Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I am going to discuss the bill on the floor in a minute, but first I wish to take a moment to congratulate the newly confirmed district judge for the Eastern District of New York, Ann Donnelly. She just passed the Senate with a vote of 95 to 2--nearly unanimous and deservedly so.

There are few more qualified for a Federal judgeship than Ann Donnelly. She has dedicated her life to public service, having spent a quarter decade as a prosecutor in the prestigious New York County District Attorney's Office under Bob Morgenthau. She accumulated a host of awards there and rose through the leadership ranks of the office. Then, in 2009, she became a State court judge in New York, hearing a wide variety of cases. She has a stellar academic record, having graduated from the University of Michigan and Ohio State University School of Law.

I could tick off more of her accomplishments, and the list would be long, but Judge Donnelly is more than a brilliant resume. I know her well. She is at her core a kind, thoughtful, and compassionate person. Anyone who knows her or who has interacted with her even briefly knows she is fair, open-minded, and has exactly the kind of temperament that will make her an exceptional Federal judge.

I congratulate Ann Donnelly and her family--particularly her mother--on her confirmation. I know her mother is so proud of her. It is a milestone day in her career and a bright day for the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. President, today the Senate will turn its attention to a divisive immigration bill that has no hope of becoming law. Today's vote won't be on a comprehensive bill, as was the one the Senate passed 2 years ago--one that secures our borders, provides a jolt to the economy, provides a pathway to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding immigrants who pay their taxes to get right with the law.

I want to be clear with the American people on this. Today's vote is nothing but a political show vote. Senator Vitter knows his bill has no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law. As stated by my friend the Republican junior Senator from Nevada--here is what he said: ``You know we have votes because people are running for president, so I am not surprised we have votes because people are running for governor.'' No other sentence sums it up better as to what a waste of time this is, and that is to say nothing about the substance of the bill, which has drawn opposition from nearly every important interest group. A broad coalition of major law enforcement groups, faith groups, labor, cities, elected officials, housing advocates, and immigrant rights groups oppose this bill. I suspect there are Members of the Republican caucus who oppose many parts of it. Why? Because it is a bill that would jeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of punishing immigrants and cities where they live.

This bill would strip away community development block grants, community COPS grants to hire more cops, and SCAAP, a proposal that funds jurisdictions that are doing what many on the other side want them to do by locking up unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes. Everyone believes that if a person commits a serious crime unrelated to being an immigrant--not like crossing the border or forging a document but a serious crime--law enforcement should be required to cooperate and those folks should be deported, plain and simple. But in the name of trying to help law enforcement, this bill hurts law enforcement because it will take away so many of the grants law enforcement needs. It will take away the grants that help create a way of incarcerating those who commit serious crimes.

All of these cuts would come while also astronomically increasing the size of prison population and related costs, without decreasing the deficit by a single dime. This will put a huge burden on our State and local taxpayers. Their taxes would go way up if this bill were passed into law and implemented.

To be clear, the death of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco was tragic. It never should have happened. I mourn not only her family but the family of any American killed in a senseless act of gun violence. For people like the killer of Ms. Steinle, law enforcement should cooperate with the Federal authorities and deport those folks.

This is not the way to exercise better law enforcement. Punishing cities and communities and yanking Federal funding from cops will not get us to a better immigration system or safeguard our communities.

The bill we passed in 2013, which I was proud to author with a number of Democratic and Republican colleagues, is the opposite of this bill in every way. Our bill was supported by a broad coalition of groups, from business, labor, faith communities, immigrant communities, and law enforcement. Our bill paid for itself and went on to decrease the deficit by $160 billion over 10 years and to increase GDP by 3.3 percent. Our bill secured the border--this bill doesn't do that--not only with more resources and staff but by cracking down on repeat border crossers and those who overstay their visas. It did it in a smart way. The goal of our friend from Louisiana isn't accomplished in his bill, but it is in comprehensive immigration reform--the goal of making sure those who are repeat border crossers and those who overstay their visas are dealt with properly.

Our bill paved a tough but fair pathway to citizenship, shielding law-abiding immigrants from deportation, fostering trust with law enforcement, and exposing the criminals in their communities who would rather live in the shadows.

Our bill was a bipartisan compromise. There is no compromise here. I daresay many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, when they look at provisions in this bill, do not like them. This is a show vote--a vote, as my Republican colleague from Nevada said, to help someone in his quest for political office.

There are so many vitally important policy debates we could be turning to today. Instead, the Senate Republican leadership insists on leading us into this dark, divisive place for nothing more than political theater. Think of the urgent bipartisan issues we should be working on, including the debt ceiling. We are about to default because of the shenanigans going on on the other side. The Perkins Loan Program so that kids can go to college; the land and water conservation programs are expiring. The highway bill--we don't have a highway bill, yet we are doing this. And if we don't take action by the end of the year, millions of seniors will see a 52-percent increase in their Medicare bill.

How many Americans would want us to do that and not the divisive show vote that has no chance of passing?

I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. Just as importantly, I beg my colleagues to join us on this side of the aisle in turning to a serious debate on comprehensive immigration reform--something they have so far refused to do.

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