Employee Free Choice Act Of 2007--Motion To Proceed

Floor Speech

EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - June 26, 2007)

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I was forwarded a copy of a transcript of an interview of a White House official yesterday commenting on some remarks I made on the floor regarding the immigration bill. I wish to speak to that.

I have argued the current bill sets up the Department of Homeland Security for failure because it requires the Department of Homeland Security to grant full work and travel authorization to applicants for Z visas within 24 hours of their application, whether or not a background check has been completed. That is the text in the current immigration bill. Yesterday, though, the White House told reporters this was part of a ``misunderstanding and mythology'' surrounding this provision.

Let me quote the text of the provision. It reads:

No probationary benefits shall be issued to an alien until the alien has passed all appropriate background checks or the end of the next business day, whichever is sooner.

That is what the bill says. There is no mythology, no misunderstanding. I know people think that draft language is a perfect draft and believe it should attain its own mythological status, but this is pretty straightforward. If an alien applies, he or she gets legal status, full travel and work authorization no later than the next day.

The White House official believes this provision is workable because, as he says, ``Four of the layers of that background check are almost invariably completed within 24 hours.'' ``Almost'' always completing a background check within 24 hours is not always completing a background check within 24 hours. He acknowledges that one of the checks takes longer than 24 hours. So by his own admission, the Department of Homeland Security will confer legal status to nearly every applicant, even though they have not completed a background check.

This is not what the American people are hearing when they are selling this bill. The American people are being told that foreign nationals will have to pass a background check before they are granted legal status. This is not true, according to the text of the underlying bill, and it is not factually possible, according to the lead negotiator from the White House.

Not to be deterred by facts, however, this official believes this should be of no concern because if anything comes up in the background check beyond the 24-hour period, then the Department of Homeland Security will declare that person ineligible and deport them.

Certainly, that is a concept we can all support; that is, if someone is ineligible, they should be deported. My concern is the gulf between the promise being made to the American people and the likelihood that that promise will be carried out. The White House said this is of no concern because they will declare them ineligible and deport them. But the question Americans are asking is: Will they? Can they? If they already have this capability, why has nothing been done about 623,000 alien absconders already?

The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly created a unit to track down, apprehend, and deport these fugitives, but no appreciable dent has been made in this number. The Department of Homeland Security has information on these individuals already.

But let's keep in mind that as the Department of Homeland Security is so diligently tracking down the thousands of criminal aliens who have already had a chance and have gone underground, or have left the country and reentered illegally based on a deportation order, they have to do a lot of other things, and Americans are asking can they get all of this done? Can they train, hire, and deploy up to 20,000 additional Border Patrol agents? Can they implement a worker verification system to screen the workers around the country? Can they build up to the 370 miles of fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers? Can they deploy the secure border initiative? Can they deploy the exit monitoring system of the US-VISIT Program? Can they process 12 million initial applicants for Z visas? Can they build 105 radar and camera towers? Can they detain all removable aliens caught on the southern border utilizing detention facilities with a capacity of only 31,500 people per day?

I think the American people can be forgiven for doubting the commitment of the Federal Government and the willingness of the Federal Government to actually do all the things it is promising. That is why this bill is such a tough sell, to say the least--especially because, as of 2 years ago, we were doing nothing to beef up border security. It is hard to take the commitment at face value that, yes, now we are serious about it.

So I fear that, similar to 1986, we are being promised something the American people know we cannot and will not deliver. We should slow down, read this bill, offer and debate amendments that will improve the bill and vote on amendments freely.

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