Alan Simpson

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, following morning business the Senate will resume the immigration bill. There are several pending amendments. However, any votes ordered on those amendments will not occur until after the vote previously scheduled at 2:15. As a reminder, there will be a cloture vote at 2:15 on Tuesday invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to the Whitewater resolution. The Senate may also be asked to turn to any other legislative items that can be cleared for action.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Senate Resolution 227, the Whitewater legislation, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Ohio. He has been very involved, very articulate, and I appreciate the participation very much. Mr. HOLLINGS addressed the Chair.

Mr. SIMPSON. I appreciate that. Then we will yield to Senator Hollings for a discussion on the Dorgan amendment and temporarily go off of this measure. I thank the Senator from Ohio very much for his courtesies in enabling us to go forward with an agenda for tomorrow.

Mr. SIMPSON. If I may, I believe Senator DeWine had not concluded his remarks when I requested the floor. I appreciate very much his willingness to do that so we could get those amendments before the body. How much more time does Senator DeWine need?

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I certainly make that assumption. I understand it to be notification and agreement by the Democratic leader.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Dorgan amendment recur as the pending amendment.

Mr. SIMPSON. I now ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SIMPSON. I further ask that it be in order for me to ask for the yeas and nays on the three amendments, with one showing of seconds.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendments numbered 3669, 3670, and 3671 be temporarily laid aside in the order in which they were offered and that they be made the pending business at the request of the majority leader after notification of the Democratic leader.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, this amendment would add a new section to the bill. The section would create a new ground of exclusion of deportation for falsely representing oneself as a U.S. citizen. This amendment is a complement to another that I will be proposing. The other amendment would modify the bill section which applies and provides for pilot project systems to verify work authorization and eligibility to apply for public assistance. One of the requirements of that other amendment is that the Attorney General conduct certain specific pilot projects, including one under which employers would be required to verify the immigration status of aliens, but not persons claiming to be citizens. Such citizens would be required only to attest as being citizens. That was discussed in committee. If you are a U.S. citizen, why should you have to go through these procedures? Well, obviously, I concur with that. The major weakness in such a system is the potential for false claims of citizenship. That is why I offered the present amendment which will create a new major disincentive for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. Lawful permanent aliens, or residents who falsely claim citizenship, risk deportation and being permanently barred from entering the United States. Since they are work-authorized, they would have little reason to make a false claim of citizenship. Illegal aliens, on the other hand, would know that they could not be verified if they admitted to being aliens and the verification process were conducted. Yet, they would also know, if they falsely claim to be citizens and were caught and apprehended, they would be deported and permanently barred. Thus, the risk involved in making the false claims would be high for them indeed. If the present amendment were enacted into law, that would be the case. If the amendment were enacted and the project involving citizen attestation were conducted, a significant number even of illegal aliens may well be deterred from seeking jobs in the United States. That is the basis of the third and final amendment, which I submit this evening.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, this is the amendment, amendment No. 1 and No. 2, that Senator Kennedy addressed, to enable the INS to keep track of foreign students studying in the country. The amendment provides a source of funding for INS to establish a very basic system for keeping track of foreign students. It is a measure supported by the FBI Director, who expressed concerns at our ability to track such students in a 1994 memorandum regarding possible tariffs. It is not an intrusive provision. I answered a question of Senator Kennedy to indicate that. Colleges and universities are already required to provide this sort of information to the INS. The problem in the past has been that the INS has not devoted such resources to this activity to create a body of reliable information. The amendment's aim is to provide the funding so the INS can implement a system to keep track of foreign students studying here, and it seems reasonable such funding should come from the students themselves and not from the taxpayers. A student who is willing to pay $10,000 or $20,000 in this country, or $80,000 to $100,000 through the entire curriculum, is not likely to be seriously concerned about paying the additional fee of $50 or $100 for the issuance of the student visa in accordance with this amendment. I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be laid aside.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent further reading be dispensed with.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, to expedite the process, let me withhold further action on amendment No. 1 and submit amendment No. 2 and amendment No. 3, speak on all three of them together, the purpose being that the majority leader had requested our assistance in bringing appropriate amendments before the body tomorrow, stacking those amendments. These are three amendments that are submitted. There may be controversy that is not expressed today. If that is so, set a time limit tomorrow to do that. The purpose is to submit these three amendments, move them forward with the yeas and nays, let the majority leader and minority leader define in the context and the time limit as to what they wish to do with them tomorrow. That is the purpose. Amendment No. 3670 (Purpose: To establish a pilot program to collect information relating to nonimmigrant foreign students)

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I ask that amendment be submitted tomorrow. I ask for the yeas and nays and that the vote be held at a time convenient to the majority and minority leaders. I withhold that request, Mr. President.

Mr. SIMPSON. In connection with that amendment, that is correct.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, let me describe the amendment briefly. It is intended to prevent foreign students coming to the United States to obtain a free taxpayer-financed education at a public elementary or secondary school. This is a growing problem. Children are coming to the United States and staying with friends or relatives or even strangers to whom they pay a fee and attending public schools as residents of the school district. The amendment prohibits counselor offices issuing visas for attendance at such public schools or the INS approving such cases unless the foreign student can demonstrate they will reimburse the school, public elementary or secondary school, ``for the full, unsubsidized per capita cost'' of providing such education, or unless the school waives reimbursement. The amendment also provides for the exclusion and deportation of students who are admitted to attend private elementary or secondary schools but who do not remain enrolled at such private schools for the duration of their elementary or secondary study in the United States. This provision is designed to prevent students from obtaining admission to a private school and then switching to a taxpayer-funded public school soon after arrival in the United States. It would not prevent those children who are validly in the United States as dependents of persons lawfully residing here from applying for admission to public schools, nor would it prevent public schools from hosting foreign exchange students who would continue to be admitted as exchange visitors on ``J'' visas. The amendment is designed, however, to deal with the problem of the ``parachute kids'' which Senator Feinstein dealt with previously--which has received rather thorough attention-- those who come here to receive a U.S. education at taxpayer expense.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I appreciate the cooperation of my colleagues as we proceed with the immigration and reform legislation, both illegal and legal immigration reform. We have much to do, but we have presented to our colleagues three amendments for disposition tomorrow, and we will begin to process the amendments from this side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle. I think that will be most appropriate. There is much to do, obviously, in the spirit of cooperation on a very tough bill, which is tough for every single one of us, and some much more than others.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of routine morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. SIMPSON

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