Ted Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I don't see him in the Chamber. I think we ought to reserve that time for the Senator. As I understand, under the previous agreement, we have agreed to vote at 2 p.m.; is that correct?

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the Chair.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the Senator from New Mexico has an important amendment. He was over here yesterday afternoon and evening and spoke well about it. He came over here during the lunch hour. It is a very important amendment. He deserves to be heard. Amendment No. 1267

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, so I understand, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield such time as I might use. On the Cornyn amendment, the issue is basically confidentiality. Why is confidentiality important? What we are trying to do with this proposal is to say to the 12.5 million who are living here, the undocumented as well as those in agricultural jobs: Come out of the shadows, and if you are going to meet the other requirements of the bill--paying fines, go to the end of the line, demonstrate solid work achievement and accomplishment--you will eventually be able to get in line after the backlog is completed for a green card and citizenship. We are saying to the individuals: If you are undocumented today, we want you to register. There is a question with regard to people who are undocumented today. If I go down and say my name is--maybe an undocumented Irish person, say his name is Halloran, and he goes in and says: I am Halloran and live on Linden Street. I am undocumented, my wife is undocumented, and my children are undocumented. We want these people to come out of the shadows and register to begin this process, right? Right. We have to make sure those people are going to have a certain amount of confidentiality, that they are not thinking they are just going to sign in and register and report to be deported. That is what the Cornyn amendment effectively does, is report to deport because he eliminates all kinds of protections of confidentiality. We provide levels of protection of confidentiality for individuals, but not if they have been involved in any criminal activity and any fraudulent activity. The Senator from Texas mentions the 1986 act. He has been mentioning the 1986 act time and time again. I responded that President Reagan signed that act. Republicans were in charge at that time, and they administered that act from 1986 to 1992. I voted against that legislation for many of the reasons that have been outlined. That is a different time. If they want to talk about what President Reagan and what the Republicans did at that time, they can be my guest. But the fact is, as we do know, there were incidents where fraud was committed during that program in the submission of various agricultural documents, and fraud was committed. That is all outlined in a 1988 report which has been quoted here. But that has been the document. We have not seen other documents about similar kinds of fraudulent activities. As a result, what did we do with this legislation? We did a number of things because of what happened in 1986. We provide additional protections and requirements in these areas of identification. We provide a number of protections in this legislation, and I will include those at the conclusion of my statement. Secondly, we have included in this legislation that if the DHS believes fraud has been committed, they can move ahead and deport. Do my colleagues understand? If the Department of Homeland Security thinks fraud has been committed by these individuals, they can move ahead and deport. That has been included. We have also included random audits of these various programs. The point that has been made that in 1986 there were irregularities we accept and agree. The fact that the 1986 act was not well managed, we agree. Was there fraud in a number of these affidavits? We say, yes, and that is why we took action in this legislation to address it. And I will include those particular citations. I will run through these points very quickly. If the applicant is inadmissible for criminal reasons or an alien smuggler, that information is turned over to the local law enforcement and police. If there has been a conviction of a crime, criminal activity, smuggling, marriage fraud, all of that information is turned over to the police. If there is any indication of any kind of intelligence activity, it is turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. We have written into this legislation protections so we are not going to have abuses of confidentiality. But--but, Mr. President--when we are talking about other kinds of activities--for example, if they fail the English test, or because there is a certain amount of work requirement time, there is an issue as to whether they completed the work requirement, we protect their confidentiality. If they fail the English test, we protect their confidentiality. If there is a technical registration issue, we protect their confidentiality. This is enormously important because if we do not protect their confidentiality, they are not going to register. It is as clear and simple as that. This represents a very careful balance that was worked out. I respect the Senator from Texas on this issue, but it is important that we have guarantees for individuals if we expect them to register as this system is being set up because it is going to transition. We know parts of this system are not going to go into effect until we have border security, and if we expect individuals to participate in that system, we have to guarantee their confidentiality. We do so. It is enormously important. This system isn't going to function unless we do. If the Cornyn amendment is adopted, the bottom line is this system will not function, and it will not work because as individuals in this community are wondering whether they ought to sign up for this system, by and large they are going to check with perhaps their local parish, maybe their local priest, maybe a nonprofit organization, social service organizations, community organizations in which they have confidence and trust, and those individuals are going to know whether there is confidentiality or not. Those individuals upon whom they rely in the local community, extended members of their family, nonprofit organizations, church organizations, unless they are able to give the assurance to these individuals that their confidentiality is going to be protected, we are not going to have people involved, and we are not going to have success with this legislation. As I mentioned, in the incidence of fraud, we have addressed those extensively with provisions in the legislation. If there are incidents of fraud, criminal activity, terrorist activity, any of the other kinds of issues that involve criminality, of course, that protection is effectively out the window. We provide confidentiality, but limited in a very important way. It is enormously important to the success of the program. Mr. President, I anticipate that we are going to have presentations by my friend and colleague from Alabama sometime with regard to the earned-income tax credit. I have comments in response to that amendment. I know there will be an alternative amendment that will be offered in that area. I will address the Senate when we have that particular proposal. Eventually, we are going to have the Lieberman amendment, which is a very thoughtful amendment. We will have opportunity to address it at that time. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum, and ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be charged equally.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. KENNEDY. As we noted earlier, we are going to have a series of votes at 6:45. I wanted to address the amendment which has been offered by my friend, Senator Sessions from Alabama, which relates to the earned-income tax credit. I see the Senator from Alabama has just arrived, so I will be glad to let him make his presentation and then respond. If that is what the Senator would like to do, I will withhold.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I see the Senator from Arizona on the Senate floor. I was going to respond at some time to the Senator from Alabama. I am glad to wait until the Senator from Arizona is finished. Amendment No. 1150

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I know the Senator from Vermont is looking for some time to speak. I believe there is 30 minutes I have remaining; is that correct?

Mr. KENNEDY. The Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Lieberman, wants time. I yield 10 minutes to Senator Lieberman. I will use probably 6 or 7 minutes. I will be more than glad to give 10 minutes to the Senator from Vermont if not, we will try and extend that if we can.

Mr. KENNEDY. I will take 5 minutes of the 30 minutes; Senator Domenici can have 5 minutes; 10 minutes to the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Lieberman; and 10 minutes to the Senator from Vermont, Mr. Sanders. I think that takes up 30 minutes. I ask unanimous consent that another minute be given to each of us, 33 minutes.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I will be brief in response to the Sessions amendment. We are talking about the earned-income tax credit. That was developed in the 1970s. Why was the earned-income tax credit developed? Because of the increased number of children living in poverty. We have, as this chart shows, in the United States more children who live in poverty than any other country in the world. This amendment would say to legal immigrants that you are not eligible for the earned- income tax credit that benefits children. If we look at the report from the CRS, it shows that over 98 percent of the earned-income tax credit goes to families with children. That was its purpose, that is where it is focused, that was the reason for it, and this is the need. Why in the world would we want to take benefits away from needy children? Who are the workers of the earned-income tax credit? Their average income is less than $20,000 a year. This is phased out at about $30,000 to $33,000 a year. This is the low-income individuals who are, what? Are they on welfare or are they out working? They are working. They have children. They are legal. Why take the benefits away from the children, the neediest children, most of whom are living in poverty? We don't take the earned-income tax credit away from people who go to jail and commit murder. We don't take away the earned-income tax credit from people who have defrauded the Government. We don't take the earned tax credit away from burglars, child molesters, and the rest of the individuals who commit crimes. But this amendment wants to take it from one particular group and that is legal workers. Who are those legal workers? They are trying to provide for their families, pay the penalties, show that they are working, and go to the end of the line. Many of these children are American children. They are not undocumented. They are American children because they were born here. I find it difficult to understand, when we are talking about individuals who are working, who want to work, will work, are trying to make a better future for themselves and their families and particularly for their children, why they should be the only class of working people in the United States who ought to be penalized. That is what the Sessions amendment would do. That is wrong and it is not fair and it should not be accepted. Mr. President, I yield the time as I have indicated.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I object.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, the Cornyn amendment attacks the whole issue of confidentiality for these undocumented aliens. If the Cornyn amendment is adopted, there are no individuals who are going to register for any of these programs--none--because all their information will be available. This is a report-to-deport amendment. How are you going to convince individuals to come in and register for the Z visa program or any of the programs if they know all of their information is going to go to the Immigration Service and every other agency? With regard to criminality, with regard to terrorism, with regard to all the fraud and all the abuse, we have put in here careful protections. Those kinds of protections are supported by Jon Kyl, by other Republican Members, and by all of us here.

Mr. KENNEDY. If you accept the Cornyn amendment, it effectively undermines all confidentiality.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, who is eligible for the earned-income tax credit? Legal workers. They work. Who are the beneficiaries of the earned-income tax credit? Ninety-eight percent of it goes to poor children. What country in the world has the greatest percent of poor children? The United States of America. Ninety-eight percent of the benefits of the earned tax credit go to poor children, and many of them are American children. In the history of the Internal Revenue Code, we have never excluded a class. We have treated everyone equally. The Sessions amendment for the first time in the history of the United States of America is going to say: Workers who are here legally are going to be denied the earned- income tax credit that can benefit their children who are looking for a better future. I hope the Sessions amendment will be defeated.

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask for the yeas and nays, Mr. President.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it was the intention of the majority leader to ask that there be 10 minutes on each amendment to be evenly divided. I think that was the desire in order to be fair to all of those who were going to offer amendments. I think those who are offering amendments were given that kind of assurance. So I ask unanimous consent that the remaining time be allocated equally between the amendments and equally in terms--well, I ask unanimous consent that there be 10 minutes on each amendment equally divided between those who favor the amendment and those who are opposed.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I will take 2 minutes of my time on the following amendment and yield it to the Senator. She was not aware of the time limitation when she made her remarks. I think she ought to be entitled to make her comments.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield 2 minutes of my time.