GSA
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. I want to address the pending legislation before I go into a morning business speech--the Postal Reform Act that is before us. It is my understanding that we have an opportunity----
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POSTAL REFORM
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, coming before us soon on the Senate floor will be the Postal Reform Act. This is a matter which is timely because we understand our Postal Service is in a situation where it is currently losing millions of dollars every single day. Because many things have changed in America--the use of the Internet, e-mail, bill payer--fewer people are using the Postal Service. Less revenue is coming into the Postal Service. So they are trying to reconcile today's demands with the actual costs they face.
Several years ago we said to the Postal Service: We think the day will come soon when you will have more retirees than actual workers, so start banking money for retirement and health care for those who will need it in years to come. We set a number--about $5 billion a year--and they kept up with it for several years but then found they couldn't meet that requirement. So the Postmaster General came through with a sweeping plan in terms of cutting costs to the Postal Service. I understand the imperative to do that, although I question the premise of his statement because this is one of the first things he said: We are going to change the Postal Service, and the first thing we will do is slow down delivery.
If there is ever a marketing technique designed to fail, it is the announcement you are going to slow down the delivery of your product. Yet that is what he said, and I am sorry he did.
So now we are in the predicament or situation where we are trying to find alternatives to the Postmaster General's proposals. We have been given until May 15. At a meeting in my office, which the Presiding Officer and the Senator from Vermont and others attended, the Postmaster General said: Yes, I will give Congress its chance to pass a bill to save money that might be different than my own suggestions.
Well, now is our chance. Unfortunately, we are tied up on the floor of the Senate. That is not a headline because it happens to be the normal state of affairs in this body. But imagine, if you will, that Senator Reid, the majority leader, comes to the floor and says: We have this important Postal Service reform bill before us, and I think we should move forward on it and we should consider amendments that are relevant to that subject. In other words, if you have an amendment that is about the Postal Service and how to make it better, save money, make it operate in the black, come forward with that amendment.
There was an objection from the junior Senator from Kentucky. He said, no; he thought the Postal Service reform bill should be used to debate foreign aid to Egypt--foreign aid to Egypt. Not that foreign aid to Egypt is not an important issue; it is. But here is an issue that is timely and important and affects every single American, where the Senate has a responsibility to step up and do its job, with a deadline looming of May 15, and one Senator has said: No, not unless I can bring to the floor whatever I want to bring.
It is his right to make that request, and he has bottled things up pretty handily at this point. I hope he will reconsider.
I wish we could take up this bill right now and have a debate on the floor of the Senate about an amendment. How about that--have people disagree and actually have a vote. It would be like the good old days in the Senate. But, no, we are lurching from quorum call to quorum call and cloture vote to cloture vote, and those newcomers to the Senate may wonder if there was ever a day we debated issues.
We need to get this postal reform right. It is one of the most important institutions in America. It is protected and embodied in the Constitution. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women who are serving us in the Postal Service, one-fourth of them veterans who have served our country and have gone to work for the government.
When we ask people across America which function of government do you respect the most, the Postal Service comes out on top because we know our local letter carriers. In my neighborhood it is David Lasley. David has been my buddy for 20 years. I have known him for that long or longer, and he is a friend of my family. He is not just the person who brings the mail. Others before him, the same way. It is a personal relationship with government that very few people have. But the letter carriers, the postal folks, the folks who do the processing and distributing are doing an important job.
The Postal Service has an amazing history. Just as a reminder, on May 7, 1833, there was a 24-year-old young man who was named postmaster general of a small town in central Illinois. It wasn't his last government job. The town was New Salem, IL, and the young man was Abraham Lincoln, who got his start in the Postal Service, which has a tradition that goes back even before then.
We need to work together on a bipartisan basis. I am glad Senator Collins and Senator Lieberman are on the Senate floor. They have worked so closely together on a bipartisan basis to move us forward. Let's build a Postal Service that will serve us in the 21st century. Let's try to make certain we find new ways to cut costs that are reasonable, to enhance revenue that makes sense, and make certain in the process that we don't damage the brand. The U.S. Postal Service is the best in the world, the most affordable in the world, and we can make sure it continues to serve our Nation and our economy.
It is critically important to those of us who represent States with small towns. I know every small rural post office cannot survive--many of them have failed in the past--but we have to understand what a critical element that rural post office is to the culture of these communities, to the identity of these communities and, in
some cases, to their very existence. So let's find flexible ways to reduce costs and still recognize that reality.
THE DREAM ACT
Madam President, 11 years ago I introduced the DREAM Act. At the time, Senator Hatch of Utah was my cosponsor. It was a bipartisan measure called to the floor of the Senate and, at one time, we had 12 Republican votes. The last time it was called we had 3. Unfortunately, over the years, it has not passed the Senate. I think it has received a majority every time we have called it but not the 60 votes which are now the norm in the Senate.
As a result, for 11 years I have been striving to change the law when it comes to immigration for a specifically small group of people. We are talking about people who came to the United States as children. They have been U.S. residents for a long period of time. They have good moral character. They have graduated from high school, and they are prepared to either serve in our military or to complete at least 2 years of college. This is a special group of people who, unfortunately, fall through the cracks in our current immigration laws.
I have met hundreds, maybe thousands of them now in the 10 years I have been working on this issue. I know they dream of the day when they will have a country. Currently, they do not; they are undocumented. The only country they have ever known is the United States, but they just can't go forward. When it comes to college or a university, they get no help from the government unless the State they live in has a special arrangement but certainly no help from the Federal Government.
When they finish school many of them can't be the teachers, nurses, engineers, or doctors they want to be because it requires citizenship, which they do not have. We are trying to give them that chance.
I have come to the floor time and time again to introduce some of these young people to America so they can put a face with a name to the DREAM Act. The person I want to speak about today is named Yaniv Steltzer.
Yaniv was brought to the United States by his parents from Israel when he was just 3 years old. This is a photograph of Yaniv. Today he is 25. He grew up in America. Like every other American child, he believes this is home. In 2010, he graduated from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey with a bachelor of science degree in hospitality and tourism management. In college, he was chair of the Jewish Student Union/Hillel Club and was an active volunteer with several other student groups.
Yaniv's dream is to open a restaurant. He wrote a letter to me, and here is what he said:
I fell in love with cooking in high school when I took a home-economics class and I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I would love to give back to America by opening my own restaurant, creating jobs, contributing to the economy, and becoming a citizen in the country I love.
Now, let me tell you Yaniv's challenge. He can't become a citizen. His father was born in the United States, but Yaniv was born in Israel, so he is not an American citizen. Yaniv's father applied for Yaniv to become a citizen, but because the process took so long he became ineligible. Under our immigration laws, once Yaniv turned 21 his father could not petition for him to become a citizen any longer.
So Yaniv has lived in this country since he was 3 years old, his father is an American citizen, and he is undocumented. The only solution for him is the DREAM Act.
Here is what Yaniv told me about his situation:
America is the only country I know. I grew up here, all my family and friends are here and everything I know is in America. The DREAM Act is important to me and many others like me who are in the same situation. We have the resources to help this country greatly, but don't have that piece of paper that allows us to do this. I have high hope and optimism that Congress will do the right and humane thing, put all political issues aside and pass the DREAM Act.
Yaniv is right. I ask my colleagues, would America be a better place if we deported Yaniv Steltzer? Of course not. This young man grew up in our country. He has overcome the odds to achieve great success. He doesn't have a criminal background or any problems that we should be concerned about. He is no threat to us. He would make America a better country, a stronger country if we just gave him a chance.
Yaniv is not an isolated example. There are thousands of others like him around this country. Over the Easter break, I went out to Los Angeles and got a cab from the hotel to the airport. I looked at the cab driver's name and saw that his last name was Ark. I asked him: Where are you from?
He said: Take a guess.
So I said: France.
He said: No; I am from Belarus. My father was in the Soviet Army, and 15 years ago I came to the United States with my wife. She is a registered nurse, speaks English. I didn't speak a word of English when I got here, but I was able to come as a refugee from Belarus, which, of course, is where the last dictator in Europe presides--Lukashenko. He said: I came here and I started learning English. I just spoke Russian.
I asked: How in the world did you ever get a license to drive a cab?
He said: I had to work at it. I not only had to learn enough English to be able to have a successful business as a cab driver in Los Angeles, but I had to learn these streets and freeways and everything that came with it. He said: I did it, and now the son we brought as a citizen--my two kids--are now Americans, and 15 years later I own three cabs.
What a story. But it is not unique. It is the story of America, of people who said: I am sick and tired of where I am, and I have no chance here, but I know there is a place that will give me a chance. That was the story of my family. My mother was an immigrant to this country. I think it is the story of America.
So why do we, in this day and age, in the 21st century, have such a negative feeling about what immigration has brought, the diversity and strength it has brought to this country, and why can't we see the most fundamental question of justice when it comes to these children, these kids brought here as infants who only want a chance to do what this refugee from Belarus was able to do: make America a better place, build a life for himself, create a family that would be part of the American family.
I will continue this battle because I know all over the country there are people such as Yaniv Steltzer and many others who are waiting to see if the Senate can rise to this occasion, put politics aside, and do what is important for this country: show fairness, show justice, and give these young people a chance.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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