Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following leader remarks, if any, the Senate will resume consideration of the immigration bill. Mr. President, we finished here late last night. We had a lot of issues that were unresolved then. We have just a couple this morning, and we hope we can resolve those very quickly. I certainly hope that is the case. I am going to ask a consent agreement that will put us into some activity here for the next several hours, but I hope we do not have to use all this time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 2:30 p.m. this afternoon be for debate only, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the exception of Senator Sessions, who will control up to 2 hours, and that at 2:30 p.m. I be recognized. I would ask that consent be approved by the body.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, Senator Sessions has always been very courteous to me, and if I have some agreement that we have as to that amendment, I am certain he would let me be recognized. But if he does not, I will wait until he uses the 2 hours. So we are going to try to wrap this up very quickly, but very quickly in Senate time sometimes is not like everybody else's time. So we will do the best we can to move as quickly as possible. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my consent agreement be modified to the extent that if someone suggests the absence of a quorum, it be charged equally against both sides.

Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have taken care of the second-degree amendment; is that correct?

Mr. REID. The cloture motion is at the desk with respect to that amendment; is that right?

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, in the rush of things, I am getting ahead of myself. I have an amendment to the underlying bill, which is at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. I have a motion to recommit the bill with instructions at the desk.

Mr. REID. I ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

Mr. REID. I have an amendment to the instructions that have been filed at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived; and the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Leahy amendment, as modified, occur at 5:30 p.m., Monday, June 24.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, first of all, I commend the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy, for his modified amendment. Senator Leahy has moved this bill from the beginning and certainly we have all looked with pride at the Judiciary Committee in marking up this bill. He was here last night late on the Senate floor. He is a proud Senator from Vermont, and rightfully so. I thank profusely the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Senator Charles Schumer, who has been the quarterback, the leader of the Gang of 8. The Gang of 8, under his direction, negotiated the basis for this bill, and it is now the pending Leahy amendment. This amendment will put to rest any remaining credible concerns about border security. Senator McCain said yesterday: ``If they can't accept these provisions, then border security is not the problem.'' I thank all of the Members of the Gang of 8: Senators Schumer, Durbin, Menendez, Bennet, McCain, Graham, Rubio, and Flake. I think it speaks volumes that Lindsey Graham stepped out, even though he faces a reelection effort. It was an act of courage, as it was with all of the Senators, but especially I wish to focus attention on him, as I have just done. I thank Senators Corker and Hoeven for their yeoman's work, working with the Gang of 8, to come up with the product we now have. The product we have now is the work of the Gang of 8 and the Gang of 2, with their friends. I have always been impressed with Bob Corker. I told him about that earlier today. Since he stepped foot in this body, he has wanted to legislate, and for a lot of reasons he hasn't been able to do that. But here is legislation at its best. He was mayor of a city. As a result of that, he understands on any level of government that compromise is the way we get things done. I always refer to Senator Hoeven as Governor Hoeven. I think it is remarkable that he is here with the background he has. He too understands how important it is to work to get things done. His experience is more than just being part of a legislature, it is working with a legislative body. So I admire what both of these fine men have done. But for them we couldn't have gotten this done. These Senators have charted a path to a broad bipartisan vote for this measure. They have followed the model we have used too infrequently in this body to pass legislation, including the Violence Against Women Act, the Marketplace Fairness Act, and the farm bill. Next week we are going to add immigration as another example of how to get things done. I hope it portends well for the future of this august body that we all so love but in which we have been disappointed in recent years. Even with this broad bipartisan support, the broad bipartisan majorities as we have for this package that is a wonderful product, there are still a few who continue the take-no-prisoners opposition to any cooperation. We worked late into the night last night on a potential unanimous consent agreement to allow for processing amendments. I have Senators over here who want to offer amendments. They have ideas on how to improve this bill. We have heard from some of the Republicans that they also want to offer amendments. We should be able to do that. Now, as I have indicated to the two Republican Senators, Mr. Corker and Mr. Hoeven, there is still an opportunity to do that. We are going to continue to try to work to allow people to offer amendments before we finish this legislation. Frankly, most of them would not pass, but that is not the point. They should be able to offer amendments. I hope we can come up with a list of amendments to move forward with in the body. We are going to move forward with the legislation regardless, but it would be nice if people who are elected to this body have the opportunity to offer some amendments. So we are going to continue to work on that, but we haven't been able to overcome the objections of a small minority of Senators. The opposition of this small group is not going to stop this bill from moving forward. That is why I have taken steps this morning to set in motion a process to bring this measure to finality within the next week. So the Senate will vote Monday evening on the motion to invoke cloture on the Leahy border security amendment. We will continue to work to get a unanimous consent agreement to help process this legislation. Barring any further agreement, the Senate will vote on cloture on the committee substitute early Wednesday and cloture on the bill on Thursday. We will finish the bill, I repeat, before the recess. In the annals of history--and there has been a lot of stuff to go through this body over the 230-plus years we have been a country, but when those history books are written, this legislation--this legislation we are going to pass in this body in 1 week--is historic. What we have done is good for our country in so many different ways. As the Congressional Budget Office demonstrated a couple of days ago, it will be the largest boost to our economy we have seen in a long time--up to almost $1 trillion--to reduce the debt. In the process we are going to increase the security of this great Nation. I have indicated that Chuck Schumer is the subcommittee chair. Who did he replace? Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy tried so hard to get something done, and he was chairman of this subcommittee for decades. So Ted Kennedy, I am sure, is going to wait until next Friday, but he is going to smile at all of us because this is a remarkably good piece of work and something he tried to do for a long time. This country is a nation of immigrants. I know everybody is in a hurry, but I have to say just a couple more things. My wonderful wife is here in America today because her father came here from Russia. He and his people were persecuted. He came here as Israel Goldfarb. That was his name. He, as did a lot of immigrants, changed his name. I only knew him as Earl Gould. I don't know what he accomplished in his short life here--he died as a young man--but one thing he did accomplish, he fathered my wife, my wonderful wife, an only child. As a result, I have five wonderful children and 16 grandchildren. That is what immigration is all about. That is why this country of ours has found immigration as a source of vitality, not a burden. This is what has been part of America's genius that is different than any other country. That is our destiny. I am very proud of this body.

Mr. REID. Before my friend leaves, you know, I study legislation. I have worked on this matter for many years. As the leader, I have directed more floor attention to this than any other issue. So I understand the bill quite well. But one thing I want to ensure people know before my friend from New York leaves the floor is this: I always thought we could pass a bill. I told my friend that. But I think Senator Schumer--no one, not one of 100 Senators, no one other than the Senator from New York thought we could get 70 votes. I doubted he could get 70 votes. He knows I doubted that. No one in this body thought we could get 68, 72 votes except him. So I have watched a lot of things on the floor as long as I have been here in Congress--31, not as long as the Senator from New York, but I have been in the Senate longer than he has. For the vision to see this could take place is remarkable. I so admire his ability to hang tight when everyone was saying, leave this alone, just get a bill passed. He was not satisfied with that. That was not good enough. Because Senator Schumer alone--alone--if there is someone I missed, he can tell me about that, but I do not know of anyone who agreed with him. So, Mr. Subcommittee Chair, thank you for a vision, and for this big vote we are going to have. I am not sure that we could have gotten it done. Perhaps. But this is a pathway to satisfying the demands of this country, the demands of this country. What is in this legislation is agreed to by a vast majority of Democrats, a vast majority of Republicans, and a vast majority of Independents. So I thank the Senator for his vision.

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

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to a period of morning business and that Senators be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.