform our immigration laws on a comprehensive basis and yet as predicted that bill sailed it was a do everything bill that ended up doing nothing well here we are again this year watching efforts to push through another do everything bill what's more this year the language has yet to be finalized and certainly no member of this body has been given the kind of time needed to review the proposal and analyze its provisions our immigration system is broken but apparently so is our system for fixing it that's why last year i tried to change the debate on immigration reform and along with my colleague senator sessions and our other colleagues senator coburn we introduced a bill that focused solely on the most important component of immigration reform and the first component of immigration reform border security last year during this debate i tried time and time again to convince my colleagues that a comprehensive bill would get nothing accomplished at that we needed to concentrate on securing the border first and today we find ourselves right back where we were last year debating a comprehensive bill that hasn't been finalized and hasn't been given proper consideration and that again will not achieve any of the goals that we had so again this year i emphasized to my colleagues we must concentrate on border security first we can only hope to solve our solve our immigration problems if we take it one step at a time there are three steps to resolving this problem first is border security second is fixing legal immigration and the process of legal immigration and the third is addressing those who are here illegally now we can take steps one and two at the same time and so we made some progress on the first step last year we passed the secure fence initiative and the folks at d h s have made some progress on fencing and securing the border we should give the border security provisions a chance to prove that they will work and can affect and stop illegal immigration but instead we're being asked to jump to step three before steps one and two are completed madam president we need to concentrate on accomplishing border security first as the first step or the first leg of this stool and we still have a lot of work to do to fix our current system of legal immigration why would we jump to this step and reward those who are here illegally and effectively punishing those trying to enter this country legally the right way the current immigration process has left so many people frustrated with trying to do the right thing and enter this country illegally clearly we should make sure to help those individuals first as i've said time and again we need to close the back door to illegal immigration while we open the front door to legal immigration instead this bill adds more complications and more complexities to our legal immigration system th is currently overworked with backlogs and long wait lines and times for people who want to enter this country the right way we can change the letters for a visa from a from a to y or z and expand expected to work better we can add some complicated and difficult points system and expected to work we have to fix the system for illegal immigration not make it more complicated and even more unworkable this bill will just add more problems onto a broken system we're just digging ourselves deeper and therefore i believe that only after we've accomplished the first two steps which we can do together and  demonstrate that we have made considerable progress toward solving those problems only then so be proceed to the third step and to turn our attention to handling the ten or twelve or more million or more people that are  here legally we must secure the borders for that we don't have millions more illegal immigrants if we don't will only encourage million more millions more to cross the border illegally in the hopes of being part of the amnesty offered under this legislation and what i've seen and read thus far i think that this bill is only about half right since it has a serious series of so called trigger series of so called triggers the current time for my certainly seems to recognize that we do have to do border security first so if we recognize that we cannot solve our immigration problems without first securing the border then why do we continue to insist on mixing in a comprehensive provisions at the same time if we can understand the need for triggers based on border security and workplace enforcement then we should understand that we cannot solve this problem all at once why do we continue to rush to pass them comprehensive measure when we could approach this problem one step at a time i propose that instead of triggers we should consider only passing those provisions dealing with border security enforcement and those provisions dealing with work site and interior enforcement instead of pushing through everything once we need to start solving the problem at the border and working from there in conclusion madam president vote for cloture on the motion to proceed but not because i support the underlying bill i will support only because i hope we can significantly improve this bill so that it addresses the problem properly at the border first and then fixing the legal immigration system if we don't come up with a bill that properly addresses the issue the way i believe it needs to be addressed then i will not be able to support the final product to vote to give us a chance to create a bill that focuses on security the border first and that fixes our broken system for legal immigration not however senator from alabama to recommend i had time set aside is that time expired how much time is left senator you have one minute and twenty seconds remaining well as my colleagues here i thank senator nelson for his work on immigration last year and this year and i see others here prepared to speak and would yield back the balance of my time and time to chair thank you immigration reform for our country first to the majority leader senator reid for having kept the feet to the fire of this chamber so that we finally will be have an opportunity to move on to one of the most important  national security issues that our that our nation faces today and so i appreciate his effort and his leadership to help lead our country in a way where we deal effectively with this very difficult and contentious issue of of immigration reform and also thank the president the united states president bush and his cabinet secretary chertoff and secretary gutierrez for the work that they have done in our last three months as we have tried to put together a comprehensive immigration reform proposal that will work for our country and i want to thank my colleagues here in the senate both republicans and democrats who come together in good faith to try to deal with this very important issue i know that we have a long week ahead of us as we move forward with the immigration debate reform proposal here in the u s senate but i'm confident that at the end of the day the national security this country will require of us to move forward with the passage of legislation that will bring our nation into the twenty first century realities of the immigration challenges that we face as i approached this debate and have worked on this legislation over the last four years i'm mindful of several things first that this is not a new debate this is a debate for last year for one month we spent one month of the time of the united states senate on this floor dealing with the very same issues that we're going to deal with again so for those on the other side who might say this is coming upon us too fast i will simply remind them of two things first we spent an entire month dealing with immigration reform last year and were able to get a bipartisan consensus to vote a bill out of the senate last year and secondly we were given very ample warning by senator re when he said to all of us that this was an important issue that we would be working on it in the last the timeframe of maybe for the memorial day break and so here we are now the time has arrived and we must not let our country down we must move forward and deal with immigration reform in a way that makes the most sense as i approach this issue i ask myself the following questions what is the aim here what is the aim here well the aim here is about the national security of the united states how is it that we are going to provide a greater amount of security to the united states of america in my view the bipartisan legislation that has been put together is a tough law and order bill and a real bill a realistic bil provides realistic solutions it's not a bill that is liked by the bomb throwers who want to essentially not have any progress on immigration reform because they would rather that the big go on not two years not five years but ten twenty years a it's not about satisfying them this issue really from our point of view is making sure that the national objectives are objectives that we are able to address so let me just talk to you madam president to let you know what it is it's on my mind as we move forward with th debate first we need to secure our borders we need to secure our borders as a nation we have a sovereign right to make sure that our borders are secure as a nation that is very concerned rightfully so about the threats of terrorism it's important that we know who it is that's coming in and leading our country we need to know that our borders are in fact secure second of all we need to know that the laws within our country are in fact laws that are being enforced for far too long on the issue of immigration what is happened is that our enforcement mechanisms of our country have looked the other way and that has allowed a system of lawlessness and illegality to continue in this country so we need to have a system of law that will  back be inforced that honors a fundamental value of our nation which is that we are a nation of laws for us simply to look the other way is not the american way this bill will accomplish that and third we need to secure the future of america's economic realities and challenges and we do that with a process that will penalize those who are here illegally that will have them pay a fine that will put them at the back of the line that will require them to learn english that will require them to remain crime free and then and then if they survive a purgatory on average eleven years at that point in time then they would be eligible for a green card so for those on the other side of the aisle who might say that this is an issue of amnesty they are wrong when you have to march through that kind of pain and pay the fine and do the time for having violated the law it is far from anything that anyone should be labeling i just briefly spend a few minutes talking about each of these components first securing america's borders it is true that there are about half a million maybe six hundred thousand people that come across our borders illegally every year and so we have done in this legislation that we have crafted together as we have required that there be a set of triggers to have to be met with respect to securing our borders well really we will require that there be eighteen thousand border patrol officers that are helping us secure our borders we will require three hundred seventy miles of fencing to make sure that in those areas that are vulnerable in our border that those areas are secure we will require two hundred miles of vical barriers in other places to make sure that that border is secure both in the south and as well as in the northern northern and we will require seventy ground based radar and camera towers so that we can keep a watch on the entire border we will require seven  aerial vehicles to make sure that we know what is happening across our borders and will require new checkpoints for ports of entry across our borders so madam president madam president when this legislation is introduced when this introduce when this the decision gets passed and this legislation gets implemented as it will be one thing that we can tell the american people is that we will have a secure border but securing our borders is not enough because the other aim has got to and forcing our laws within the interior of our country some people say that it's the illegal entry across the southern border that has led to the current reality of twelve million undocumented workers here in this country but the fact is that many of the people who are undocumented workers here in america entered this country through legal means they simply overstayed their visas time and time and time again in fact it's estimated that probably more than one third of those who are here illegally actually came into this country illegally and so we need to create a system madam president that will make sure that at the end of the day we are in forcing our laws within our country against those who are here illegally well what we've done that we've done that in a variety of ways in this legislation we increase the detention capacity to twenty seven thousand twenty seven thousand five hundred beds daily we add one thousand new ice investigative personnel we add twenty five hundred new custom and border protection workers we require the reimbursement the state and local communities who detain criminal aliens we create a new employer verification system we require a thousand new work site compliance personnel and i could go on and on and on with respect to how this legislation will create interior enforcement on immigration that will be effective for our country and finally madam president the third thing that this legislation does is it secures america's anomic future it's a curious america's economic future first of all through the adopted option of a program with senator craig and senator feinstein and i think sixty seven of us of course sponsored the ag jobs program because we know that across america our farmers and ranchers are suffering because they have not had the labor that they needed to have we also have included in this legislation the president's new temporary worker program and it's a program that will allow employers to match up with employees on a temporary basis will come into this country and create circularity with respect to those workers and finally it will create a realistic solution for america's undocumented workers the twelve million people or s here and that will be accomplished by requiring that requiring them to pay significant penalties and fees we will make sure that as they move forward in this process that they also go to the back of the line they don't get any advantage over those who would enter into the country illegally will require them to return home prior to the time that they apply for a green card or require them to learn english and will require them to remain crime free than a president let me just conclude by urging my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to proceed the time is now for us to deal with this immigration reform issue which is so difficult and so contentious at the end of the day this bipartisan proposal which we have put on the table will allow us first of all to secure our borders that will allow us to make sure that we're in forcing our laws here in the united states of america and third of all it will deal in a realistic and humane manner with the economic realities that face our businesses and our workers senator from massachusetts mr president i want to thank my friend and colleague from colorado for his statement and comment and also for is inspired leadership on this this issue and he brings to this issue a knowledge and understanding and a perspective which is a very special in terms of any issue and particularly on this issue so i enjoyed working with him and look forward to continue to work with him i hope our colleagues listen carefully to his message because as others in this body but certainly he has demonstrated a thoughtfulness about this issue as so many others and a very strong balance judgment on the say question so i i thank him as always for an excellent a presentation and look forward to continuing to work closely with him as we move through this whole debate on whether we are going to take the opportunity to mend our broken immigration laws i think the senator from colorado that i'm president today we take up for the solemn task of immigration never form not just because we may but because we must our security is threatened in the post nine eleven world by borders out of control our values are tanishq when we allow twelve million human beings to live in the dark shadows of abuse as undocumented immigrants are condom is harmed when our immigration system fails to protect the american dream of a good job and decent wages and our competitiveness in the global economy is at risk when our employers cannot fine the able workers that they need our immigration system is adrift and urgently needs an overhaul from top to bottom the answers are not simple or easy we cannot meet this challenge by simply building fences we need comprehensive and commonsense solutions that meet the immigration needs of this century we begin this debate mindful that immigration issues are always controversial there are strong views on every side of this question because the issue goes to the heart of who we are as a nation and as an american people but we should remember in this that debate that we are writing the next chapter of american history immigrants made the america today and will help make the america of the future i am reminded of this awesome responsibility each time i gaze from the windows of my office in boston i can see the golden sta from boston harbor for all eight of my great grandparents have put on this great land for the first time they walked up the boston immigration hall on their way to a better life for themselves and their families so many americans can tell similar stories of ancestors who came from somewhere else some build our cities some toil on our railroads some came in slavery others to raise their families and live and worship in freedom that immigrant spirit of limitless possibility animates america even today today immigrants harvest our crops care for our children and own small businesses they serve with pride in our armed forces seventy thousand and all at this very moment many are risking their lives for america iraq and afghanistan immigrants contribute to scientific discovery the culture and the arts they help make our economy the most vibrant one on the planet our strength our diversity our innovation our music our hard work our love of country our dedication to family faith and community these are the fruits of our immigrant heritage and the source of our natural strength they have made america the envy of the world  as president kennedy so eloquently wrote the secret of america is that we are a nation a people with a fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore a new front two years people eager to build  for themselves in a spacious society that did not restrict their freedom of choice and action last week we reached an historic agreement on a far reaching bipartisan immigration plan that lives up to this heritage involve hard negotiations between democrats and republicans and has the support of president bush our plan is strong realistic and fair it is a commonsense immigration policy for our times it's tough at the border it doubles our border patrol from fourteen thousand agents to twenty eight thousand hires eight hundred new investigators eight hundred  smuggling offices it builds more fences and more detention centers and provides more of the state of the art high tech border enforcement equipment it is tough on employers who hire illegal immigrants in defiance of the law today it's too easy for an employer to hire an undocumented worker and pay them substandard wages in sweat shops and dishes that hurts american workers it to presses wages it allows employers to avoid paying payroll taxes our bill says no more worker abuse under our plan employers must verify that they hire only legal workers if they don't they can pay fines of up to five thousand dollars for a first seventy five thousand dollars for subsequent offenses they can even go to jail our bill says that these tough enforcement measures must be in place first before we move forward with changes in future immigration future work is cannot come in until we've doubled the border patrol build more fences enhanced our equipment and technology along the border and the employer verification system has begun its enforcement first and future work is later our plan also addresses the twelve million undocumented immigrants who are in america today they have something to contribute they are men and women of dignity they work hard every day they care for their families they revitalize decaying neighborhoods they sit in our pews on sundays we witness this recently in my own state of massachusetts an immigration raid in a bedsit disrupted the lives scores of families would lay down roots in the debate for community their children were in our schools many of them born in america they worked every day in factory making equipment for troops in iraq we are not going to round up these twelve million men women and children and send them home that's not the american way that's not the american way so our plan allows these families  the privilege of remaining here and working legally they have to pay a five thousand dollars fine over an eight year period they have to work and pay taxes they have to learn english they cannot be criminals or national security risk and they must obey our laws the heads of family must make a trip home or a day or two sometime in the next eight years to submit their application for a green card at american consulate just like other immigrants applying to come here then they are guaranteed the right to come back to america right away to rejoin their families while they wait for their green card applications to be considered finally they have to get in line for their green cards behind everyone else was been waiting to come here illegally if they meet these tests they'll be welcomed into the sunshine of america they'll have no fear  coming forward and joining the american family they will not be deported instead we welcome them as our neighbors as our friends as future citizens of this great land our plan also continues to stress family reunification a longstanding tradition under our immigration laws today if you're trying to bring your relatives here legally you might have to wait twenty two years to get a visa for them as a result this backlog four  million family members of american citizens and legal immigrants are on the waiting list to come here our plan expedite the reunion of these families and eliminates the waiting lists in eight years in the future our plan continues to make family reunion a high priority it says if you're an american citizen or a legal immigrant you can bring your immediate family here to join you and your wife husband minor children and your parents  of the one million green cards we issue each year two thirds will be dedicated to reuniting these families but under our plan more distant relatives will no longer i have an automatic right to immigrate they must first prove that they have the skills education and english abilities to contribute fully to our economic strength finally our plan recognizes that our economy will continue to need hard working people who are willing to come here for a few years we protections and protections of their jobs and wages our plan is a compromise it involves give and take in the best traditions of the united states senate for each of us who crafted it there are elements that we strongly support and elements we believe could be improved no one believes that this is a perfect bill but after weeks of negotiation and years of debate this bill accomplishes our core goals it provides tough new enforcement at the border and the work side it allows a realistic path to family security and eventual citizenship for millions of men women and children already here and it provides a new system of allocating  in the future that stresses family reunion and national economic needs i don't madam president usually quote republican presidents but president reagan understood the energon role that immigration plays in our country's future as he said so eloquently in one of his last speeches before leaving the white house this is what he said we lead the world because unique among the nations we draw our people our strength from every country in every corner of the world and by doing so we continuously renu and enrich our nation while other countries cling to the stale asked here in america we breathe new life into dreams we create the future and the world follows us into tomorrow thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity we're a nation forever young forever bursting with energy and new ideas and always at the cutting edge always leaving the world to the next frontier this quality is vital to our future as a nation if we ever close the door to new americans our leadership in the world would soon be lost going the world is watching to see how we respond to the current crisis let's not disappoint them i urge my colleagues to vote to proceed to this debate and so support our new plan mr president we have two of our colleagues on our side the senator from south carolina to recognize what is the status of the time allocated to the time remaining on the republican side is thirty eight minutes and forty five seconds to ask you know consent be recognized for ten minutes finally dealing with an issue that i think the country would love to have dealt with the years ago we're on the verge of doing something big and important there are many reasons why you never do the big things and the hard things that's why they stay unresolved  the country is running out of time on this particular issue that think of think of reasons why we won't solve this problem before nine eleven i would argue that illegal immigration was a social and economic problem after nine eleven i would argue a national security problem we have millions of people in our country roaming around we don't know who they are and what they're up to the good news is most of them are here unfortunately legally to work and try to make something of themselves and add value to our economy is clear from fort dix new jersey and maybe other things to come there's some people here illegally that are up to they're up to no good they want to hurt us they hijackers on nine eleven all of them came here most of them overstay their visas that didn't come across the border they had four or five fake driver's license it should be a wake up call to this country that we have people in our midst that we don't know who they are and there's no way to find out who they are but one thing that of the senate i hope will agree upon is if you wanted to you could get a social security card made by midnight tonight somewhere that would pass for the real thing and when you drive by a construction side and you see people working her has banneker other other folks that you think are here outside the country abot you every employer has documentation on file that appears to be legal is almost a nightmare for employers to comply with the current system people tell me enforce the law if you can enforce this law you're doing better than anybody since one thousand nine hundred sixty there's a reason that this has happened did twelve million people come here because we don't have a way to bring people here legally so they can work in a legal status we're not having there not enough americans doing these jobs unemployment is below five percent it is illogical to say that this workforce this illegal workforce is driven americans out of work we're at historically low unemployment we need workers but what we need more than anything else is we need to be able to secure our border control who comes on our terms have verifiable information about what status you're in because if we don't do that then what happened on nine eleven is more likely to happen again so there are many reasons to say no to this bill there are many reasons to say no to someone else's proposal but there is no good reason to not solve this problem and i do hope that those who come down on the floor to amend this bill to make it better that you will latest a better solution those who come down on the floor with the goal of taking this bill down you feel some obligation to substitute it with something else that could pass democracy is a wonderful thing now is a must a convention in tell me i don't like compromise i said well don't run for office because this is all about compromising in it's energy candy it really is what i like about my country is that republicans democrats and independents historically have been able to do the hard things to make us a better nation to my friend from florida senator martinez you've been a delight to work with breaking the law is something that's occurred in large proportion when it comes to immigration the reason people have been breaking the law to this extent is that the rest of us haven't been that excited about enforcing it i think the rest of us have sorta looked the other way and allowed the illegal immigration problem to grow because we haven't asked the hard questions about where all these people coming from and what are they're doing there are a lot of people to their credit have been very upset about this issue for a very long time i think many people in this country have gotten the benefit of this a legal workforce in terms of the labor and sort of turned their eye and now everybody's looking added a new to those who have been shouting from the rooftops that the immigration system is broke and you have done us a great service to those who believe that illegal immigration is a national security threat an economic threat a social threat you've done us a great service but you're not going to do us a great service if you just chat about the problem i want you to do more than tale me it's broken and it's fixed i want you to do more than just tell me lindsey graham and ken salazar get it wrong i want you to do what w does that's the only thing i ask of any colleagues in any of my colleagues set out with a democrat and republican try to fix it and good luck because it's ours and you can come here  american public we've got to do some of that this illegal immigration problem do more than just shatter amnesty if you think say an amnesty of zob jew from having to participate in this debate you're wrong this debate is about the future of the united states when it comes to our national security our employment maids our ability to compete with the world for the labor force that exists and at the heart of this debate it is about who we are as a faithful now tomorrow i'm going to read a report issued by the government about immigrants and some of it very  very let me give you a preview as a class the new immigrants are largely on skill labor was coming from countries where the highest wage is small compared to lowest wage in the united states they bring  of money into the country and they send or take a considerable part of their earnings out more than thirty five percent are literate as compared with less than three percent of the old immigrant class the new emigration movement is very large there there are a few if any indications of this natural abatement the new immigration coming in in such large numbers has provoked a widespread feeling of apprehension to  effect on the economic and social welfare of the country they usually live in cooperative groups and crowd together consequently they have been able to save a greater part of their earnings much of which is then are carried abroad moreover there is a strong tendency on the part of the unaccompanied man to return to the name of countries after a few years of labor here these groups have low or no contact with american lie learn little of american institutions and aside from the wages earned profit little about their stay in the country on a question laid the hordes of immigrants that are coming here have a good deal to do with crimes against women and children you'll notice these particular crabs are done by fellows who can't tell the english language now this is a government report about the effect of immigrants the new emigrants on our country these quotes were taken in nineteen to in from the dillingham report and one of the senators on that commission was from south carolina and it went on and i'll talk more about it to talk about how these immigrants are ruining america they live among themselves they have disease they won't learn our language and they commit crime and their burden on society and we need to do something about it therefore it was the gannon one thing to and it was the people they were talking about but came the greatest generation the children of those who came in in nineteen to in five more minutes for work and so i drove over the last several months to revive a bipartisan bill come forward with a proposal and i commend sonia kennedy's commitment his efforts the fact it was not deterred as many that supported this process before went the other way and i would also like to thank the majority leader madam president he had intended to set aside two full weeks this month for senate consideration of comprehensive immigration reform and when the informal discussions were not completed on time he gave those discussions more time he was right that this significant issue warrants a commitment of the senate's time and i'm glad to work with him to make sure that consideration is fair and comprehensive now i'm going to support the motion to proceed and a majority leader's cloture petition to go to the bill in order to allow the senate the opportunity to work its will on the matter obviously that does not pres our vote on the final product many of us have said that the bipartisan proposal is a kennedy kyl chertoff proposal represents a starting point a starting point for consideration as the authors of the proposal know the senator from vermont feels very strongly about the provisions that affect dairy workers and the circumstances that important industry but also take particular interest in the provisions  affect seasonal work the hundreds of vermont businesses that require them but also the needs of our high technology companies many of which have significant operations in i think that's a significant mistake and one that i will consider in my final determination of how to vote but notwithstanding that mistake i will continue work with the bills authors to make sure our nation's dairy farmers have a viable temporary worker program for the future and beyond these provisions i have a number of fundamental concerns that help the senate will address in the days and perhaps we embrace our common identity as americans i agree with president bush i believe the pride of that common heritage is our welcoming of immigrants and families america is a land which families matter and which our values call for us to provide not just for ourselves at the cost of severing family ties before our families the statue of liberty proclaims america as a country that welcomes t poor and yarning to breathe free not just of well educated and those who already speak english but welcomed my grandparents who did not speak english and were not wealthy we never know among those immigrating to our shores it turned out for the next great military leader that's great intrapreneur the next great inventor the next leftist nation to greater heights i want the bill we passed to recognize the best of america and i value the best of our traditions as a land of immigrants the land brought my grandparents and my parents in law to this country when this administration is represented say to us in the next eighteen months they'll secure the border devise employment identification verification measures and now do that without fail i remember the last twenty four months in which if they'll the victims of h disregard the realities of its current disasters engagement in iraq i say this madam president because when we are called upon just to put total faith in the administration some of us believe very much and the slogan the president reagan made up for the russians for a said trust but verify that regard i'm a reaganite i've heard to president invest themselves in the process and work with this push the bill in the debate in that direction we have the force of measure that is the product of closed door meetings between the administration and republican senators which is then put to democratic senators is a framework from which any further negotiations could proceed senator kennedy has done his best he's made improvements in the proposal he deserves our thanks but whether the proposals where it should be is what this debate will begin to determine subs to build administration doris's creates a temporary worker program where no opportunity to pursue the american dream immersed in gratian of a permanent revolving underclass of workers were limited rights temporary worker program no opportunity to share in the promise of america creates an incentive for overstays and risk creating a new population of the documented individuals or worry the temporary worker program including the bill doesn't affect the really serve the needs of america employers madam president i worry that it's unrealistic this private proposals oppose by wired interesting  including organized labor and business and advocates for immigrants i hope we listen carefully to their concerns as we proceed the middle also neglects the real needs of the high tech community which has been vigilant to get a reliable doesn't truly address the technology industries needs it removes hiring decisions from the company and places them with the federal government it says trust us we're from the federal government we can make a better decision for you than president some of us are skeptical but there are some good aspects of bill incorporates the dream act a bill i've long supported it has provisions that can move millions have been documented people in this country the path t citizenship if not unrealistically delayed by the so called triggers but regrettably it currently includes a provision requiring immigrants return to their home country before applying that is in my view unrealistic in many circumstances simplex simply harsh in others the loss of struggle to get here who escaped oppressive in this functional governments should not be required to repeat that journey share in the promise of america this provision is driven by ideology not by american sense of fairness it should be revisited  legislative process so we need to keep working to make our legislation one that takes a common sense realistic approach to the situation and now continue working to produce legislation to treat people with dignity respect our great tradition as a welcoming nation we have much work to do before this bill becomes worthy of the set of our great history our tradition as a nation of immigrants  abroad my grandparents and my great great grandparents and my parents in law to this country consent elling gallagher to detail and to my staff the department of homeland security be given for privileges for the duration of debate and a comprehensive immigration reform bill without objection and discussions for days and weeks and even months we can present to the senate for as consideration an immigration reform bill that i think seeks to serve the needs of this country i have had the pleasure and privilege of working with a number of colleagues from this body during the last many weeks as we sought to put together something that would serve the country's interest working bipartisan like with help from a very dedicated cabinet members the secretary of homeland security the secretary of commerce in a very very comprehensive and dedicate a way over days and days of discussions and difficult negotiations at often times emotional  always i think with the idea that we would do something that was good for the country and that obviously was not going to be unanimously praised here in the senator from vermont expressed misgivings about it and i mean earlier heard the senator from alabama that the time from now to allow vote and be allotted to the senator from florida and the senior senator from new mexico in that there is no timely manning on the democrat side unless senator kennedy wants some of my time think remaining time be allotted to center the two of us and we can if necessary we could allot to somebody else i ask consent without objection hard work you put into this bill well this is a pleasure senator to be are on the floor talking about this subject with you we did that last year as i recall the way as well and you have a again a rich immigrant history in your family that all of us in different ways share and i guess i should say that as the only person that has the privilege of serving on this body that is a immigrant this truly someone who has come here having been born elsewhere it is an incredible privilege for me to talk on this subject and have an opportunity to be a part of this debate i really think that it is a moment that brings us all to the roots of what our nation is about we understand that this is a nation of immigrants