Arlen Specter

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from South Carolina.

Mr. SPECTER. I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Florida.

Mr. SPECTER. How much time remains?

Mr. SPECTER. That is all the time that remains?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I oppose the amendment by the Senator from Louisiana because it makes enormous changes in the committee bill by eliminating the citizenship track. I understand the point of the Senator from Louisiana. He does not want to see the 11 million undocumented immigrants on the citizenship track. But I believe we should not have a fugitive class in America, that it is necessary, in order to bring these immigrants out of the so- called shadows--they are out of the shadows for many purposes, and they are identifiable, working constructively in the American economy--to have them come forward, we are going to have to provide incentives for them to do so. We have had a great deal of debate on whether there is amnesty in the committee bill. My own view is that we ought to tone down the rhetoric on that subject, not accuse one side of amnesty, trying to give away something that ought not to be given away, and in return not charging that amnesty is an evil argument. We ought to deal with what the facts are. The issue is whether it is in our national interest, considering all the factors, to grant citizenship to these 11 million undocumented immigrants when they go to the end of the line if they perform certain tasks, if they meet certain criteria. The criteria are substantial and onerous: the payment of a fine, the payment of back taxes, the criminal background checks, learning English, the learning of American history, working a substantial period of time, and then 6 more years at the end of the line. In a very realistic way, there is not really a lot of choice as to what we are going to do. It is totally impractical and unrealistic to think about deporting 11 million people. The question is, What do we do with them? How do we handle them? It has been said in the Senate repeatedly but not too often that we are a nation of immigrants. Many of the Senators who speak start off by referencing their own backgrounds, as I have. My father came to this country in 1911 at the age of 18. He came from czarist Russia. The czar wanted to send him to Siberia. As I have said in the past, he chose Kansas. It was, perhaps, a close call, I say in a facetious way. My mother came at the age of 6 with her family, settled in St. Joe, MO, and my parents have contributed to the American way of life. My father served in World War I and was wounded in action. In my Senate office, I proudly have their wedding picture. He was in uniform, and she was a beautiful bride of 19. They raised four children who contributed to our country and many grandchildren and many great- grandchildren and many great-great-grandchildren, so far. This situation is a test of our humanity as a nation and the values in which we believe in the United States. We do not condone the breaking of the law, the breaking of the rule of law, but we are dealing with a very difficult situation in the best way we can. With respect to the Senator from Louisiana, if his amendment were agreed to, we would not have comprehensive immigration reform. I believe comprehensive immigration reform is what is needed. I yield the floor and reserve the final minute for perhaps some rebuttal.

Mr. SPECTER. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. SPECTER. Have the yeas and nays been ordered on the Vitter amendment?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, for 1 minute.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, before moving on to the next vote, we have the pending amendment by the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Obama, which we are prepared to accept. I ask for a voice vote.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I think we are prepared to go with the amendment by the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn. I ask unanimous consent that we have a 2-hour time agreement on the Cornyn amendment equally divided.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Isn't it true that we have the unanimous consent agreement to take up the Inhofe amendment after we have the vote on the Vitter amendment?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, then I ask unanimous consent that the Inhofe amendment be taken up following the amendment referenced by the Senator from Vermont.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to the Cornyn amendment with a time agreement of 2 hours, equally divided. There has been a suggestion by Senator Cornyn that he can take less time. Perhaps Senator Kennedy can take less. But the consent agreement is for 2 hours, equally divided, with no second degrees.

Mr. SPECTER. Then I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to the Vitter amendment for 45 minutes, equally divided, with no second-degree amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. Can we have a time agreement on Lieberman-Brownback, 45 minutes equally decided?

Mr. SPECTER. One hour equally divided, no second-degree amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. The unanimous consent request is to go next to the Lieberman-Brownback amendment for 1 hour, equally divided, with no second-degree amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. We already had the unanimous consent to go to the Cornyn amendment. Mr. President, I ask consent that we then lock in the Vitter amendment next in sequence, for 45 minutes, equally divided.

Mr. SPECTER. I modify the request. Senator Vitter is moved. After Lieberman, we go to the Inhofe amendment, and perhaps by that time we can have them laid down, side by side, and before we begin debate, have a time agreement.

Mr. SPECTER. We will move to get Senator Ensign in the queue, but we can start on the Cornyn amendment, and we will talk about this in the cloakroom.

Mr. SPECTER. Senator Kennedy is correct. May we proceed?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the time has been yielded back by Senator Cornyn and Senator Kennedy on the Cornyn amendment. We are now ready to proceed with the Lieberman-Brownback amendment. If they will come to the floor, we can move ahead. In the absence of any Senator seeking recognition, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we had expected the Cornyn amendment to take 2 hours, which was the time agreement. Time was yielded back. Senator Vitter has now come to the floor. We are unable to proceed with the amendment in regular form, but I do think it would be appropriate to have Senator Vitter discuss his amendment, which could abbreviate the time which we would need when he lays it down. So, if I may, I would like to yield the floor to the Senator from Louisiana for purposes of having him discuss his amendment.

Mr. SPECTER. In light of that objection, perhaps we can start with some discussion by Senator Inhofe in the absence of setting aside the amendment and having him lay down the amendment so we do not waste more time. I ask consent the vote be set at 6 o'clock.