Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 549

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I appreciate the opportunity to work with my colleague from Maryland, and I look forward to working with him again in the future. It would be great if we could work together to try to figure out how to provide temporary protected status for Venezuelans and also to fix the program so it continues to work not just for Venezuelans but for people all over the world.

The Democrats know their proposal cannot become law. It lacks support in the Senate, which is why I proposed an amendment that has support and that can actually become law immediately.

My amendment grants TPS to Venezuelans for 18 months. It requires congressional approval for TPS extensions of no more than 18 months at a time. My amendment limits the ability of illegal aliens who have no connection to the TPS designation to benefit from TPS. It ensures that human rights violators who are identified under the Magnitsky Act are not eligible for TPS status. It includes provisions to distinguish that TPS status does not count as an admission for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under my amendment, TPS recipients cannot return to the TPS country during the period of designation. Finally, the amendment requires that current TPS designations come up for congressional review 2 years after the enactment of this amendment.

My amendment is the only way to help the Venezuelan people. It is the only proposal that can become law. There is no path forward for the Democrats' plan, and, unfortunately, they know it.

It is clear, now more than ever, that, unfortunately, the Democrats don't want to get anything done on this issue. That is why they are standing in our way. All Republican Senators have signed off on this. Unfortunately, the Democrats have decided to use the Venezuelan community as a political prop instead of working with us to find a solution.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that Nicolas Maduro is killing his citizens. It is a genocide. Who will we be if we turn our backs on a genocide right here in our hemisphere? We cannot. We must help Venezuelan families.

It is also time to reform TPS in this country. Temporary protected status was never meant to be endless. It was meant to help families in need. So let's get the program to work.

I look forward to working with my colleague from Maryland and with all of my colleagues to help the families in Venezuela and to finally create a long-term solution to TPS. I will not rest until we do.

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