Marco Rubio

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I filed two amendments very important to my home State of Florida that I want to discuss. The first is an amendment that would authorize the Central Everglades Planning Project. The Florida Everglades are a national treasure. We have to work together to restore these lands. The State has experienced a wetter-than-average winter. The rains have elevated the levels of Lake Okeechobee which triggered the Army Corps of Engineers to discharge billions of gallons of water to the east through the St. Lucie River and to the west through the Caloosahatchee River. These discharges have been ongoing for months and have negatively impacted the delicate ecosystem in the area as well as the agricultural and tourism industries. In order to diminish these discharges, we must authorize the Central Everglades Planning Project. Once complete, this project will allow water to flow south from Lake Okeechobee to Everglades National Park and to Florida Bay. I had hoped this project would be authorized in 2014 by the administration, but the administration delayed the Army Corps of Engineers' Chief's report, which is the final step before Congress can authorize new projects, but this year we have a real chance to get this done. Thanks to the good work of Chairman Inhofe of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I expect the Central Everglades Planning Project to be included in the forthcoming water bill, which is slated to be marked up in committee next week. I will not ask for a vote on this amendment today, but I want to draw attention to this essential Everglades restoration project. I am hopeful this body can come together to restore our Everglades, but in the meantime I will continue to push for this vital authorization. Mr. President, the other amendment I filed today, cosponsored by Senators Shelby, Nelson, and Sessions, also highlights the importance of water management. The issue at hand there involves water that is naturally supposed to flow south, but it has not done so due to the Army Corps' actions in and around the State of Georgia. The results of this mismanagement have led to a 2013 Department of Commerce fishery disaster. It was declared for oysters in the Apalachicola Bay. During that same year, Senator Nelson and I held a field hearing in Apalachicola, where we heard from local fishermen whose livelihoods and family traditions were injured by the collapse of these fisheries. While we must continue to explore ways to fish more sustainably, a large part of the fisheries' collapse was the lack of freshwater flows. I have long supported the role Governors play in water allocation when the water in question greatly impacts multiple States. However, absent such an agreement between Governors, water continues to be withheld, and the situation has now become dire in my home State of Florida. The bottom line is, the status quo is only working for one State. I, along with the senior Senator from Florida and our colleagues from Alabama, have stood lockstep to bring our respective States to the table to finalize water allocations that will take into account our shared goals. Today we filed an amendment to do just that--to require the Governors to agree on water allocation before the Army Corps of Engineers can reallocate waters between the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin. The amendment also stipulates no funds would be available for reallocation of water within the States if an agreement between the Governors is not finalized. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense measure. Eureka Gardens Mr. President, on a different matter, I want to take this moment to applaud the residents of Eureka Garden Apartments in Jacksonville, FL, for coming together as a community during a time of hardship. While they face dangerous living conditions and bureaucratic indifference to their concerns, they have remained united and resilient. The bottom line is, the Federal Government has failed them. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has for years certified a living facility that has put hundreds of families at risk. When HUD inspected the property in question last summer, they passed the apartment complex, and they passed it with flying colors. Eureka Gardens received an 85 out of 100, but less than a month later, residents were complaining at tenants' association meetings and to their city council members about how bad their living conditions had become. When my staff visited the complex, what they witnessed was literally unbelievable. They saw crumbling stairs and black mold. They saw exposed electrical wiring that had been covered up by a trash bag. They smelled the natural gas that would soon hospitalize residents just days later. That was and that is unacceptable. My office, along with Mayor Curry of the city of Jacksonville and the city council and the tenants association, pushed for months to have improvements and repairs done to this complex. In February, HUD finally had a date by which all repairs must be completed. When they came back to reinspect Eureka Gardens, it passed the inspection, and they eventually renewed their contract with the property's owner, but the residents continued to say what they have been saying all along--HUD's inspections weren't working. Just recently, HUD revealed that Eureka Gardens passed with a score of 62. The passing score is a 60. However, a senior HUD official admitted that HUD officials do not believe the property would currently pass another inspection. So HUD has just admitted it has certified a failing facility. Something is clearly wrong with the HUD inspection process and Floridians are being hurt because of it. I would like to read part of an article from the Florida Times-Union, which was published on Monday that quotes one of the residents at Eureka Gardens. Dwan Wilson, who said she has had to go to the hospital at least six times with asthma issues since the mold remediation, cried as she spoke about her apartments' problems. ``We thank you all for what you're trying to do,'' Wilson said. ``We thank you all for pushing. But we're telling you they aren't doing anything.'' How many more years must the residents of Eureka Gardens suffer under this mismanagement? How many more children have to be put at risk due to lead poisoning and gas leaks? How many more facilities will HUD continue to rubberstamp approval of only to further sell slumlike conditions for the most vulnerable tenants? How many taxpayer dollars will be wasted by this agency on failing projects such as this? These are the questions HUD must answer. In the meantime, the residents of Eureka Gardens are forced to deal with the consequences of HUD's failures. I will continue to look for solutions to make sure what has happened at Eureka Gardens isn't repeated elsewhere. Americans deserve better from their government. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter I wrote to the Secretary of HUD, and it is dated April 18.

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

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I want to speak today about the fiscal crisis that faces Puerto Rico. In addition to some thoughts on what the island's own leaders need to do, I would like to commend the House leadership for their efforts to solve this problem with the recent bill they proposed. We need to take a close look at their proposed solutions, but they are right to tackle this problem head-on, and I look forward to offering more ideas as the debate reaches the Senate. Whenever I speak about Puerto Rico, I like to start by reminding people of a very basic fact: The people of Puerto Rico are American citizens and right now they are living in dire economic conditions. More than 3.5 million of our fellow Americans on the island are facing tremendous economic hardship, in large part because of irresponsible leadership from the government in San Juan. As we all know, Puerto Rico has a debt crisis of enormous proportions, and it has thrown off the stability of its economy from top to bottom. While some have suggested that Washington can deliver a silver-bullet solution to help Puerto Rico out of its debt, the reality is that nothing Washington does will be effective unless Puerto Rico's leaders turn away from decades of failed policies. The debt crisis goes hand in hand with a deeper problem: Puerto Rico's economy is not growing, and if the economy in Puerto Rico does not start growing, they will never generate the revenue necessary to pay their debt or the billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities they currently have on their books; in other words, the promised payments they have made to future generations that are completely unrealistic. Why is their economy not growing? The primary reason is decades of left-leaning policies that have made it too expensive to do business. Tax revenue is too high. Government regulations are stifling. The island is unattractive to investors. Their leadership has simply been irresponsible. This year alone, even with all the fiscal problems they are having, they barely reduced their budget from last year. In that sense, the problem in Puerto Rico is not unlike the problem we have here in Washington, DC. Puerto Rico's government is spending more than it takes in, and any time you spend more than you take in, you are going to have debt. No restructuring is going to solve that unless you restructure the way you spend money. Bankruptcy protection alone is not going to solve it either. Without reforms, if we grant bankruptcy protection by itself, Puerto Rico will simply be bankrupt again not far down the road. As a result of all of these problems, there is a massive exodus of professionals and others from Puerto Rico. They are leaving and heading to Florida and other places in the mainland United States. If we don't solve the problem on the island, we are going to continue seeing thousands of Puerto Ricans leave, which is going to further cripple the island's economy and reduce its revenue. The leadership in San Juan has to show its willingness to get their fiscal house in order. They need to accept that their decades of liberal policies have not succeeded and must now be traded in for pro- growth policies. If they keep refusing to do this, our options in Washington will be more limited and we won't have support. To help Puerto Rico, first and foremost, we need to do the same things that are necessary to help the rest of the United States. We need pro-growth and pro-family tax reform at the Federal level. We also need to repeal and replace ObamaCare so we can end the disproportionate damage the Obama administration has inflicted on the island by raiding its Medicare Advantage funding and reducing reimbursement payments for Medicare, which have left patients with fewer health options and higher costs. Puerto Rican consumers need to be treated the same as other American consumers on the mainland. It may be that the best path forward for Puerto Rico would be at some point to include a limited opportunity to restructure its debt, but that will require a serious discussion first to ensure that the solution is responsible and fair to creditors as well. Any mechanism for debt restructuring must be a last resort. It must come after Puerto Rican leaders have shown seriousness, initiative, and courage in tackling the problem, and it cannot be seen as the silver bullet that leaves the creation of conditions for economic growth by the wayside. Otherwise, protection will only amount to a cosmetic solution that does nothing to deal with the underlying disease. In closing, the problem must be addressed for the sake of the people of Puerto Rico. While there is a significant amount of responsibility on the shoulders of the government on the island, we cannot ignore that crisis here either. We, too, have a responsibility to our follow Americans who live on the island of Puerto Rico to tackle this issue with the same urgency and the same attention we would if this fiscal crisis were confronting one of our 50 States. I hope we will take up this calling and act. I again congratulate the leadership in the House for trying to do something. We hope they will continue that work to arrive at something that can pass there. But I think it is important for us to take up the cause here as well. For over a century, Puerto Ricans have contributed to our economy, enriched our culture, and nobly sacrificed in our wars. Puerto Ricans are Americans. They deserve better than indifferent leadership in Washington and atrocious Big Government mismanagement in San Juan. Puerto Rico's leaders must answer the challenge, but by taking some of the steps outlined here, leaders in Washington can and must do their part as well. I yield the floor.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, as you may have heard a moment ago, one of the amendments that is being objected to from our end is an amendment that I have filed, and I will describe it briefly. I wish to first describe the issue I am trying to address. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an article entitled ``U.S. welfare flows to Cuba'' from October 1, 2015.

Mr. RUBIO. Let me now talk about the one I want to talk about. This is how the article begins. I talked about yesterday. Let me back up and explain what people are facing. Today, if an immigrant enters the United States from another country legally and comes here on a green card, with 5-year residency, they cannot receive Federal benefits. If you immigrate to the United States from any country in the world with an immigrant visa legally--not illegal immigration, as illegal immigrants do not qualify for Federal benefits--a legal immigrant to the United States does not qualify for any Federal benefits. There is an exception in the law, however, and that is if you happen to be someone who comes from Cuba without a visa. There is a law called the Cuban Adjustment Act. When the Cuban Adjustment Act was passed during the Cold War, it was passed so that Cubans who came to the United States fleeing communist oppression were immediately admitted to the United States. In essence, that is why there is really no such thing as an illegal immigrant from Cuba. If a Cuban makes it to the shores of the United States, they become legal in this country, and a year and a day after they have arrived, they are allowed to apply for a green card. But unlike any immigrant from any part of the world, they are allowed to receive Federal benefits because they are automatically presumed to be refugees. That is a status that I am not trying to change in terms of the Cuban Adjustment Act. I have said that I am open to that being examined, but I am not trying to change that law in my amendment. I do want to discuss why we should automatically assume at this point that anyone who comes from Cuba is a political refugee. The reason why that now is in doubt is because many of the people who are coming from Cuba, supposedly as refugees seeking to flee oppression, are traveling back to Cuba 15, 20, 30 times a year. There are people being oppressed politically in Cuba, absolutely. It is one of the reasons why I think the President's policies toward Cuba have been misguided, because they refuse to see that even after this opening to Cuba, the political situation on the island has deteriorated. It has gotten worse, not better. There are absolutely people from Cuba who are coming here as refugees. But we also cannot ignore the fact that many of the people coming from Cuba no longer are coming here for political reasons. The evidence is that shortly after they arrive, they are going back to Cuba 15, 20, 30 times a year. You do not normally travel back to a place where you are fleeing from oppression, much less repeatedly over an extended period of time. So as a result, we now have a law that basically says that if you come from Cuba, you are automatically entitled to a full platform of Federal benefits. This is how the article begins: Cuban immigrants are cashing in on U.S. welfare and returning to the island, making a mockery of the decades-old premise that they are refugees fleeing persecution at home. . . . Cubans' unique access to food stamps, disability money, and other welfare is meant to help them build new lives in America. Yet these days, it's helping some finance their lives on the communist island. America's open-ended generosity has grown into an entitlement that exceeds $680 million a year and is exploited with ease. No agency tracks the scope of this abuse, but a Sun Sentinel investigation found evidence suggesting it is widespread. Fed-up Floridians-- Where a lot of these Cubans are moving to-- are reporting their neighbors and their relatives for accepting government aid while shuttling back and forth to the island, selling goods in Cuba and leaving their benefit cards in the U.S. for others to use while they are away. Some do not even come back at all. The U.S. has continued to deposit welfare checks for as long as two years after the recipients moved back to Cuba for good. It goes on to talk about several people. For example there is a shopkeeper in Hialeah, FL, where a lot of these folks are coming and moving. He says he hears about it all the time. He is a barber. He has been in the United States for 3 years, and he said: Recent immigrants on welfare talk of spending considerable time in Cuba--six months there, two months here. ``You come and go before benefits expire.'' The article goes on: The sense of entitlement is so ingrained that Cubans are now routinely complaining to the local Congressman about the challenge of accessing U.S. aid--from Cuba. What they are complaining about is that they are coming into the office. This is what a former aide to a former Congressman from Miami said: A family member would come into our office and say a family member isn't receiving his benefits. They would ask: Where is he? And they would say: He is in Cuba, and he isn't coming back for 6 months. This is unreal. There are people coming into congressional offices complaining: We are having trouble getting access to our benefits. You ask them why, and they say it is because the person who gets the benefits is not in America; he is in Cuba and he can't get access to his benefits from Cuba. One woman told Miami immigration attorney Grisel Ybarra that her grandmother and two great aunts came to Florida, got approved for benefits, opened bank accounts and returned to Cuba. Month after month, the woman cashed their government checks--about $2,400 each time--sending half to the women in Cuba and keeping the rest. They kept for themselves a 50 percent commission. When a welfare agency questioned the elderly ladies' whereabouts this summer, the woman turned to Ybarra, a Cuban American. She told Ybarra her grandmother refused to come back, saying: ``With the money you sent me, I bought a home and I am really happy in Cuba.'' That means your money--the American taxpayers' money. Ybarra went on to say that the Cubans on the island have a name for this U.S. aid. It is called ``la ayuda,'' which means the help. Cubans are allowed into the U.S. even if they arrive without permission and are quickly granted permanent residency. . . . As I said earlier, under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, they are automatically assumed to be refugees without having to prove it. They are immediately eligible for welfare, for food stamps, for Medicaid, and for supplemental social security, or SSI, and also cash assistance for impoverished seniors and for disabled young people. But let's be frank, not all Cubans receive government aid. For example, if you come to the United States from Cuba on a visa--because there is a visa lottery and every year the government awards visas to people living in Cuba--you do not qualify for these benefits. If, however, you arrive in the United States on a raft or if you fly on an airplane to Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, or Mexico and cross the U.S. border--as is now increasingly happening--then you do qualify for these benefits I have just outlined. So let's be frank, not everyone who is coming from Cuba is doing this. There are people coming from Cuba who are fleeing persecution, but many are taking advantage of the easy money, and then they are going back and forth to Cuba. I will give you some examples cited in this article: A public housing tenant in Hialeah, who was receiving food stamps and SSI payments for a disabled son, frequently traveled to Cuba to sell food there, records showed. She admitted to a city housing investigator in 2012 that she ``makes $700 in two months just in the sales to Cuba.'' And $700 a month is a lot of money in Cuba. How does this work? They take the food stamp card. They go to the grocery store. They load up a van with canned goods. They travel back to Cuba. They just got that food with your taxpayer money. They travel back to Cuba with duffel bags full of canned goods, and they sell it in Cuba for a profit--$700 over a 2-month period. Another man receiving food stamps admitted to State officials ``that he was living in Cuba for much of 2015.'' A recent arrival with a chronic illness got Medicaid coverage and turned to [his] attorney . . . of Miami to help him get SSI as well. But the man was ``going back and forth to Cuba'' so much that Batchelder eventually dropped the case. ``It was just another benefit he was applying for.'' This, of course, concerns people who came to the United States as exiles and are now watching this happen. There is a doctor whose name is Noel Fernandez, and he recalls when his family arrived here from Cuba that the U.S. Government helped them a little. When they immigrated here 20 years ago, he was helped to find work as a landscaper, he was helped to learn English, and he was helped to complete his medical studies. Today he is the medical director of Citrus Health Network in Hialeah. Fernandez sees Cuban immigrants collecting benefits and then going back, including three elderly patients who recently left the United States for good. ``They got Medicaid, they got everything, and they returned to Cuba,'' he said. ``I see people that said they were refugees [from] Cuba and they return the next year.'' That is his quote. State officials-- In my home State of Florida-- have received complaints about Cubans collecting aid while repeatedly going to Cuba or working as mules ferrying cash and goods, which is a common way of financing travel to the island. How that works is, people know you are traveling to Cuba, and they have relatives they want to get money to or clothes to or whatever, and so they pay you. They actually pay you. They give you money and they say: Will you take this with you on your trip to Cuba and deliver it to the people we are trying to get it to? That is why they call them a mule. Well, from the money you get paid to take these things back to Cuba, that is how you pay for your plane ticket. Another way of paying for these trips, by the way, is cheating. According to the Sentinel article: Like other welfare recipients, some Cubans work under the table or put their assets in others' names to appear poor enough to meet the programs' income limits, according to records and interviews. Some married couples qualify for more money as single people. Many of our welfare programs actually give you more money if you are not married because you don't have to combine your incomes. So because they were married in Cuba, they simply conceal the fact that they are married because the United States can't access those records. That is another way of cheating. Now look, ``accessing benefits from [someone who is in] Cuba typically requires a U.S. bank account and a willing relative or friend stateside.'' By the way, that is just for now because as part of this opening to Cuba, the Obama administration is going to make it easier for there to be banking transactions with Cuba. So what we are facing here, my friends, is that in a very short period of time--once banking becomes regularized with American banks--they will not even need to rely on their relatives in order to get this stuff. All they are going to need is an ATM or debit card or a credit card secured to that account, and you--the American taxpayer--will deposit the welfare check, the SSI, into their bank account, and they will then be conducting transactions or withdrawing the cash from Cuba directly. So they will not even need a relative to do it, but right now they still need that. ``Food stamps and welfare are issued monthly to a debit-type card and SSI payments are deposited into a bank account or onto a MasterCard.'' And soon they will be able to use that in Cuba. Then what you need is ``a joint account holder with a PIN number who can withdraw the money and wire it to you in Cuba.'' Another option is just to entrust the money to a friend who is traveling to Cuba. Roberto Pizano of Tampa, a political prisoner in Cuba for 18 years, said he worked two jobs when he arrived in the U.S. in 1979 and never accepted government help. He now sees immigrants ``abusing the system.'' He says he has a ``family friend,'' and this family friend got ``disability money from the U.S.'' and with the disability money he ``renovated a house in Cuba.'' The Sun Sentinel found this man. His name is Gilberto Reyno. You know where they found him? They found him living in Camaguey, Cuba. Quoting from the article: The Sun Sentinel found Reyno living in that house in Camaguey, Cuba. He said he was no longer receiving disability, but Pizano and another person familiar with the situation said the payments continue to be deposited into a U.S. bank account. Here is another example that Federal investigators found, according to the article: A 2012 complaint alleged a 75-year-old woman had moved to Camaguey two years earlier and a relative was withdrawing her SSI money from a bank account and sending it to her. Social Security stopped payments, but not before nearly $16,000 had been deposited into her account. Another recipient went to Cuba on vacation and then stayed, leaving his debit card with a relative. Social Security continued his SSI payments for another six months--$4,000 total--before an anonymous caller reported he had gone back to Cuba. One woman reportedly moved to Cuba in 2010 and died three years later, while still receiving SSI and food stamps, according to a 2014 tip to Florida welfare fraud investigators. Five Cubans interviewed by the Sun Sentinel in Havana said they were aware of the assistance and knew of Cubans who had gone to America and quickly began sending money back. Two said they believed it was U.S. government aid. That means this is now spreading through word-of-mouth. So you live in Cuba, you know someone who left for the United States, they qualified for these benefits, and they start coming back and bringing the money with them or sending it back to their relatives, and word gets around. That is why it is not a surprise to read in this article: Outside welfare offices in Hialeah, the Sun Sentinel found Cuban immigrants who had arrived as recently as three days earlier, applying for benefits. They said family and friends told them about the aid before they left Cuba. ``Back in the '60s, when you came in, they told you the factory that was hiring,'' said Nidia Diaz of Miami, a former bail bondswoman who was born in Cuba. ``Now they tell you the closest Department of Children and Families [office] so you can go and apply.'' This is a quote from another bail bondswoman: Miami bail bondswoman Barbara Pozo said many of her Cuban clients talk openly about living in Cuba and collecting monthly disability checks, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. ``They just come here to pick up the money,'' Pozo said. ``They pretend they're disabled. They just pretend they're crazy.'' SSI payments, for those who cannot work due to mental or physical disabilities, go up to $733 a month for an individual. Most other new immigrants are ineligible until they become U.S. citizens. Some Cubans try to build a case for SSI by claiming trauma from their life under an oppressive government or the 90-mile crossing to Florida. Diaz, the former bondswoman, said she has heard Cuban clients talk about qualifying: ``Tell them that you have emotional problems. How did you get these problems? Well, trying to get here from Cuba.'' Here is one that should really gall everybody, though these are all bad stories. Antonio Comin collected disability while organizing missions to smuggle Cubans to Florida, including one he launched from a house in the Keys, Federal prosecutors said. Comin claimed he rented the home to celebrate his birthday-- after receiving his government check. Casimiro Martinez was receiving a monthly check for a mental disability--but his mind was sound enough to launder more than $1 million stolen from Medicare. Martinez was arrested at Miami International Airport after returning from a trip to Cuba. While benefits are supposed to be suspended for recipients who leave the United States for more than 30 days, the government relies on people to self-report those absences, and Federal audits have found widespread violations. So the only way you can find that someone is actually doing this is they have to call and say: Hey, by the way, I am now living in Cuba, and I am still collecting my checks. Well, that ain't gonna happen. This is an outrage. Listen, my parents came from Cuba. I live in a community where Cuban exiles are a plurality of the people who live there. So no one can say this is an anti-immigrant thing or a mean-spirited thing. We have the support of every elected Cuban American Member of the House for this idea. I myself come from a Cuban American family. This is an outrage. It is happening right underneath our noses. Who can be for this? Let me rephrase it. Who can be against doing something about this? We are talking about close to $700 million a year of American taxpayer money that could be spent right now to deal with the Zika virus issue that we are facing, for example. Instead, this money is being abused. It is being stolen. So one would think: Wow, that is a commonsense thing; right? People here in the gallery, people at home--if anyone is actually watching C- span--would say: That is common sense. They will do something about it. Yet I can't get a vote on this amendment. I cannot get the Senate to vote on an amendment to stop this practice. Here is the only thing I am asking. I am asking that if you come from Cuba, you have to prove you are a refugee. Prove that to us. I am not even saying we are not going to let you in. I am just saying that if you come from Cuba using the Cuban Adjustment Act, prove that you have been persecuted in Cuba. That is not hard to do. You were in jail; you were beaten. We know who the people are who are being persecuted. All I am saying is prove that you are a refugee, and then you will qualify for the benefits because we help refugees. But, apparently, that is too much to ask. Here is the thing. Everybody here comes up to me and says: I am for your amendment. I support what you are trying to do. Great. Why can't we vote on it? We can't vote on it because if we give you your amendment, then we have to give the other side their amendments. And let me just tell you guys that this is why people are so sick of politics. I don't want to get too much into the weeds on this, but suffice it to say I have spent from April 13 of 2015 through very recently traveling all over this country on another endeavor, and one of the things you hear from people is that they are just angry. They are just fed up. They think: Nobody whom we elect, whom we vote for, whom we send to Washington--nothing ever changes or happens. It doesn't matter. You can vote Republican, you can vote Democrat, or you can vote for a vegetarian. It doesn't matter whom you vote for. Nothing happens. These people don't do anything. They are right. I have just come here today and laid this out. No one can argue against what I have just said--no one. I challenge any Member of this Senate to come here now--I will give the rest of the time I have apportioned to me--and tell me why changing this is a bad idea. But I can't even vote get a vote on an amendment to change this. The excuses are long: Oh, we can't do it because we don't want to open the tax portion of the bill because then other people will want their amendments. This is crazy. This is nuts. We can't solve problems. We can't solve something as clear and simple as that. We can't even get a vote. If you want to vote against what I am proposing, vote against it. We can't even get a vote on an amendment like this. It makes no sense. This is not a small issue. We are talking $700 million. This is not an issue of national coverage. It is not in the news every day. This is not controversial. This is bipartisan. The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Congresswoman from Florida, is a cosponsor of this bill in the House. So this is not partisan. It is not about getting anyone elected to anything. I am not running for anything. This is about doing what is right. This is about being able to go back to my home community and say to people: This abuse has been addressed. But if I go home tonight or tomorrow to Florida and I run into somebody at the grocery store, I can't explain to them with a straight face why the Senate will not give me a vote on this because it makes no sense. If I came to you and said: They are stealing $700 million a year from you, and here is a very simple way to stop it, you would say: Let's do it. We have to do it. But here they are saying: We can't do it. And no one will tell you why we can't do it, except for some procedural internal Senate thing. This is ridiculous. This is why people are angry. This is why people are so upset. This is why people have taken on this attitude to get rid of everyone. And I have to tell you, it is hard to blame them after seeing what is happening here now. This is total and complete outrage. There is another amendment being debated, by the way, by Senator Sessions. It is another one of the amendments that was denied a vote. It has to do with the entry-exit tracking system, which basically means that when you come into the United States with a visa--you get a visa to visit the United States for 90 days as a tourist. You want to go to Washington, you want to go to Disney World, you want to go to New York City, and you have 60 to 90 days to visit the United States. When you arrive, we check you in. But we never check you out. So we never know when or if someone has left. As a result, today, of the 12 or 13 or 14 million people who are here illegally, about 40 percent or so of them are people who have overstayed their visas. They didn't cross the border illegally. They came on an airplane, and they overstayed their visa. Everyone says they are in favor of a system that tracks entries and exits so we can crack down on these overstayed visas. Everyone says they are in favor of it. In 2013, the Senate passed a controversial immigration reform bill that I was a part of and we helped craft, and an entry-exit tracking system was part of that bill. Everyone--Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative--says they are in favor of doing that. But you can't get a vote on an amendment dealing with it. Again, it makes no sense. This place can't solve anything, and this is ridiculous. So what happens when you don't solve things for a long time? The problems stack up. The problems stack up and people lose confidence. People lose faith. Look, I understand this process. I know everyone is not always going to get everything. You are not going to achieve everything you want when you get involved in these issues, but these are commonsense issues. An entry-exit tracking system--of course that makes sense. By the way, you have to do that on the FAA bill. You have to because that has to do with airports where most of the entry-exits are happening. This issue is drafted to this bill because this bill has a piece of it that deals with the Tax Code and finance. A moment ago, the chairman said we had a lot of debate. They had an open amendment process on the FAA bill, but there is a finance component to this bill that was not offered until it got here. That is what my amendment is drafted on, so I couldn't have offered this in a committee. I think people come to Washington and watch this process; they hear me explain this thing. They are wondering, there has to be a catch, right? What is the other side of the argument? There is no other side of the argument. There is none. There is none. Why should you, the people watching, the people here, why should anybody, why should the American taxpayer be giving money to people who don't live here to build houses in another country? That is what is happening right underneath our noses. Forget about passing it. You can't even get a vote on it, for reasons no one can explain. Do you want to know why people are upset and frustrated with the political process? This is a small but important example of why people are so frustrated. I hope this will change. I hope it will change. I hope it will change on this bill because I don't think you can explain with a straight face why something like this can't pass or why something like this can't even get a vote on it. This makes absolutely no sense, but this is what is happening here every single day on a routine basis. When I say ``here,'' I mean in Washington. The result is, people start to scratch their heads and say: You know what. It doesn't matter whom we elect, nothing changes. That explains a lot about the frustrations that are going on in this country. I hope that will change. Honoring Assault Brigade 2506 Madam President, I want to talk about another topic briefly. It is also related to Cuba but on a much different note. It has to do with the Bay of Pigs, which is something that happened a while back. April 17 will mark the anniversary of a significant event in history. It is an event that many in our government over the years have been eager to forget and is often cited as a blemish on our history, but I beg to differ in some ways. The result wasn't what we wanted, but we have a lot to be proud of. I think it has become increasingly important to remember. Fifty-five years ago this Sunday, on April 17, 1961, there were 1,500 brave volunteers who embarked upon a mission to liberate Cuba from Fidel Castro's oppressive grip. This force was primarily made up of Cuban exiles, but they were a diverse group from all backgrounds within Cuban society. They knew they would be badly outnumbered and they would face extraordinary odds. Yet these men stormed the beaches of Playa Giron at the Bay of Pigs. They did it for what at the time was their country, Cuba. They did it for their families. They did it for freedom itself. Over the next 4 days, nearly 100 members of the Brigada de Asalto-- Assault Brigade 2506--lost their lives--nearly 100 members. Included in that number were four American pilots and five others who were executed. The majority were captured and imprisoned for many months and years and in inhumane conditions. Though the Bay of Pigs invasion failed, it was a triumph of courage for the brave Cuban exiles at the mission's helm, and it serves as a reminder of an era when the U.S. Government actually embraced America's role as the watchman on the walls of freedom. Since taking power those many years ago, the anti-American Castro regime has never relented in its attempts to undermine our security and suppress its own people. More than 1 million Cubans have voted with their feet, fleeing the island in search of political freedom or better economic conditions--we just discussed that a moment ago--often coming to the United States. Many of these refugees are my neighbors, my friends, and constituents. My own parents left Cuba several years before Castro took over, but their lives were nonetheless marred by his rule as well. The relationships with family and friends and access to their homeland were abruptly severed. For the nearly 1,500 Cuban exiles who made up the Assault Brigade 2506, Fidel Castro was not the leader of their country. He was what he has always been--a thief and an imposter. They knew liberty was a God- given right, and they needed to do all in their power to reclaim it. Their story says as much about their own resilience as it does about America. The very building I stand in, and the proud body I am a Member of, would not exist were it not for men like them over 150 years before. America's Declaration of Independence says of mankind's inalienable rights that ``whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.'' Those who undertook the Bay of Pigs invasion fought for their country, not against it. Their cause was a humanitarian cause, a noble cause, in many ways, an American cause. Many of those who were captured and eventually released and exiled to the United States came with nothing--not a penny--and in many cases no English skills. They went to work and embraced America's blessings, but they never forgot their homeland. Some made it their life's work to promote the cause of a free Cuba. Others went to work on a different endeavor to provide for their families but dedicated countless hours as faithful volunteers of the cause. Many of the former members of the Brigade 2506 would take up arms for the United States, serving in our Armed Forces with the same bravery and distinction they showed at the Bay of Pigs. In doing so, they served as teachers to an entire community. For example, today in Miami a Brigade 2506 monument and museum now exists as much to commemorate these heroes as they do to educate others. Far from being forgotten, the example of these brave men has inspired others to carry on their work. Their legacy lives, and it lives on among those of us who follow in their footsteps by making their cause of a free Cuba our cause. Today the spirit of those who paid the ultimate price is alive and well in the brigade's Veterans Association and continues to stand firmly against the Castro brothers' dictatorship. Their spirit is also alive inside Cuba, represented by all those who stand up to the repressive regime and its beatings, detentions, and suppressions of speech. A strong dissident movement within the island refuses to be silenced, demanding change and the right of every human being to be free. Sadly, this administration has betrayed that spirit of dissension by treating the Castro government as if it were democratically elected. The President's actions have only motivated the dictatorship to increase in its very nature, but as long as the spirit of the brigade lives on, the dream of a free Cuba will never die. Following the Bay of Pigs invasion, in December of 1962, President Kennedy delivered a speech in Miami honoring those who fought. Accepting an honor from them in return, he accepted the flag of their brigade. President Kennedy said: ``I can assure you that this flag will be returned to this brigade in a free Havana.'' That assurance was not made by a man but by a nation. It came with no expiration date. I believe we as Americans owe it to the fearless men who fought at the Bay of Pigs to ensure that their flag, which last touched the shores of Cuba 55 years ago this week, is one day returned to a free Havana and that everything that flag represents--freedom, sacrifice, the dreams of the Cuban people--remains the cause of the United States. To the veterans of Assault Brigade 2506, thank you for your service and God bless you. I yield the floor.

Mr. RUBIO. I will not read the whole article. But I am going to paraphrase from it. By the way, as to the Democratic amendments that have been proposed and on which the Senator from California has just made a presentation regarding travel issues and pilot hours--she referred to the fact I have traveled extensively over the last year--they are issues I am actually very sympathetic toward. Perhaps we can work together to get her a vote on that amendment, because I think that is a legitimate issue.

Mr. RUBIO

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

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, I am here today to talk about the Zika virus, which we have been hearing a lot about in the news lately. It is a virus that first began to appear--well, obviously it has been around for a long time, but we began to see it in the news lately with regard to its implications in Brazil and Latin America. But it has now found its way here to the United States, and there has been a lot of discussion about it. As the Presiding Officer knows, the President has requested $1.9 billion to deal with it. There are a lot of different things we need to do to address it. There has been a little bit of a squabble in the Congress about whether we should be spending that much money on it. So one of the things I argued for--and it has happened--is that we should take some of the money that was set aside for Ebola when the Ebola crisis was going on--it was about $500 million of that that had been unspent. I argued that before we go to the $1.9 billion, there was $500 million immediately available. Let's assign that to be used. The President has agreed to do that. But there is still a shortfall on this issue. It does need to be addressed. I hope we can find a way to address it. Obviously my political differences with the policies of the White House are well known and established, but this is an issue where I believe and I hope they will be supportive of this request. To be abundantly clear, it is not just about throwing money at it. We have to make sure the money is being spent on the right things. This is not just saying ``Here is $1.9 billion'' and throwing the money at Zika; you want to make sure, No. 1, it is all being spent on dealing with the virus. Oftentimes in this place, when money is assigned for a catastrophe or a disaster or anything like this, a breakout of a disease, suddenly you see all kinds of other ideas and programs attached to it that have nothing to do with the primary reason the money is being spent. So we want to make sure, No. 1, that if there is $1.9 billion that is going to be spent on this, that all of it is spent on this and not on some other thing. The second is, we want to make sure the money is being spent on the right things. What are the right things? Well, we have discussed those over the last few days. One of the most important things that need to happen long term is the money necessary for basic research to incentivize the vaccine. There is a belief that they can pretty quickly get to a vaccine that will protect people from this. That is important. I think there needs to be thought put into the testing. Today, testing for the Zika virus is less than reliable. There is not a commercially available test. For example, in Florida, if you want to be tested for Zika, it has to be through the State department of health. You cannot go down to Quest Laboratory or one of the providers of lab tests and get it. There is not a commercially available test. So that has to be improved as well. Those are the sorts of things I hope the money will be geared towards. This is why it is so important. I don't want us to take our eyes off of this because if this issue really takes off on us here in the United States, we don't want to say that we knew it was happening but we ignored it and did nothing about it. On Monday of this week, there was a Reuter's report in which U.S. officials warned that the Zika virus is ``scarier'' than they initially thought. The Zika virus is now present in about 30 States. And by the way, there are hundreds of thousands of infections that could appear in the territory of Puerto Rico. Here is a quote from the Deputy Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought. And so while we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the Continental United States, we need the States to be ready for that. As of now, from my understanding, there has only been one case of transmission in the continental United States. That happens to be in Polk County, FL. But there are dozens in the territory of Puerto Rico. So this is deeply concerning. The other thing they found is that the mosquito species that primarily transmits the virus is present in about 30 States rather than 12, as previously thought. So that, too, indicates that this could be a very serious issue that could find itself in places outside of the tropical climates to which we once thought it was limited. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control--this was last Wednesday--the CDC said that it is now clear that Zika definitely causes severe birth defects. Confirming the worst fears of many pregnant women in the United States and Latin America, U.S. health officials said Wednesday that there is no longer any doubt that the Zika virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects. This is something that now--looking at what has happened in Brazil and other parts of the country, there is now real concern about what this can mean for pregnant women and the ability to transmit that to their unborn child. The effects of it are devastating. Initially it was thought that the Zika virus is very dangerous if you contract it in the first trimester but that after that the risk is no longer as grave. But on Thursday of this week, we got the news--this was reported in USA TODAY--that the Zika virus may, in fact, affect babies even in the later stages of pregnancy. The Zika virus may pose a threat to women and their fetuses even in the later stages of pregnancy, according to a study published online Wednesday in the BMG, which was formerly known as the British Medical Journal. Doctors initially suspected that Zika infections, which are largely spread by mosquitoes, would be most harmful to fetuses in the first trimester or the first 3 months of a 9-month pregnancy. In this study, however, 23 percent of the mothers of babies with microcephaly were infected with Zika in the second trimester. Two mothers were infected in the sixth month of pregnancy. None were infected in the third trimester. The babies in the study had problems that went far beyond simply small heads. The brain damage seen in the study was ``extremely severe, indicating a poor prognosis,'' according to the study. The authors of the report have now expanded the study to a total of 130 babies with microcephaly. Several infants have had epileptic seizures within 3 to 5 months after birth. The extent of the brain damage seen in the babies in the study, which was captured in MRI images, was ``stunning,'' according to James Bale, Jr., a professor of pediatric neurology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. This is the quote: ``This is a really remarkable degree of damage.'' Babies with this condition have severe microcephaly, extra scalp skin, intellectual disabilities, and prominent occipital bone, which is located at the back of the head, according to the CDC. By the way, these fetal brain disruptions we have talked about are normally extremely rare. A 2001 review in a medical journal identified only 20 cases, according to the CDC. So this is something we are looking at that does not normally happen as a normal risk, but it is clearly being exacerbated by the Zika virus. In fact, in MRI images published by the BMG study, one baby appears to have a very small, even nonexistent brain. Judging by the damage on the MRI, the baby in that image is likely to have severe cognitive impairment and may be unable to learn to walk or talk. So that is why the same day I sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control. I sent a letter to them regarding the Zika testing backlog. On April 8, I hosted a briefing in Miami--a week ago tomorrow. Some State health departments, local health departments, and county government officials were represented. I included health officers from Puerto Rico. I publicly, as I said at the time, offered my support for the President's emergency supplemental funding request. While I heard there were many obstacles that we face in fighting Zika, one aspect I heard about repeatedly was the distressing length of time it takes for diagnostic tests to be completed. I have subsequently seen media reports of pregnant women who have waited up to a month for the CDC to complete their diagnostic tests for the Zika virus while fearful mothers anxiously waited to know their child's fate. Of course, we are still waiting for the supplemental request to be passed, and I hope we can do that quickly. There really is no reason to wait on this. But until Congress approves the request, I urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to use whatever steps are necessary to dedicate currently available resources to clearing its current backlog of Zika diagnostic tests and to prioritize these tests for women who are pregnant. I believe these essential steps will help us not only to ease mothers' minds who test negative for the virus but also to provide critical care for a child whose mother tests positive for the Zika virus. We know that screening for microcephaly should happen early and often, and receiving the results of a diagnostic test is the first step in that process. The CDC should have the capability to provide those services immediately to those who are waiting. Ultimately, it is my hope that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will approve a commercial Zika diagnostic test in the near future so that these tests are more broadly available. One more thing that was reported on Wednesday was that the House GOP is readying a Zika funding plan. House leaders are working on approving more funding by the end of this year. Once again, I encourage them to do so in light of the circumstances we now face. I am not saying this is going to be an outbreak of crisis proportions, but I am saying that for a family that is potentially impacted by this, it will be a crisis. I am saying that it is important for these testing kits to be available--not only for the expectant mothers or potentially pregnant but also for men because, as we know, the Zika virus can also be transmitted sexually, as it was in the transmission that occurred in Polk County, FL. Beyond it, I hope that in this funding request we don't wait until the end of the year. The summer months are coming, and these are the months where the spread of these mosquitoes--the two strains of the two types of species of mosquitoes that carry the virus--are going to be prevalent in many parts of the country. It is the time of year when many people find themselves outdoors exposed to these mosquitoes. I hope the funding request can be in place and that we don't wait until the end of the year to deal with this. It shouldn't take this long. Look, I believe in limited government, but I do believe one of the obligations of a limited Federal Government is to protect our people from dangers, whether they be foreign enemies or the risk of disease outbreak. I hope we will move forward on this endeavor because it is important. It is a proper function of government. We shouldn't be sitting here 6 months from now regretting that we didn't act sooner. I hope we will move promptly and quickly both in the House and then in the Senate to address this issue. I also wish to say that I don't want to forget about Puerto Rico. Oftentimes people forget that Puerto Rico is the United States. The people who live there are U.S. citizens. There is already a severe outbreak when it comes to Puerto Rico. They are already facing this crisis. So it is important. If this were one of the 50 States, they would have a Senator on the floor right now, maybe two, arguing on behalf of them. Obviously, Puerto Rico doesn't have a Senator elected from the island. I stand here today on their behalf to argue that this is an important issue that needs to be addressed for the sake of our country, but most immediately for the sake of the territory of Puerto Rico. I hope we will move quickly to confront this issue and to solve it. I close by saying one more thing. While government has an important role to play, ultimately we have a responsibility. If you are traveling to parts of this world where you might be exposed to the virus, you have an obligation to get tested to ensure that you are not going to be transmitting this to your partner. As I argued last week at my press conference, if you are going to be outdoors, you have an obligation to use mosquito repellant to protect yourself and your family from being exposed to this, just the same way you would wear sunscreen. It is important for us more this summer than any other. It is not only Zika that mosquitoes transmit. They transmit all kinds of other very serious illnesses. There is a level of personal responsibility here. We talked about people not allowing bodies of water, whether it is undrained pools or puddles of water in your backyard. These mosquitoes can grow in water containers as small as the cap of a bottle of water. They don't need a lot of water in order to reproduce and grow. So there are things we need to do in our own lives to take personal responsibility for dealing with the Zika virus. But there is a proper role for government, and I hope we will play it. We have an obligation to hold the government responsible to ensure that the money that is appropriated is just being spent on Zika and is being spent appropriately on things that work. We should be working with our local and State partners to ensure that we are funding the programs that work and need to be funded. But I think we need to get it done. I hope we can get it done here rather quickly because the summer is upon us. I don't think we want to be halfway through the summer and wake up to the news that hundreds and hundreds of Americans in multiple States have been infected and we did nothing. We will have to explain that to our constituents, and I am not sure we are going to have a good explanation if we don't have it. With that, I yield the floor. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, first I have an item I want to speak about on the pending bill. There is another item I want to discuss, first of all, but even before that, I want to add that I caught the tail end of the statement of the Senator from Illinois about student loans. When I first arrived here in the Senate and I was sworn in right where our pages are sitting now, I had over $100,000 in student loans that I had taken on during my undergraduate but primarily my postgraduate education. I can state that had it not been for the blessings of the proceeds of a book that I wrote called ``American Son,'' I am not sure I would have ever paid those loans off. I was fortunate. I went to law school and got a law degree and was employed. I know firsthand the struggle that millions of Americans are facing and the young people who have taken on substantial student loan debt, some of whom have never graduated from institutions and others who have graduated, frankly, with pieces of paper of degrees that, unfortunately, are not worth the paper they are printed on. As a result, they are stuck with a debt that can never be discharged. There are only two ways to get rid of a student loan--die or pay it off. For many people, paying it off is not going to happen. It is an issue that this Senator hopes Congress will confront. It is a looming crisis in America. There is over a trillion dollars of student loan debt. Quite frankly, it holds people back. When that student loan is sitting on your credit report, you won't get a loan to buy a home. If your wages are being garnished and other issues come up as a result of paying it off, it is a debilitating problem that people face. We have discussed throughout the years the hopes of steps we can take to address it, and I hope we will have a chance to do that before this Congress finishes its work. Honoring the 65th Infantry Regiment ``Borinqueneers'' Mr. President, before I speak on the bill, I want to rise today to pay tribute to a distinguished group of American heroes. It is a group that for too long was denied the honors and benefits they were owed for their service to our Nation. The 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers, is a predominantly Puerto Rican regiment that is the only Hispanic segregated unit to fight in every global war of the 20th century. Historically, the Borinqueneers were denied equal benefits and equal honors for their service, despite the fact that their regiment experienced equal risk and equal duty in combat during World War I, World War II, and the Korean war. They have since been decorated for their extraordinary service on the battlefield. In the Korean war alone, the regiment earned more than 2,700 Purple Hearts, 600 Bronze Stars, 250 Silver Stars, 9 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 1 Medal of Honor. There is another medal, however, that has yet to be presented, but that will change later this afternoon when the Borinqueneers and their families will celebrate the unveiling of the long overdue Congressional Gold Medal. This is the highest civilian honor in the United States. The medal will be unveiled today at a ceremony in the Capitol. It will then be given to the Smithsonian Institute and placed on public display. It is my hope that the more than 1,000 Borinqueneer veterans living throughout the United States, as well as the family members of those fallen, departed, and missing in action, will know at last that their service has received the ultimate tribute from a grateful Nation. Over the years, even in the shadow of unequal treatment, the Borinqueneers never faltered and never failed to prove just how valuable they are to the cause of freedom. My favorite example is the story of Operation Portrex--a military exercise that occurred on the eve of the Korean war. It was intended to test how the Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force would do as liberators of an enemy-controlled island. The Borinqueneers were tasked with playing the role of ``the enemy aggressors'' and attempting to prevent the more than 3,200 American troops from liberating the island in this exercise. It was a task that, quite frankly, they were not expected to accomplish. Yet, much to the surprise of the Army commanders, the 65th Infantry, badly outnumbered, was able to halt the offensive forces on the beaches. So it is no surprise that after seeing the tremendous skill of the Borinqueneers, our Army commanders quickly deployed them into the heart of the Korean war, trusting them with numerous important offensive operations. One of those operations occurred on January 31, 1951. It is credited as having been the last battalion-size bayonet charge by a U.S. Army unit. Of that charge, the commanding general, Douglas MacArthur, later wrote: The Puerto Ricans forming the ranks of the gallant 65th Infantry regiment, on the battlefields of Korea, by valor and determination and a resolute will to victory, give daily testament to their invincible loyalty to the United States and the fervor of their devotion to those immutable standards of human relations to which the Americans and the Puerto Ricans are in common dedicated. They are writing a brilliant record of achievement in battle. I am proud indeed to have them in this command. I wish that we might have many more like them. Throughout the storied history of the 65th, there are countless examples of valor that have distinguished this regiment. Today, Puerto Ricans serve in our military at some of the highest rates of any demographic group in the Nation, which is no doubt a lasting legacy of the Borinqueneers. It has been one of my great honors as a Senator to be involved in the effort to secure the Congressional Gold Medal by cosponsoring the legislation that passed the Senate in 2014. I was also honored to stand in the White House as President Obama signed the bill into law. Today, I want to thank two congressionally designated liaisons who worked tirelessly to make this day a reality: San Rodriguez and Javier Morales. Both of them are Army veterans. They made it their mission to ensure that through the design of the medal and its unveiling ceremony, these men who have honored our Nation receive the honor they deserve in return. I thank both of them for their work. I would also like to say a special thank-you to the students at St. Luke's Lutheran School in Oviedo, FL, and to their teacher, Ms. Carla Cotto Ford, who is the granddaughter of two Borinqueneers. Ms. Ford and her students raised thousands of dollars in their community toward an ongoing national effort to ensure that every single living Borinqueneer would receive a replica of the Congressional Gold Medal. The passionate efforts of Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Morales and Ms. Ford and her students and so many others who have labored to make this day a reality are part of what makes this Congressional Gold Medal so special. It reminds us that the legacy of past Borinqueneers who have fought and died for America is indeed a living legacy. Today that legacy, alive and well, reminds us that America truly is an exceptional country. Ours is a nation made up of people from all different backgrounds and all different cultures who came together as one Nation because we share a common idea: that everyone deserves the freedom to exercise their God-given rights. Each member of the 65th Infantry Regiment fought for that freedom not just for themselves but for every man and woman and child in these United States. In closing, to the Borinqueneers, I would like to say congratulations on the unveiling of your well-deserved Congressional Gold Medal. More importantly, on behalf of my staff and my family and the people of Florida, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for fighting to make this Nation the best it can be. Mr. President, on another topic, I want to briefly discuss an amendment I now have pending on the bill before us, the bill on the FAA. It is an amendment that is drafted to the finance portion of this bill and that deals with welfare reform. For two decades now, it has been the policy of the United States that new immigrants to the United States do not qualify for welfare and other public assistance programs for their first 5 years in the country. Just to lay out what that means, if you are a legal immigrant to the United States, for the first 5 years that you are in this country, you do not qualify for any Federal welfare or other public assistance programs. Of course, illegal immigrants do not qualify at all for Federal assistance programs. But there is an exception to this Federal law. The exception for this policy is for refugees and asylees who come to our shores seeking shelter from persecution. So while immigrants to the United States do not get Federal benefits, if you can prove you are a refugee fleeing persecution, then you do qualify for Federal assistance. For those people who can prove they are fleeing persecution, our compassionate country makes this financial commitment so they can get a new start on life and a leg up. But there is a provision of existing law that many people are not aware of. A provision of this existing law basically says that anyone who comes from Cuba--regardless of why they come to the United States, they are automatically and immediately presumed to be a refugee, and therefore they are automatically and immediately eligible for welfare and other public assistance. In essence, our existing law treats all Cubans categorically as if they are refugees, whether or not they can prove it. As many of you know, I am the son of Cuban immigrants. I live in a community where Cuban exiles have had an indelible imprint on our country, on the State of Florida and in South Florida in particular. Yet I stand here today to say that this provision of law, this distinction, is no longer justified. This financial incentive, this notion, this reality that if you get here from Cuba, you are going to immediately qualify for Federal benefits has encouraged the current migratory crisis in which today thousands of Cubans are making dangerous trips to come to the United States of America. It is creating pressure for foreign governments--for example, in Central America--that simply cannot host them, and it is now adding pressure to our southwest border. Just to outline what is happening, traditionally, Cubans come to the United States on a raft, on an airplane, or on a visa, but now many are making to trip to Costa Rica or Honduras and they are working their way up to Central America, through Mexico, and crossing our southern border. It is my belief--and I think well-founded based on much of the evidence we have now received in testimony and in newspaper articles; the South Florida Sun Sentinel, one of our newspapers based in Broward County, has extensively documented this and other abuses that are going on--that a significant number of people are drawn to this country from Cuba because they know that when they arrive, if they can step foot on dry land, they will immediately receive status and they immediately qualify for a package of Federal benefits that no other immigrant group would qualify for unless they can prove they are refugees. This current policy is not just being abused, it is hurting the American taxpayers. There are reports that indicate that financial support for Cuban immigrants exceeded $680 million in the year 2014 alone. Those numbers, by the way, have quite frankly grown since then. On top of the fundamental unfairness of the policy, recent reports in the media indicate that there is gross abuse of this policy. In Florida, we are now hearing many stories of individuals coming to this country and claiming their benefits regularly and repeatedly returning to Cuba--in essence, the country you are supposed to be fleeing because you fear for your life and your freedom. If you are a refugee, it means you are seeking refuge. It is difficult to justify someone's refugee status when after arriving in the United States they are traveling back to the place they are ``fleeing'' from, 10, 15, 20, 30 times a year. By the way, this places the Cuban act in particular danger. That is a separate topic not dealt with in my amendment and one that I have said publicly should perhaps be reexamined and adjusted to the new reality we now face. But I am not dealing with that right now. We are dealing with the benefits portion of this. It is difficult to justify refugee benefits for people who are arriving in the United States and are immediately traveling repeatedly back to the nation they claim to be fleeing. Others who are immediately traveling back to the island are actually staying there. Let me paint the picture for you. You come from Cuba on the Cuban Adjustment Act. You arrive in the United States because you crossed the southwest border with Mexico or you landed on a raft on a beach somewhere in Florida. You claim your status as a Cuban refugee, and then less than a year later or a year later, you travel back to Cuba and you stay there for weeks or months at a time. But because you qualify for Federal refugee benefits, you are receiving benefits from the Federal Government, but you are living in Cuba. And how this practice works is that while you are living in Cuba, relatives or friends in America are getting hold of your benefits, which are mailed to you or direct-deposited, and then they are making sure you get that money to subsidize your lifestyle. I can tell you today unequivocally that there are people living basically permanently on the island of Cuba, with an occasional visit back to the United States, who are living a lifestyle that is being subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer because of this abuse. This practice, quite frankly, is illegal under current law, but the responsible agencies seem to have failed to enforce this law. So I have offered an amendment to this bill that puts an end to this abuse and puts an end to the unfairness of the existing law. All my amendment would do is it would simply require those who come from Cuba--they would still be able, under the Cuban Adjustment Act, to receive permanent status in the United States, but they are going to be treated like every other immigrant. They are going to be ineligible for most Federal benefit programs for 5 years unless they can demonstrate and prove they qualify for refugee status. Let me paint a picture of what that would look like. If you come from Cuba and you can prove that you are fleeing oppression, that you are involved politically, that you are a dissident, that you are someone who the government is persecuting, then you are a refugee and you will be treated like a refugee and you will qualify for refugee benefits. But if you simply arrive from Cuba because you are seeing a better life for yourself from an economic standpoint, you will still be able to benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act in that status, but you will not qualify for Federal benefits and you will be treated like any other immigrant who comes to the United States. We should be clear that the Castro regime does indeed repress hundreds of people every week. There is no question that there are many who still come here from Cuba who are refugees and are fleeing persecution. There is no doubt that there are people who will arrive this month and this year from Cuba who have left Cuba because they are being politically persecuted. There is no doubt about that. So we are not talking about excluding them. They will be able to prove they are refugees and they will be able to qualify for refugee benefits. While it is clear that there are still many people facing persecution in Cuba and fleeing, it is also clear that it is not everyone who is coming from Cuba. So all this amendment would do is bring parity between Cuban refugees and every other refugee. I say this to you as someone whose parents came from Cuba. I propose this amendment as someone who lives in a community where Cuban Americans comprise a significant plurality of the population. I see firsthand these abuses that are occurring. It is not fair to the American taxpayer. It is costing us money. Quite frankly, it is encouraging people to come here to take advantage of this program. By passing this amendment--if we pass it--Congress will not only save taxpayers millions of dollars, but I believe it will also help minimize the increase we have seen in migration of Cubans over the last couple of years by weeding out bad actors who only come to the United States in search of government benefits they can take advantage of for the first 5 years they are here. I believe this is responsible. I believe this is the right approach for our Nation fiscally but also from an immigration standpoint. I hope I can earn bipartisan support for passing this very sensible proposal. I encourage my colleagues to go on the Web site of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a newspaper in South Florida. You can see they have extensively documented not just these abuses but a series of other abuses that are occurring as well as part of this overall program. So it is my hope that I can earn the support of my colleagues to convert this idea into law. With that, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, Antonin Scalia entered the world as the son and grandson of Italian immigrants in 1936. When he unexpectedly departed this life last month, he was the patriarch of a large American family and the intellectual father of the most important legal movement in generations. Between those points, he lived an extraordinarily full life that helped shaped the course of our country.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, on October 7, 2015, I was unable to vote on the conference report to accompany H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016. I ask that the Record reflect that, had I been present, I would have voted yes. Mr. President, on November 10, 2015, I was unable to vote on the motion to concur to the House Amendment to S. 1356, an Act to authorize appropriations for Fiscal Year 2016 for military activities of the Department of Defense. I ask that the Record reflect that, had I been present, I would have voted yes.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today the Senate voted on the adoption of the conference report to accompany S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act. The conference report is commonly referred to as the Every Student Succeeds Act. While the Every Student Succeeds Act takes important steps in restoring some control over education decisions back to the States, it does not go far enough. Unfortunately, the bill does not grant States autonomy in all education decisionmaking, expands the Federal Government's role in pre-K, and fails to include important measures that broaden school choice. Due to these shortcomings, I am unable to lend my support to this bill.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, ``premium stabilization'' is a fancy term for bailout. What this basically seeks to strike out is a provision that takes out the money for a bailout fund, for taxpayer money that would be used to bail out insurance companies that participate in ObamaCare. Why should the American taxpayer have to bail out private insurance companies that are losing money on ObamaCare? Last year, because we passed this provision, we saved the American taxpayers $2.5 billion. But now, because these companies have lobbyists who come up here and lobby to get their money, we are supposed to leave in this fund to bail out private insurance companies. This is outrageous. If you want to be involved in the exchanges--and of course I want us to repeal the whole lot, but if you want to be involved in these exchanges and you lose money, the American taxpayer should not have to bail you out to the tune of over $2 billion, and that is what they are asking for. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of amendment No. 2916, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today the Senate voted on a motion to proceed to H.R. 2685, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. I would have voted yes. Funding our military and keeping Americans safe used to be a point of bipartisan consensus in Washington. Unfortunately, for the third time this year, Senate Democrats have blocked a bill that provides funding for American men and women in uniform, their housing, health care, and benefits. Although we will ultimately need additional funding to confront the vast array of national security threats we face in this century, this bill includes important funding we need now for procurement, modernization, construction to maintain our military bases, and vital funds for the intelligence community who work in secret as our first line of defense. It also includes funds for ongoing operations against ISIS, Al Qaeda, and terrorist organizations globally who seek to do us harm. As they have shown on issue after issue, President Obama, his administration, and Washington Democrats are not serious about confronting the challenges we face as a nation. We need new leadership in Washington that will restore American strength and keep the American people safe.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, the difference between this bill and the one in the House is the Whistleblower Protection Act. So if that is the issue the Senator is concerned with, I would ask if the Senator from Connecticut would then be willing not to object, to lift the objection, if we could move forward on the House bill that is now here and ready for us to take up as well because it does contain the whistleblower protection language.

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I don't think any of us in any of the 50 States have not had calls from our constituents about the Veterans' Administration. I know that certainly in Florida, I have. We are blessed to have so many people who are either in uniform or have served in uniform. We make two fundamental promises to the men and women who serve our country. The first is that if we ever put them into hostility, they will be better equipped, better trained, and have more information than their adversaries. I, of course, fear that all three of those promises have eroded. Here is the second promise we make to them: After they take care of us and they come home, we will take care of them. That is a promise that, sadly, is also not being kept. There are a lot of different issues we can get into when it comes to veterans and what they are facing in this country, but one that has received a lot of attention is the Veterans' Administration and in particular the role it plays in providing health care for those returning or those who have served our country and have been facing challenges ever since. We have all had the phone calls to our office, and we have seen the media reports about it. I am proud that last year we were able to pass legislation that gave the Secretary of the VA the ability to fire senior executives who weren't doing their jobs. This is the point--and this is where I always stop and remind everyone there are really good people working in the VA. In fact, the enormous majority of people at the VA are good people who care passionately about our veterans. There are some phenomenal VA facilities in this country, and then there are some facilities that aren't working. There are some individuals within that agency who, quite frankly, are not doing their jobs well. The problem is that they can't be held accountable because they are protected by law, and as a result they can't be removed. We expanded that law a year ago to include the ability to fire senior executives who weren't doing their jobs, but to date that has not been used to much effect. So earlier this year we introduced followup legislation, and the followup legislation gives the Secretary of the Department the authority to remove any employee of Veterans Affairs based on performance--or lack thereof--or misconduct. It gives them the authority to remove such individuals from the civil service or demote the individual through a reduction in grade or annual pay rate. I am proud that this bill has gone through the process here in the Senate. It has passed out of committee and is now ready for action. I hope we will take action on this. There is a different version in the House. It has also gone through their committees, and they are waiting for their process to move it through. There are some differences between the two, which, of course, would be worked out in conference. I think the prudent thing to do at this point, given the fact that the Senate bill has worked its way through the process and is now ready for action, is to take action. This is about creating accountability. By the way, this is about taking care of our veterans, but it is also about taking care of the people at the VA who are doing their jobs. This is also about them. It isn't fair to them that people who aren't doing their jobs continue in their positions and in many instances are increasing the workload on others because they are not performing or carrying their weight. That is why I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 272, S. 1082; further, that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. RUBIO. Again, the House version of this bill, which is ready for us to take up today, has stronger accountability language which we do not oppose. It simply was not included for purposes of time at the committee level. But we are prepared to move now, if we could, because the House version is here and ready for action on our part, and it has the stronger accountability language. It sounds as though, no matter what, we are probably going to have a delay here on acting on this matter. I would say this for people watching here in the Gallery or at home or anywhere they might see it later--I just want everybody to understand what we are saying here. All we are saying in this bill is that if you work for the VA and you aren't doing your job, they get to fire you. I think people are shocked that doesn't actually exist in the entire government since there is no other job in the country where, if you don't do your job, you don't get fired. But in this instance, we are just limiting it to one agency. This should actually be the rule in the entire government. If you are not doing your job, you should get fired. But this is just limiting it to the VA because we have a crisis there with the lack of accountability. I would hope we can move forward on this, and I am prepared to listen to anyone who wants to improve this. We went through the normal course and process in the Senate. We went through the committee. It had hearings. Opportunities for amendments were offered at the time. So if there is a good-faith effort--and I believe that there is--then let's improve this and take action on it. We need to have a VA that is more interested in the welfare and security of our veterans than the job security of Federal employees. I said at the outset that there are really good people at the VA. The vast majority of employees at the VA are doing their jobs and doing them well. They care about these veterans. It isn't fair to them that there are people on the payroll taking up seats, taking up slots, taking up money, and taking up time who aren't doing their jobs, and they literally cannot be fired. They literally cannot be removed. It is a near impossibility. The process is so expensive, so long, so troublesome, so complicated that in essence they cannot be removed. Unfortunately, we will not be able to move forward on this today, it appears, but I hope that in quick succession we will be able to come together and get this done to provide a higher level of accountability that is so necessary in every agency of government but none more so than Veterans Affairs. I yield the floor.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, on September 28, 2015, I was unable to vote on the motion to proceed to a short-term budget--continuing resolution--that, among other measures, denied taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood. I would have voted no. On September 30, 2015, I was unable to vote on final passage of a short-term budget--continuing resolution--to fund the government through December 11, 2015, including taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I would have voted no.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, as October marks Cyber Security Awareness Month, I wish to recognize the University of Central Florida, UCF, Collegiate Cyber Defense Club on winning the 2015 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition's Alamo Cup for a second year in a row in April 2015. This achievement not only exemplifies the boundless educational opportunities provided by UCF, but also demonstrates how students in Florida are leading the next generation of growth and development in increasingly vital 21st century industries. The UCF Collegiate Cyber Defense Club, also known as Hack@UCF was founded in 2012 and today has 200 members that represent the university in cyber competitions around the Nation. Most notably, Hack@UCF annually competes in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, CCDC. In partnership with the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, CIAS, at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the CCDC started in 2005 to provide educational institutions with a controlled environment to further educate and assess the future generation's skills in combatting cyber attacks. This year, the competition challenged 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students representing 200 colleges and universities to operate and maintain a mock business, while continuously defending against cyber attacks created by government and industry experts. I am proud that the talented students of UCF were able to stand out as the best collegiate team during the competition for the past 2 years. As our Nation will continue to face the threat of cyber attacks on our economy, businesses, and national security, it is critical to promote and invest in educational programs that empower students and provide them with the necessary tools to be successful in this industry. It is an honor to congratulate all members of the UCF Collegiate Cyber Defense Club on this achievement. I hope it will inspire other students in the State of Florida and across the Nation to get involved in the cyber security industry. I wish the group an abundance of success in the future and the best of luck in next year's competition.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize and commend the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and its historic milestone in exceeding a 23- year goal by restoring more than 40,000 acres of sea grass in Tampa Bay. This outstanding accomplishment represents the great collaborative work to restore one of the greatest treasures this Nation has to offer, Florida's Gulf Coast. The improved estuary will have an immeasurable impact on the future of the State's environment and economy. Since its establishment in 1991, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program has partnered with the Southwest Florida Water Management District and other state and local municipalities and local businesses to restore and protect Florida's largest open water estuary. As the Tampa Bay region is home to a population of more than 2 million people, this valuable estuary serves as a diverse ecosystem for plant and wildlife and is an economic driver for the region. After decades of voluntary effort, I am proud to learn how successful the Tampa Bay Estuary Program was in its environmental restoration by exceeding its original goal in recovering seagrass, to improve fish and wildlife populations, and to maintain the highest quality of water since the 1950s. From 2012 until 2014, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program's efforts were able to restore 5,000 acres of life-sustaining underwater grasses in Tampa Bay, which now total 40,295 acres of seagrasses. This amount significantly surpasses its original goal set in 1995 of harboring 38,000 acres. Although Tampa and its surrounding cities have seen an increase in population since 1950, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program's Nitrogen Management Consortium, which includes local governments and agencies supporting voluntary environmental recovery, has invested over $500 million since the 1990s. The strategy developed by the Consortium continues to set standards that could serve as a model for and be implemented across the nation in other estuary recovery programs. I am proud that the Tampa Bay Estuary Program aided in recovering sea grass in Florida's Tampa Bay. I whole heartedly commend the Tampa Bay Estuary Program on its accomplishments over the past 23 years and wish it further success in its continued endeavors to protect our natural resources.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I will be brief. I know the Senator from Tennessee would like to close on this matter. I think everything that needs to be said about the details of this deal has already been said. I do want to be recorded for history's purposes, although I know what is going to happen in regards to this if it goes through. Iran will immediately use the money in sanctions relief to begin building up its conventional capabilities. It will establish the most dominant military power in the region outside of the United States, and it will raise the price of us operating in the region. They are going to build anti-access capabilities, rockets capable of destroying our aircraft carriers and ships, continue to build these swift boats, these fast boats that are able to swarm our naval assets so that it will make it harder and harder for U.S. troops to be in the region. They will also work with other terrorist groups in the region to target American service men and women. They may or may not deny that they are involved, but they will target us and raise the price of our presence in the Middle East until they hope to completely pull us out of that region. They will also continue to build long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States. Those are not affected by this deal, and they will continue to build them as they have been doing. Then, at some point in the near future, when the time is right, they will build a nuclear weapon, and they will do so because at that point they will know that they have become immune, that we will no longer be able to strike their nuclear program, because the price of doing so will be too high. This is not just the work of imagination; it exists in the world today. It is called North Korea, where a lunatic possesses dozens of nuclear weapons and a long-range rocket that can already reach the United States, and we cannot do anything about it. An attack on North Korea today would result in an attack on Tokyo or Seoul or Guam or Hawaii or California. So the world must now live with a lunatic in possession of nuclear weapons. This is the goal Iran has as well--to reach a point where they become immune to any sort of credible military threat because the price of a military strike would be too high, and then they become an established nuclear weapons power. Never in the history of the world has such a regime ever possessed weapons so capable of destruction. Iran is led by a supreme leader who is a radical Shia cleric with an apocalyptic vision of the future. He is not a traditional geopolitical actor who makes decisions on the basis of borders or simply history or because of ambition. He has a religious apocalyptic vision of the future--one that calls for triggering a conflict between the non-Muslim world and the Muslim world, one that he feels especially obligated to trigger. And he is going to possess nuclear weapons? This is the world that we are on the verge of leaving our children to inherit and perhaps we ourselves will have to share in. So I want to be recorded for history's purposes if nothing else to say that those of us who opposed this deal understood where it would lead, and we are making a terrible mistake. I fear that the passage of this deal will make it even harder for us to prevent it. I hope there is still time to change our minds. But here is the good news. Iran may have a Supreme Leader, but America does not. In this Nation, we have a republic, and soon we will have new leaders, perhaps in this chamber but also in the executive branch. I pray on their first day in office they will reverse this deal and reimpose the sanctions and back them up with a credible threat of military force, or history will condemn us for not doing what needed to be done in the world's history. I yield the floor.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Franco Rivera, a 2015 summer intern in my Miami office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Franco is currently a student at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Franco for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Thomas Morrison, a 2015 summer intern in my Tallahassee office, for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Thomas is currently a student at Lincoln High School. He is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of his internship experience. I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Thomas for all the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Brianna Moreno, a 2015 summer intern in my Miami office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Brianna is a student at Vanderbilt University, where she is majoring in public policy. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Brianna for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. RUBIO

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Amanda Meador, a 2015 summer intern in my Miami office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the people of the State of Florida. Amanda is a student at Washington and Lee University, where she is majoring in business, accounting, and environmental studies. She is a dedicated and diligent worker who has been devoted to getting the most out of her internship experience. I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Amanda for all the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.