Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. I will use 3 minutes now and reserve the remainder of 1 minute. I thank all of my colleagues who have spoken on this bill. I thank the assistant majority leader, Mr. Durbin, for helping me work this. The reason I am thanking him is this is a very important amendment. This isn't some throw-away amendment on how we can say we are being tough on illegal immigrants. First, every single Senator here opposes illegal immigration. We oppose illegal immigration. This is why we voted for strong measures when border enforcement came up. This is why we advocated comprehensive immigration reform. We are opposed to illegal immigration. But we are where we are. Let's talk about why municipalities have said ``no'' to enforcing immigration laws. Many municipalities, cities, towns, say they cannot afford to be the Federal cop on the beat. They know that enforcing immigration law takes a tremendous amount of training and takes a tremendous amount of money, and they simply cannot put their resources into that. The second is they have the right to decide how they best want to fight crime. Many municipalities have chosen not to ask their local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws exactly because they want to fight crime. What they would say is, if we go in and we are INS officers or ICE officers by proxy, we will never find a witness, and victims in many instances will not come forward. If you are a young girl and you have been gang-raped by MS-13, do you think you are going to come forward if you think that when you do, instead of getting the protection of the United States of America and getting justice done, you are going to be doubly brutalized and asked your immigration status, and you are the one who is punished? Do you think the witnesses to these brutal crimes that sometimes occur in communities--not Latino against Latino, but if someone were working in an office building and saw a burglary, would they say: Heck, I am not going to report that, even though I am an eyewitness, because they are going to ask my immigration status? Or if you are walking down the street, and you might be a day laborer, and you see someone mugged, you aren't able to go report it. My time has expired, but I think we need to defeat the Vitter amendment. At the appropriate time I will make the appropriate tabling motion.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Delaware, who is a leading expert on this matter.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I say to the Senator from North Carolina, I am sorry, I was handling a procedural issue. Could you repeat what you said?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, ordinarily I would wholeheartedly and enthusiastically agree with the Senator from North Carolina, but here I have to respectfully disagree, not with her intent but where she is getting the money. I rise to oppose this amendment because it would take $75 million from State and local law enforcement that has already been troubled and under siege and give it to the Department of Homeland Security, an agency that has its own appropriations. I acknowledge the work of North Carolina, what they are doing, the fact that they have a unique partnership that has been done. We acknowledge that, and we acknowledge that other law enforcement would also benefit. But she is talking about $75 million. The Department of Homeland Security received billions. The place for the Senator to have made this fight was when Homeland Security was on the floor, and she should have offered that as an amendment on Homeland Security and gotten it through an offset or gotten it in Homeland Security or gotten it by raising the Budget Act under a point of order. Let me tell you where we are. When we received the President's budget in February, I was horrified, as was my colleague. The COPS Program was eliminated. That is the program that actually puts money into the Federal checkbook to put cops on the street to fight violent crime. But it was eliminated. Under President Bill Clinton, who created the program--of course, Congress creates the programs, but working in partnership with the President when we did have the White House, we put on the streets of America 118,000 cops through that program, and we reduced violent crime by 10 percent. But in this President's budget it was eliminated. Then we saw another program called Byrne grants--not B-U-R-N, as if when you are injured in a fire, but B-Y-R-N-E, named after Edward Byrne, a police officer killed in the line of duty--it was President Bush's dad who created that program, again, with money going to local law enforcement to fight local problems, including sheriffs' departments. Now, the Senator from North Carolina is going to gut State and local law enforcement by taking $75 million out of it. We cannot do this. Violent crime in America is on the rise--murder, burglaries, rape, other things so despicable I do not want to speak about it on the Senate floor. When the Senator talks about her sheriffs, I have sheriffs too. But I am going to be one of the posse that helps them shoot straight. That means they need their resources that will come from State and local law enforcement grants we are going to provide for them to either add more police officers, have technology upgrades to maximize their efficiency and help them get real convictions, and have the kinds of things that will help them get the bulletproof vests they need, the other more advanced equipment that our rural communities--as the Presiding Officer from Colorado knows--do not have. So what we did in the Mikulski-Shelby bill is restore $1.5 billion so we could have cops on the beat, so we could have money to fund local law enforcement for technological upgrades, for the equipment they need such as bulletproof vests to protect themselves while they are busy helping us. We have to make sure they have those resources. I do not deny what the Senator is talking about, but I will say what she is trying to do right now would gut the local law enforcement program. She would have a Draconian impact on our ability to put cops on the beat and to also give them the equipment to protect themselves, the technology that is needed to extend their effectiveness and make sure the thin blue line does not get thinner. So I think this $75 million request is inappropriate. It is inappropriate not because of what she wants to accomplish, but it is inappropriate because she is taking money out of a Justice account and putting it in a Homeland Security account, when we had a Homeland Security bill and the Senator could have added it there. That was the place to make this fight. Now, we are afraid that no matter how well intentioned this amendment is--and I know it is very well intentioned and has a lot of intellectual rigor behind it--it is not appropriate to take money out of State and local law enforcement and give it to Homeland Security, when they have their own whole subcommittee, and that was the place to make that fight. It is not about which committee. This is not about committees. But I am telling you, the Senator from Alabama and I have worked hard--really worked hard--to make sure we are helping our local law enforcement--our very first line of defense--with the resources they need with more officers and better equipment. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote in relation to the Dole amendment occur at 5 p.m., with no amendment in order to the amendment prior to the vote and that the time until then be equally divided and controlled in the usual form.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Ms. MIKULSKI. But, Mr. President, I would say to the Senator from North Carolina, whom I worked with when she was at the Department of Labor as well as the Department of Transportation, along with other issues in our community--her support for the concern of battered women, homeless women is so well known--this is not SCAAP. This is not the program that helps pay State funds for the detention of detained illegal immigrants. This is taking real dollars in the Federal checkbook out of which local law enforcement can apply for the COPS and for the Byrne grants. So I have to continue my opposition.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Vermont for working with the subcommittee. I know from firsthand experience how important Boys and Girls Clubs are in keeping our kids safe in neighborhoods and also doing the very important work that keeps them on the straight and narrow. Both the Senator from Alabama, my ranking member, and I would like to do more for Boys and Girls Clubs. We are more than willing to accept the amendment of the Senator from Vermont. It has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. I, therefore, urge its adoption.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, how much time does our side have?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I will agree to the yeas and nays. First, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to vote on the motion to commit; that no amendments be in order to the motion; that if the motion is defeated, no further amendments or motions be in order and the bill be read a third time, and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill; that upon passage, the Senate insist on its amendments, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate; and that the subcommittee be appointed along with Senators Byrd and Cochran; that following morning business on Wednesday, October 17, the Senate then proceed to the consideration of H.R. 3043, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill; and further, that if the motion is agreed to, then the remaining provisions of this agreement be nullified.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Harkin and myself, we vigorously oppose this amendment. We too acknowledge that we should help people who are victims of crime on Indian reservations. But the administration eliminated all funds to do that. The bipartisan agreement puts $83 million in for tribal programs to fight crime, protect victims, and help troubled tribal youth. What this amendment does is take money out of the first meaningful increase that Legal Services has had. This does not take money from something called a corporation, it takes it out of the lawyers, the paralegals, and the support staff who provide legal services to the poor in this country. In South Dakota, 70 percent of those are Native Americans. Senator Harkin and I oppose this moment. I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I think it is important we hear from the Senator from Nevada on this next amendment, which is an important one. Amendment No. 3295

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I yield 30 seconds to the Senator from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I too oppose the Ensign amendment. We have met our responsibility to the State Criminal Alien Program. We have put $400 million in it. I believe the amendment is unnecessary. I oppose it, and I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 3:15 p.m. today, there be 2 minutes of debate prior to a vote in relation to the Ensign amendment No. 3294, and that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the amendment; that upon disposition of that amendment, the Senate resume amendment No. 3295, another Ensign amendment, with 2 minutes of debate prior to a vote in relation to that amendment; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the amendment; that no amendments be in order to either amendment in this agreement prior to the vote; and that the debate time be equally divided and controlled between Senator Mikulski and Senator Shelby or their designees.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, we also believe we will be having a vote at more or less the same time on the Thune amendment, as it relates to the Legal Services Corporation. We are waiting for final word from Senator Harkin on that. But when we return from the respective caucus lunches, we expect there to be a debate on the Thune amendment, the Senator from Iowa, Mr. Harkin, will be speaking, and about that time we expect to have another UC. There will be votes throughout the afternoon. We urge our colleagues at our respective party lunches to speak to both Senator Shelby and myself as a way of disposing of those amendments that have been filed. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, our majority staff who helps us organize the traffic of this is now going to be writing this up. Let's see how we can accommodate the Senator from Nevada. We will be able to ask for a UC before we go into the caucus. But the minority Republican staff is here. Senator Shelby will certainly protect the interests of the Senator from Nevada. If I may comment on the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, we will debate that amendment later when we are heading to a vote. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at noon today the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the DeMint amendment No. 3289 and that no amendment be in order to the amendment prior to the vote and that the time until then be equally divided between Senator DeMint, Senator Shelby, and myself, Senator Mikulski.

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

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, to bring our colleagues up to date, we are resuming consideration of the appropriations on Commerce, Justice, and Science. Working on a very collegial and bipartisan basis, our staffs, the Mikulski staff and the Shelby staff, have worked through the evening working to clear amendments. We believe we are making very good progress. Where we are now is the Senator from South Carolina will be offering some amendments, and we will probably be having a debate before the noon hour, and at that time we would like to have our colleagues visit with us on how they intend to deal with the amendments they have filed. I wish to share with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, it is intent of the Democratic leader, Senator Reid that we will finish this bill tonight. Senator Reid has instructed me as the manager of this bill to complete action, even if it means staying well into the evening. We do not have to do that because we have just a core group of amendments. If the Democrats would talk to me during the first vote, and the Republicans would talk to Senator Shelby, we can move to dispose of them, either to withdraw them, clear them or we ask our colleagues to offer them. I wished to thank the Senator from South Carolina for being here so promptly. I wish to thank Senator Shelby and his staff for their work. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I wish to acknowledge the spirit of reform of the Senator from South Carolina. We too support the spirit of reform on these matters. I support this amendment. I do believe we can accept it. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 3:15 p.m. in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Improving Financial and Business Management at the Department of Defense.''

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this hearing is to review the efforts of the Transportation Security Administration, to meet the requirements in the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, and other plans the agency has to strengthen transportation security in the U.S.

Ms. MIKULSKI

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