Broader Options for Americans Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise with a heavy heart for the people of Parkland, FL, and Stoneman Douglas High School, where yesterday 17 Americans were killed in the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook. It was the 18th school shooting this year, and we are only halfway through February.

Again, yesterday the scourge of gun violence visited an American school, a place where our kids should be able to learn free from the shadow of violence and mayhem. Again, we all watched the scenes with children running for their lives. Again, a twisted soul got ahold of an assault rifle and unleashed carnage on the innocent.

Even though we didn't see it, in millions of bedrooms and living rooms in Americans' homes last night, 10-year-old, 8-year-old, 12-year- old children were saying: Mom, Dad, what happened? What do I do if this happens in my school?

I address this Chamber knowing there are no words that could ease the anguish and the sorrow felt by the parents of those 17 Americans, by their friends and siblings, their neighbors and teachers.

As we remember the words of Scripture that tell us ``Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,'' let us resolve to do something--something--about the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, Senators from both parties engaged in negotiations for months to find a solution that would allow the Dreamers to stay in the United States as well as provide border security. On several occasions, those discussions have yielded results, including last night, when a bipartisan group of moderate Senators reached a breakthrough agreement.

The spotlight now turns to the rest of the Senate and especially to President Trump, who throughout these negotiations has not been constructive. President Trump has shown a remarkable ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. President Trump, since he created the problem by terminating DACA last August, has stood in the way of every single proposal that has had a chance of becoming law. He turned his back on not one but two bipartisan immigration proposals earlier this year. I went so far as to put the President's wall on the table, and still the President would not take yes for an answer.

Now President Trump seems eager to spike the latest bipartisan compromise, potentially with a veto. Why? Because it isn't 100 percent of what the President wants on immigration? That is not how democracy works. You don't get 100 percent of what you want in a democracy--maybe in a dictatorship. You have to give and take. You have to compromise in order to make progress. We have tried to do that in Congress, to solve a problem the President has created. Yet, time and again, he has frustrated our efforts.

If the American people want to know why Congress can look so dysfunctional, they ought to look to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. If the President had been quiet, if the President had let us do our work, a bipartisan compromise would have already passed this Chamber with 65 votes, maybe more, and we would have a solution to protect the Dreamers. But here we are. Let's hope it happens.

If President Trump rejects another bipartisan compromise, there is no question that the American people will blame President Trump and no one else for the failure to protect Dreamers. With an obstinate President and a fractious House, I hope today the Senate rises to the occasion.

The Dreamers are watching this debate right now because their futures depend on it. If we don't succeed, they face deportation to countries they don't remember. They have lived in this country their entire lives, pledged allegiance to our flag, built families, careers, served in our military. They didn't break any laws. They were brought here through no fault of their own. And despite their status, despite the fear that comes with living in the shadows, they strived hopefully to make a successful life in this country, which they love. What can be more American than that? We owe it to them to find a solution that can pass this body of Congress.

The only solution, unfortunately, that my friend the Republican leader has offered is the very partisan Grassley bill--no input from Democrats, no effort to compromise. We Democrats, on the other hand, have supported several bipartisan agreements on the table. We are ready to vote on them, including the genuine, bipartisan compromise that moderates, Democratic and Republican, reached last night.

There are plenty of things for everybody not to like in this bill. There is a lot I don't like in it, believe me. I think the wall will not accomplish anything. It will be an enormous waste of money and will be a terrible symbol of our America, replacing the beautiful lady who stands in the harbor I represent. But compromise is compromise. Democrats and Republicans will find provisions they don't want and wouldn't include if they had written it. But we have to do our jobs today. We have to rise above our differences, admit that no one will get everything they want, and accept the painful compromises that come with democratic government. That is what the Senate has done through the centuries. It has been hard. People have anguished. In the past, the Senate has risen to the occasion. Can it do it today? I say that to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. No one else seems willing to do it--not the House, not the President. It is the Senate--what President Washington famously called the cooling saucer for our politics--that can show the Nation how to lead, that can show the Nation what bipartisanship looks like, what compromise looks like, what progress looks like. The Senate can do that today.

Let's do our job. Let's rise to the occasion. And by the end of today, let's say to the Dreamers that the Senate believes America has a place for them too.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source