Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act Of 2007
Floor Speech
COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - June 05, 2007)
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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, let me point out, if I may, that amendment No. 1184, which I filed and called up 13 days ago, has yet to receive a vote on this immigration bill. This amendment would ban felons on the legalization path set forth in the underlying bill. It astounds me this could be in the least bit controversial, but I have been denied an opportunity for an up-or-down vote on that for the last 13 days.
Now that I hear the majority leader intends to file cloture, it is clear what the pattern is, and that is to try to move this bill through without an opportunity for Senators to be given the chance to introduce, call up, debate, and then vote on important amendments. So I will object.
I likewise object to the scheduling of any other votes on the bill until I am given an opportunity to have an up-or-down vote on amendment No. 1184. I add that I have offered to my colleagues the possibility we could enter into some sort of time agreement to debate and to vote on the amendment. I am told there is a side-by-side amendment that is being considered. I was told it would be made available to me at 4 o'clock this afternoon. It would have been the second side-by-side amendment that had been proposed. I have yet to see it.
I have tried to be patient, and indeed I have been patient. I have tried to work with my colleagues to let the process move forward, but it is clear to me now, since the majority leader says he intends to file cloture, there is not going to be an opportunity to fully debate and offer amendments to this bill; that the majority leader intends to try to force this bill through, denying Senators an opportunity to have a chance to offer amendments, to have those amendments debated, and have those amendments voted on.
I must employ whatever tools the Senate rules give me to insist upon my rights. I will do that by objecting to this and the schedule of any further votes until such time as we are able to enter into some sort of agreement for the disposition of amendment No. 1184.
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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, without unnecessarily repeating myself, I have been waiting 13 days for a vote on my amendment. I am afraid if I consent to this unanimous consent request, it is going to continue the pattern of avoiding my amendment, which would ban felons from getting Z visas under this underlying bill. I think that is something with which the American people, and hopefully the vast majority of the Senate, would agree. This amendment is well taken. It is a good thing. Let's not allow people--those who have had a chance, who defied the law, who thumbed their nose at our courts--to gain the advantages we are otherwise going to confer on people under the Z visa.
I will object. As I indicated, I am willing to offer an alternative unanimous consent request that once I am shown the side-by-side amendment that I am told the majority has in mind, that they would like to offer as an alternative to my amendment No. 1184, I will be willing to enter into a time agreement with 2 hours equally divided to debate and then to vote on my amendment tomorrow. I will not enter into a unanimous consent agreement to debate an amendment side-by-side which I have not seen and which has been 13 days in the making. I think my request is a reasonable one. I am trying to work with my colleagues here but, frankly, I do not feel as if it has been a two-way street. That is my unanimous consent request.
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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, the Senator is correct with the exception that I agree we can have the vote tomorrow. If there is no objection to my unanimous consent, I am glad to accommodate Senator DeMint or other Senators to allow them in the interim to call up other amendments. I would like to have a time locked in for a vote on my amendment--which would then have been pending for a full 2 weeks without a vote--tomorrow morning. I would like to see what the amendment looks like before we leave today.
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