Marketplace Fairness Act -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, this week I joined my colleagues in introducing immigration reform legislation that seeks to end de facto amnesty by achieving the strongest border security enforcement measures in U.S. history but also by modernizing our legal immigration system so it can unleash the strong economic growth and job creation potential that immigration has.

Let me begin by stating the obvious, and that is that America is a nation of immigrants. We know that because every single one of us can track our lineage back to someone who came here from somewhere else. The truth is it is one of the things that make us different and special from the rest of the world.

If we think about the history of the world, it is basically people being told they can only do what their parents did for a living. How far you are going to go in life depends on what your parents used to do and who you are and to whom you are connected. What made America truly unique and what made the idea of America truly revolutionary was the idea that every single human being, no matter where they were born, how they were born, into what kind of family they were born, and into what circumstances they were born, had the God-given right to go as far as their talent and their hard work would take them. We may take that for granted--those of us, like me, who were born and raised here our entire life--but this is the exception rather than the rule throughout human history, and it is one of the things that have made America so special because the belief and commitment to that ideal unleashed here the revolutionary power of the human spirit and transformed this country into the single most powerful and greatest and freest Nation in all of human history.

This is the story of immigration in America, and it is why we as Americans understand that legal immigration is critically important for our future and a critical part of our heritage. The problem is that for too long both Republicans and Democrats have failed to enforce our immigration laws, and the result is that today we have millions of people living in the United States in violation of our immigration laws. The other problem is that our legal immigration system is broken. It is just broken. It doesn't reflect the 21st century. It doesn't take into account special skills and talents. It doesn't allow us to attract the world's best and brightest. In fact, it doesn't allow us to keep the world's best and brightest, many of whom are students in our universities who learn from our best schools--that our taxpayers are paying for--and when they are done learning, we ask them to leave and take what they have learned here and use it somewhere else to compete against us. It makes absolutely no sense.

Let me start by saying that if there wasn't a single illegal immigrant in the United States, we would still have to do immigration reform because the immigration system is broken. I am pleased this bill we have offered as a starting point reforms our legal immigration system in a very serious and profound way. It turns it into a merit-based system that takes into account skills, talents, and job opportunities. It creates a system where agriculture can get the workers into this country legally--by the way, workers who feed not just our families but the world. It allows our business community, in times of labor shortages where there is very low unemployment, to be able to provide for themselves the kind of guest and seasonal labor some industries depend upon but to do so in a legal way. These reforms are significant.

By the way, in the high-tech industry, where we are not graduating nearly enough people in the high-tech fields--science, engineering, technology, and math--shame on us as a country that more of our children are not graduating with the skills they need to do those jobs. We have to change that.

In the meantime there are thousands of jobs that are going overseas because we can't fill them here. These companies in the high-tech industry are creating these jobs, but then they are taking them somewhere else because that is where the workers are. It is pretty simple: They go to a university, they interview the students, they find someone they like, and if they can't hire them in the United States they will hire the same person in some other country. And that is terrible for America.

So this bill modernizes our illegal immigration system--something we would have to do even if there wasn't a single illegal immigrant in the United States.

Next, the bill actually enforces our laws. It begins by creating a universal entry-exit tracking system.

You may not know this, but 40 percent of the people who are illegally in the United States didn't come illegally. They came on a visa, on a permit, and then the permit expired and they stayed--40 percent. We have no idea who they are because we don't track people when they leave. We only track them when they come in. This bill will change that.

We all understand the magnet for illegal immigration. It is jobs. It is pretty simple: There is a supply of people willing to work, there is a supply of jobs on this side of the border we can't fill domestically, and those two are meeting. They are just not meeting legally.

This bill will require every employer in America to comply with E-Verify, to basically check the documents their workers are providing against the national data base that provides employment eligibility information. The next thing it does on enforcement is the border region--let me say this about the border. The border is not just about immigration. It is about national security. It is a national security risk. The border must be secured.

This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to come up with not one but two plans--a border plan and a fencing plan--to achieve 100 percent ability to be aware of the entire border and 90 percent apprehension, that we apprehend 9 out of 10 people who are illegally crossing. We give the Department of Homeland Security 5 years to reach that goal.

If they do not reach the goal in 5 years, then the issue is turned over to a commission made up of State officials, local officials on the border to take care of the job themselves--and they will. If the Federal Government refuses to secure the border, the States of New Mexico and Texas and Arizona and California, through their Governors and their leaders, will finish the job.

The next thing this bill does is deal with the millions of people who are in this country in violation of our immigration laws. Let me begin by saying this: No one has a right to illegally immigrate to the United States. There is no legal right to be here illegally. As a sovereign country we have a right to enforce our immigration laws.

If we do something to accommodate those who are here illegally, we don't do it because we legally have to. We do it for two reasons: First, because it is in the best interest of our country. When we debate this immigration issue, we need to understand that when we talk about millions of illegal immigrants, this is not a theory, this is a reality; they are here now. We are not talking about bringing these people in; they are already here and they will be here for the rest of their lives. So we have to deal with that reality. It is in our national interest to deal with that reality.

The second reason we are dealing with it is because that is who we are. We are a compassionate people. We are not going to deport 11 million people, so we have to deal with this. We believe we handled this in a very professional and effective way.

If there are people in this country illegally who entered here before December 2011, they have to present themselves. They will undergo a background check. If they have committed serious crimes in the U.S., they will be deported. If they have not, they will have to pay an application fee, a fine. They will have to start paying taxes, and they will receive a permit that will allow them to work in the United States and pay their taxes.

They will not qualify for any Federal benefits--no welfare, no ObamaCare, no food stamps--but they will have a chance to work and will no longer have to hide. They are going to have to remain in that system for 6 years, and then they have to go back and get their permit renewed. It is not a permanent grant of a temporary status; it is a temporary grant of a temporary status.

In 6 years they have to go back and apply again for this permit. When they reapply, not only do they have to pay another fine and another application fee, but they are going to have to prove they have been paying taxes the last 6 years and that they are gainfully employed in a way that means they are not going to wind up on public assistance.

If the border plans have been completed, if E-Verify is in place, if the entry-exist system is in place, assuming their permit is renewed, after 10 years has gone by, then the only thing that happens is they are given a chance to apply for a green card just like everybody else does, not a special process. They are at the back of the line. Everyone who applied before them legally goes first.

The only thing that happens after 10 years goes by and the border is secured, E-Verify is in place and the entry-exit system is in place, we don't give them anything. All they have now is the opportunity to apply for a green card.

By the way, during the first 5 years of a green card under existing law, people don't qualify for Federal benefits either. The point is, this is a reasonable way to deal with a real problem that faces our country.

The alternative is to do nothing, which leads me to one of the points that people are using, and we will be talking a lot about this issue. One of the arguments against this is how much money it is going to cost.

First of all, over the first 10 or 15 years, all these things about the fence and the things we are doing are paid for in the bill. Beyond that, as far as the economy of the United States--a couple points.

First of all, we can't compare this bill to nothing. We have to compare it to what we have now, and what we have now is worse. What we have now is costing our economy. We have people in this country illegally. They get sick, they go to the emergency room, and the taxpayer pays for it.

We have people in this country who are having children who are U.S. citizens and they go to our schools; they are driving on our streets without a driver's license, which means they have no car insurance, which means all of us have to pay more in car insurance as a result. This is obviously not good for them, but it is not good for us.

What we have today is devastating and horrible for our economy. We can't continue to have this. We have to fix this problem, and we have to fix it in a way that is fair to the people who have done it the right way and fix it in a way that makes sure this never ever happens again. I believe the bill we are working on does that, and I look forward to the input that my colleagues have.

One more criticism I hear is that it is being rushed through. That is just not true. Just yesterday we voted on a series of amendments that I had less than 12 hours to review, and these amendments dealt with a fundamental right to Second Amendment constitutional rights. This bill has been online for 48 hours. The Committee on Judiciary would not even begin to consider amendments to this bill until next month. People are going to have 3 to 4 weeks to review it. It is posted on my Web site. People can go on there now and see it. It will be available all these weeks. Then it is going to go through an extensive committee process. Then it will be brought here, hopefully, to the floor of the Senate where we can debate it openly as well.

I am not claiming the bill is perfect. I am sure it can be improved, and I hope my 99 other colleagues will work hard to improve it because we have an opportunity to do something important.

My last point, and I address many of my fellow Americans who share my deep commitment to upholding the Constitution of the United States, to limiting the size and scope of government, to encouraging the free enterprise system as the best way to create economic opportunity. America is a nation of immigrants, but both Republicans and Democrats have failed to enforce our immigration laws and, as a result, we have millions of people here illegally. We are not going to deport them. So let's secure the border and let's identify these people. Let's have them undergo a background check, get in the back of the line, pay a fine, and pay taxes. No Federal benefits.

We all wish we didn't have this problem, but leaving it the way it is is amnesty. We have to solve this problem, and I hope we will.

Madam President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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