Dream Act and Other Work Before the Senate

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, since President Trump's decision to end DACA on Tuesday, it is absolutely necessary that Congress move forward to pass a clean Dream Act while 800,000 Dreamers anxiously await action by this Congress. There is no reason to wait. Let's put a clean Dream Act on the floor, which I believe would pass by a significant margin, and tell these hard-working Dreamers that they belong in this country, too--the country they want to be part of desperately. If the majority leader and Speaker do not offer a clean Dream Act, we Democrats will find other legislative vehicles to attach it to until it passes.

Let me say this. I spoke once again to the President this morning. He called and said that he wanted to help with the Dream Act. There are many ways to help, and here are two. One is to persuade other Republican Senators to cosponsor the bill that has been introduced by Senators Durbin and Graham. We now have four Republican cosponsors, and we need more. There are many in the Senate who seem to be sympathetic to the Dream Act. Maybe the President can help them get to cosponsor.

The second is to urge my friend, the Republican leader from Kentucky, and the Speaker of the House, Mr. Ryan, to put the Dream Act on the floor ASAP. We can get this

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done and get it done quickly. We can end the anguish of so many Americans and make sure that our economy continues to move forward so that it is not needlessly ripped apart.

There is other work that we have to do in healthcare to shore up the marketplaces, particularly by guaranteeing the cost reduction programs.

Discussions in the HELP Committee between my good friend, Chairman Alexander, and our great ranking member, Patty Murray, are proceeding in a bipartisan way in, perhaps, the new spirit of the moment--maybe longer than a moment, we hope and pray. I am hopeful that the full Senate, this month, will be able to take up and consider bipartisan legislation that emerges from the committee in order to stabilize and improve our healthcare system.

In a similar vein, we must consider a multiyear reauthorization of CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program. Chairman Hatch and Ranking Member Wyden--again, in a bipartisan action--are having a hearing on CHIP today in the Finance Committee, and that should be another matter of immediate priority for this Senate.

Of course, as the people of Florida brace for Hurricane Irma, and the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have gone through it now, the Senate must be prepared to quickly respond to that storm just as we are doing with Harvey. We also have to take into account some of the other disasters that are occurring in States like Washington, Oregon, California, and Montana. Wildfires are raging out of control.

They, too, will need disaster assistance. Because of the immediate and strong impact of Harvey and, it seems, Irma, we should not forget that our friends in the West will need disaster relief and will need it soon as well.

The deal we reached with Republican leaders and President Trump yesterday will allow Congress to work on all of these important items this month and in the following months without there being a looming specter of a shutdown or default on our debt. It should help to bring both sides together to, ultimately, get another deal on sequester relief, lower healthcare premiums, the Dreamers, and many other items in December. That is good for this Congress, and that is good for the American people--a ray of hope, as I said.

The majority leader has already filed cloture on this package. I hope that we can proceed quickly--hopefully, today--to ensure its passage.

I yield the floor.

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