Alex Padilla

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. I object.

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. Colleagues, what is happening at the border right now is not just another policy matter to me; it is personal. When I see the young Latino children, alone in an unfamiliar setting, being spoken to by law enforcement and other authorities in a language that they don't understand, I actually can't help but think of my three boys. My boys are the same ages as many of the kids presenting themselves at the border seeking asylum. They look just like those kids. I see the fear and desperation in the eyes of the children at the border, and I don't have to imagine how my boys would look and feel under such circumstances. I have tasted that already. In 2018, we were on a family trip in Arizona--June of 2018. It was the height of Trump's cruel family separation. We took a detour to Tornillo, TX, to demand humane treatment of the children who were being intentionally separated from their parents by the previous administration. On the way there, I tried to prepare my boys, mentally and emotionally, for what they were about to see. And it was my youngest son, Diego, who was 3 years old at the time, who turned to me and said: Dad, Donald Trump is putting kids in cages. We got to go help them. My heart broke. Imagine how the children on the border today are feeling. Imagine how scared they must be. Consider how traumatic their young lives have already been and how anxious they are for the basic safety and comfort that so many people take for granted. Let's think of their parents' anguish, to be so desperate to protect their children, to be so afraid for their safety, let alone their future, that they make the heartbreaking decision of sending them on a dangerous 2,000-mile journey to the U.S. border all alone, knowing that as risky and as dangerous as that journey is, it is safer than to stay in their own community. Let's be clear. These are children. These are families, not that are well-off, trying to game the system. These are families who are desperate. Their communities have been ravaged by hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and in so many cases, decades of violence. Their families are threatened by gangs with torture and murder if they stay home. Asylum seekers aren't just seeking a better life. Many are simply just trying to stay alive. Too many policymakers act like asylum seekers are just choosing to come here, when there is really no choice at all. So I am deeply disappointed to see so many Members of Congress, both in the House and in the Senate, depicting desperate, young children at the border as some sort of threat to our Nation. As though 15,000 practically orphaned children trying to assimilate into our country of 330 million is some sort of existential crisis for our Nation. The real crisis is the immigration laws that are so broken that children have to make a treacherous 2,000-mile journey to seek asylum here. The real crisis is that this situation distracts us from the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants who have been living in the United States for years, working and paying taxes in communities all across America while living in constant fear of deportation. They are our neighbors, our teachers, our nurses, our grocery store workers, our childcare providers. They are the essential workers whom we have all thanked each and every day throughout this pandemic who live in constant fear that their lives will be upended and their families ripped apart at any moment, depending on the politics of the day in Washington. The real crisis is that we have strayed so far from our founding principles as a Nation of immigrants and that we have strayed so far from the creed emblazoned on the very statue that we erected to welcome immigrants into New York Harbor saying: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! So I am disappointed but, sadly, not surprised that this resolution is nothing more than a cynical attempt to perpetuate the semantic nonsense of the day. Our constituents didn't send us to the Senate or to Congress to identify problems. They sent us here to develop and enact solutions. I am more than willing to sit down with my colleague here to try to come up with some solutions to address what is happening at the border--solutions that address the lack of resources and the broken processes left by the previous administration, solutions that recognize the fundamental humanity of these desperate children and families who simply want to live to see their next birthday, and solutions that stay true to the values of this Nation. I have an amendment to the resolution at the desk to strike the text of the Inhofe resolution and to insert the following: Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that our outdated immigration laws and the lack of a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who form the backbone of communities across the United States constitutes a crisis and that the United States Senate must take up immigration reform this year. I ask that Senator Inhofe's request be modified as follows: that the Padilla substitute amendment at the desk to the resolution be considered and agreed to; that the resolution, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to speak today on the For the People Act. But before I do, I want to take a moment to honor the lives of those tragically lost in Colorado yesterday by yet another senseless mass shooting in our country. My heart breaks for their families, but the sobering and harsh reality is that in many parts of the United States, it is easier to buy a gun than it is to cast a ballot. In 25 States, voters must be registered and have specific forms of identification in order to cast a ballot, but those same States allow people to buy rifles without permits and require no bond checks for some sales. Think about that. It seems to me that we have our priorities entirely backward when it comes to making it easier to buy a weapon than we do to cast a ballot. As we work to rebuild our economy for all people, we must acknowledge that to build an inclusive economy, we need an inclusive democracy. Just as the pandemic has put a spotlight on the inequities in our economy and our healthcare systems, so, too, has the pandemic put a spotlight on the inequities in access to the ballot. The 2020 election, held in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrated once again that we have made it easier for some citizens to vote than others. This is not an accident. Depending on where a voter lives, they may or may not have the ability to register to vote online; they may or may not be able to participate in same-day registration; they may or may not be able to vote early or vote by mail. All this varies State by State. This patchwork has a direct and dramatic effect on whose voices are heard in our democracy, and, too often, it is working-class communities, communities of color, young people whose voices are silenced. For voters whose work schedule does not allow them to wait in line to vote, the denial of vote-by-mail or early voting denies the opportunity to vote altogether. For voters who do not have that specified form of State identification, even though they are American citizens of voting age and otherwise eligible to vote, lack of an ID can mean that they will not be given a ballot, even if they can verify their identity some other way. For voters who want to vote by mail and may have access to some form of vote-by-mail, unreasonable ballot receipt deadlines, a scarcity of ballot return locations, and/or slow or unreliable Postal Service delivery can mean that their ballots won't be counted. For young voters and for those who move frequently, antiquated registration systems and unreasonably early registration deadlines can leave them unable to register to vote or to update their registration record in time to exercise their fundamental right to vote. All of these voting restrictions have a disproportionate impact on communities of color. Just like the poll taxes and literacy tests of the Jim Crow era, the truth is plain for all to see: Voter suppression laws are rooted in White supremacy. The For the People Act presents an opportunity for us to establish a baseline of voting rights and ballot access for all voters. I know that the For the People Act will improve voting rights in America because, as California's secretary of state, I helped adopt and implement these best practices. These include automatic and same-day voter registration; online voter registration; expanded access to vote-by- mail; extended early voting periods--in-person early voting periods; and widespread, convenient access to secure, official ballot drop-off locations. Together, these policies help to ensure equitable access to the ballot and, in so doing, strengthen our democracy. While California has led the way in making our elections more accessible to all voters, the policies we have implemented are not unique to our State. States like Maine and Alaska have also adopted automatic voter registration policies. States like Utah, Iowa, Idaho, and Wyoming also permit same-day voter registration. States like Florida and Ohio allow no-excuse vote-by-mail and provide voters with early voting options as well. The election reforms within the For the People Act are not partisan. These reforms are not Democrat or Republican. They are common sense and are proven to work. All voters deserve equal voting rights and equal access to the ballot. Colleagues, we are a stronger democracy and a better nation when we hear all voices from all corners of our Nation and when those voices are not just heard but counted. By passing the For the People Act, we can ensure that more voices are heard and more voices are, indeed, counted. I yield the floor.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. PADILLA. I know of no further debate on the bill.

Mr. PADILLA. I ask unanimous consent that the Tester-Moran substitute amendment be considered and agreed to.

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1276, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 121, submitted earlier today.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I want to begin by joining with so many of our colleagues and leaders around the country expressing our condolences to the victims of the senseless shootings in Atlanta yesterday, in sharing our thoughts and prayers to their families and friends. Our heart goes out to the greater community, and, of course, we stand here to not only try to understand better what happened, how it happened, but do the work necessary to try to ensure that it doesn't happen again--not in Atlanta, not anywhere in the United States of America.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Finally, for the information of Senators, we expect two rollcall votes during Thursday's session of the Senate in relation to the Becerra and Walsh nominations.

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. Thursday, March 18; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the nomination of Xavier Becerra to be Secretary for Health and Human Services; further, that the postcloture debate time on the Becerra nomination expire at 12 noon; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; finally, that upon disposition of the Becerra nomination, the Senate resume consideration of the nomination of Martin Walsh to be Secretary of Labor and that the cloture motion with respect to the Walsh nomination ripen at 1:30 p.m.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 344 and it be referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, on behalf of the people of California, it is my honor to address this body today. I stand before you, humbled and inspired by this moment in our Nation's history, as the Senator from the most populous and most diverse State in the Nation and as the first Latino Senator from the State of California. Let me begin by saying what a great country this is. My name is Alex Padilla. (English translation of statement made in Spanish is as follows:) I am the son of Santos and Lupe Padilla. I am also the proud husband of Angela Padilla and the proud rad dad of Roman, Alex, and Diego. I love you guys. Colleagues, my family's journey is central to my public service. My parents immigrated to California from Mexico in the 1960s in search of a better life. They arrived from different regions of Mexico, with little formal education but with a tremendous work ethic and big dreams. They met in Los Angeles. They fell in love. They decided to get married and apply for green cards--in that order. I thank the U.S. Government every day for saying yes to those applications, because, if they had been denied, no doubt my life story would be a lot different. For 40 years, my father worked as a short order cook--hard work, honest work--and as he will proudly tell you, his kitchen never failed an inspection. For the same 40 years, my mom worked tirelessly cleaning houses. It seemed like she never had a day off, but, together, they raised three of us--my sister, my brother, and me--in a modest, three- bedroom home in the proud, working-class community of Pacoima, CA, in the northeast San Fernando Valley. Now, our neighborhood had more than its share of challenges--from poverty to crime to unhealthy air. It might not have been the safest neighborhood, but my mom felt blessed that we had the sanctuary of a backyard and a strong sense of community. It was there that my parents taught us about the values of service to others and of getting a good education. Today, my sister, my brother, and I are all public servants. My sister has been a teacher, a principal, and, today, she works in administration for the Los Angeles Unified School District. My brother serves as chief of staff to Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez. If you pay close attention there, yes, I am the middle child. It may explain a lot. Think about that. In one generation, our family has gone from being immigrant cooks and house cleaners to serving in the U.S. Senate. That is the California dream. That is the American dream. That is the dream I was raised to believe in and the dream that Angela and I are working hard to keep alive for our children and for future generations. I think about my parents often, and I think about all of the hard- working people in our State and in our Nation who are hurting right now. I rise today on their behalf. I rise on behalf of the cooks, the dishwashers, and the domestic workers who have seen their jobs and their lives upended by the COVID- 19 pandemic. I rise on behalf of the farmworkers and delivery drivers and nurses who have been on the frontlines of this pandemic and who have never stopped showing up. I rise on behalf of the 4 million small businesses in California and the business owners, many who are hanging on by a thread and stretching like they have never stretched before to meet payroll. I rise on behalf of the nearly 2.5 million California families who are behind on their rent or behind on their mortgages, with bills piling up, wondering how they will ever climb out of the hole. I rise on behalf of the 11.2 million California adults who struggled to meet basic household expenses last year, including many who relied on food pantries just to get by. I rise on behalf of the 56,000 California families and the more than 530,000 families across America who have lost a loved one, many who died alone in a hospital room or a nursing home, deprived of the last chance to hold hands or say goodbye. The people of my State are hurting; the people of our country are hurting, and we have a long way to go before we get back. The greatest crisis of our lifetimes demands bold action. ``Building back better'' demands that we build back better for everybody and that we leave nobody and no community behind. To do so requires that we open our eyes to the deep, systemic inequities that have been exposed and exacerbated by this crisis. In my State, the reality is that there are two Californias just as there are really two Americas--one for families who struggle to pay the rent and make ends meet, who struggle to keep hope alive, and one for those who can afford to work from home or from a second home, who can more easily weather this storm. We see two Californias where Latino, Black, and Asian households are three times as likely to be behind on the rent. It is the story of the single mom who lost her job due to the pandemic and who has depleted her entire savings to keep a roof over her family's head. We see two Californias where employment has actually increased for people earning more than $60,000 a year while some parents are left to make the impossible choice of either paying for food or paying their utility bills so their kids can still log into online class. We see two Californias, where the stock market reaches new highs for some, while in the San Fernando Valley, too many families depend on city or church food distribution sites to feed their children. We see two Californias, where there is a stark disparity in who is getting vaccinated and who is not. Just take, for example, the city of Beverly Hills, where more than 25 percent of residents have received their first shot. That is a good thing. What is not so good is that in South LA, less than 15 miles away, the rate is just 5 percent. And we see two Californias in the impact the pandemic has had on immigrant communities--communities on the very frontlines of this crisis. I recently announced my first bill, the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act, which would provide a well-earned pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have risked their health as essential workers. These are the workers whom we have all depended on during this pandemic. Now, millions of us have offered tremendous gestures and thanks for their heroism and their hard work. Let's be honest with ourselves. Many of these workers woke up before dawn today and took a bus to work so that others could ``Zoom to work'' from the comfort of their own homes. These essential workers take care of our loved ones. They keep the supply chain moving. They grow and harvest our food, stock the shelves at grocery stores, and will even deliver it to your door. They risk their lives so that others can stay safer at home. We cannot, in good conscience, praise them as essential workers in one breath while denying them the essential human dignity they deserve with the next. Yes, dignity, respect, and a pathway to citizenship for essential workers is personal to me, but it is also in the best interest of our Nation. These immigrants are paying more than their fair share. They are deemed essential by the Federal Government for good reason, and they have earned the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. We cannot allow the American Dream to be a casualty of this pandemic. Relief and recovery must be for everyone. Now, the American Rescue Plan that this body passed and President Biden just signed into law is a $1.9 trillion downpayment on this promise. It will speed vaccination production and distribution, expand testing and contact tracing, outfit our schools so kids and teachers can safely return to the classroom, provide emergency mortgage and rental assistance to families in need, and it will extend a lifeline to keep millions of American small businesses from going under. Now, I will tell you what it means for my home State. In addition to what this bill will deliver to fight the virus, it also means immediate food assistance for 4.3 million families, an increase in the standard of living for 8 million California children, $15 billion for California schools, $590 million to help combat homelessness on the streets of California, and billions in direct checks for struggling families. The American Rescue Plan provides a lifeline for American families, workers, and businesses to survive what we all hope will be the last months of this crisis. It is one of the most transformational and progressive pieces of legislation in our history, which will cut child poverty in half, including for half a million children in California. But our work is far from over. I believe now is the time to lead an American comeback that leaves no working family behind--a comeback that heals the longstanding divides in our society and unites our country, a comeback that confronts the systemic injustices in our country so that we can build back equitably. It took almost 10 years to recover from the great recession. We lived through the consequences of the moderate response to the financial crisis--slow growth, poor pay, and millions without jobs. We cannot let that happen again. We can and must build back better. That means investing trillions in our infrastructure in a way that uplifts communities and provides millions of good-paying union jobs and in a way that addresses our climate crisis to help ensure that every person has access to clean air and clean water. It also means passing commonsense immigration reform that brings humanity to our immigration system and recognizing that providing a pathway to citizenship for people living and contributing to our country is part--a strategic part--of our economic recovery as well. That means protecting and strengthening our democracy by passing voting rights and civil rights legislation. We should be making it easier, not harder, for eligible people to register to vote, to stay registered to vote, and to vote in every State in the country. But as President Obama said in his farewell address, ``the work of democracy has always been hard. It's always been contentious. Sometimes it's been bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels like we take one step back.'' It is no surprise that reactionary State leaders around the country, fearful of losing elections, fearful of losing power, are mobilizing to suppress the vote as we speak. Enough is enough. This Senate must act aggressively to protect the right to vote, to strengthen the right to vote--no more steps back, only steps forward. We must act boldly because that is what this moment demands of us. We can't let anything keep us from bold action and progress, including outdated rules and traditions. We must end the filibuster. For decades, the filibuster has been leveraged to obstruct progress. It helped maintain Jim Crow segregation, and it continues to entrench inequality in America today. We cannot allow the filibuster to prevent us from doing what is necessary to lift up millions of working families in every corner of the country. I believe we will beat this pandemic and get through this crisis. We will do it the same way we always have, the same way my parents did, the same way that American families and millions of immigrants throughout our history have done--by going to work and getting the job done. To my colleagues, I am so honored to serve with you and look forward to working alongside you for years to come. To my constituents, I am honored to represent you, and I will work hard every day to make you proud. And to Angela, Roman, Alex, and Diego, I love you. Thank you for your love and your support of my public service. I yield the floor.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise today in support of working men and women across the country, and I am proud to stand with Senator Sanders, who has been a champion for working people. Let me be clear: Raising the minimum wage is COVID relief. The COVID- 19 pandemic has highlighted the immense underlying inequities in our Nation. It has also driven home how important essential workers are to our society and to our economy. Millions of Americans do essential work but are not paid a living wage. They work as home health aides, assisting elderly family members to meet their basic needs with dignity. They produce our food, stock our grocery shelves, keep facilities clean and safe, care for our children, and so much more, so that we can go to work. They are on the frontlines of this pandemic, risking their health, yet still struggling to keep themselves and their families healthy. They shouldn't also have to struggle to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. Both of my parents worked jobs that are considered essential today. For 40 years, my father worked as a short-order cook. For the same 40 years, my mom was a domestic worker. And it is people like them all over America who work hard, with dignity, yet still struggle to make ends meet. That is not the American dream--far from it. It is finally time that Congress does something about it. There is strong bipartisan support throughout the country for raising the minimum wage. I am proud to say that my home State of California has been a leader in the fight for 15, and just this past year, the voters of Florida--yes, Florida, the State that voted for Donald Trump not once but twice--approved a $15 minimum wage by a 20-point margin. That is because it is Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, who know that one of the most straightforward ways we can help working people is by raising the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Now, California is a big State. We are a very diverse State, full of diverse communities, with local variations in cost of living and local business conditions, just like the rest of the country. And let me tell you, the sky did not fall when California enacted a $15 minimum wage. Now, I know some of our colleagues have argued that raising the Federal minimum wage would reduce employment opportunities for American workers. The facts show otherwise. Forty years of studies have found little to no significant impact of wage increases on employment levels. Some of our colleagues have also argued that eliminating the tipped minimum wage nationwide would harm earnings for workers. That also has not happened. Again, research has found that eliminating the tipped minimum wage has no significant impact on employment. At the same time, median hourly wages for tipped workers are higher in equal treatment States like California compared to those with a tipped minimum wage. Madam President, 1.7 million Americans make the Federal minimum wage. That is a $15,000-a-year income. We must be honest with ourselves. No one can meet the minimum standards of living on a minimum wage of just $15,000 a year. Now, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would also help reduce some of the gender and racial inequities in our Nation, as Senator Sanders has referenced, given the overrepresentation of women and minorities in jobs that earn the minimum wage. It would give them more money to spend in their local economy, which in turn is good for business. But most importantly, it will lift hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty. Think about that. We have the opportunity to lift hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty. This isn't just an opportunity, it is a moral responsibility. No one who works a full-time job should live in poverty. It is that simple. We must stand on the side of hard-working Americans. I call on my colleagues to continue the fight for 15 and pass the Sanders amendment to bring justice and prosperity for all American workers. I yield the floor.

Mr. PADILLA

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I send a question to the desk.

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President.