Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today to remind my colleagues that it has been over 500 days since the Senate passed a strong bipartisan bill to fix our broken immigration system.

There is a lot of hand-wringing going on on the other side of the aisle about the President taking Executive action, as he has now announced he intends to do. Republicans are saying that anything and everything is on the table to stop the President from taking Executive action. Well, if the bounds are anything and everything, I have a suggestion. Pass our bill. It is a very simple suggestion.

If the House votes on our bipartisan bill, the discussion about Executive action would be made moot. It is the other body of Congress that has led us to the point where we are today. The only reason the administration has to take Executive action is because the House has failed to address our broken immigration system. I think everyone on our side agrees it would be far preferable to pass the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate 68 to 32 than any Executive action.

Let me say a few things. The bill is a bipartisan bill with support from every corner of the political map--business, labor, evangelicals, Catholics--and it has been sitting on the shelf gathering dust for 500 days. So it is the absolute height of hypocrisy for House leadership to say that now Congress should be in the driver's seat on immigration reform when they refused to take the wheel.

And let me say this, Mr. President. I don't think anyone has any faith that if they were given another 3 months or 6 months or 9 months that they would come to any kind of real bill. They can't. They have the tea party. Such a high percentage of their primary voters strongly argue against doing a bill. In fact, many of those tea party types are saying shut down the government.

The dithering and dawdling on the House side is particularly perplexing because our bill would achieve so many goals the Republicans claim are part of their agenda. It would secure the border, create jobs, add economic growth, and cut the deficit.

The bipartisan bill that passed the Senate provides more than $40 billion to secure our border. This would mean more than doubling the Border Patrol presence on our Southwest border, completing the border fence, setting up much more surveillance technology--sensors, drones, many of which are so good they can detect--these are the drones that surveil, not shoot--they can detect the difference when a deer or a person crosses the border. They are not on the border now.

Yes, the border needs help. Blocking our bill, not passing our bill, keeps the status quo, which nobody likes. Passing our bill solves the problem. With a Republican amendment authored by the Senator from Tennessee, Senator Corker, and the Senator from North Dakota, Senator Hoeven, that tightens up the border tougher than it has ever been.

The bipartisan bill also strengthens interior enforcement of our immigration laws. So many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle keep saying E-Verify, E-Verify, E-Verify. Well, it is in the bill to crack down on unscrupulous employers requiring an entry-exit tracking system at our airports and seaports to catch people who overstay their visas, and reforming and clarifying the list of violent crimes that make an immigrant deportable so law enforcement officials have the tools they need to keep us safe.

For America to remain competitive, we must have a legal immigration system that works. Right now we have it backwards. We turn away people who would create jobs. Our bipartisan bill will change all that for farm workers, tech firms, entrepreneurs, and so many more, while leveling the playing field for American workers. Because of internal enforcement, when someone crosses the border and doesn't have a real job available and has no family connection, they can't stay. They won't get a job.

Many of our labor friends are for this bill. The construction trades, which probably suffer more from illegal immigration than any other, are strongly for our bill. The bill clears the employment and visa backlogs so American businesses can have access to the workers they need and their families will be united, decreases family wait times at our bridges and ports of entry. It is great for the tourism industry, making it easier for foreign travelers to spend their dollars here instead of somewhere else and, finally, a tough but fair pathway to citizenship.

The other side says it is amnesty. They are listening to Rush Limbaugh--amnesty, amnesty, amnesty. Amnesty means you get away with it without paying a price. Here is the price someone has to pay if they cross the border illegally: No. 1, they have to pay all their back taxes; No. 2, they have to keep working; No. 3, they have to admit wrongdoing; No. 4, they have to pay a fine; No. 5, they have to learn English; No. 6, they have to go to the back of the line, which is what our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have always asked for.

This system was set up by none other than Marco Rubio in our Gang of 8, and it says: If somebody crossed the border illegally in 2008, but someone else has waited patiently at the Embassy since 2007, the 2007 person gets to come into this country before the 2008 person.

Because of all this, here is what the bill does:

First, it would grow the economy by 3.3 percent over the next 10 years and 5.5 percent over 20. No Republican tax cut, no Democratic spending program would have that effect--and without any cost to the deficit. In fact, at the same time we are growing our economy with this proposal--this is CBO, not Chuck Schumer--we reduce the deficit by $150 billion in the next 10 years and $900 billion over the next 20 years. So $1 trillion in savings, as we benefit America.

The bill has unprecedented support: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the guardian of business interests; the AFL-CIO, the protector of American workers; the faith community, evangelicals, Protestants, Mormons. The liberal and conservative religious sectors in America are for our bill, America's farmers, growers, and American farmworkers, law enforcement, the immigrant rights community.

So the historic coalition came together because again this bill strengthens our borders and national security, provides an enormous boost for the American economy, fairly and conclusively addresses the status of people here illegally, and prevents future waves of illegal immigrants.

When we got this bill passed we were almost certain the House would pass it. It is a conservative bill, and try and try and try as they might, they couldn't. So now we are up to the last hours of this Congress and there is one more chance. Just put the bill on the floor, Speaker Boehner. You don't have to twist a single arm. It has the votes to pass. It will do America so much good.

I love America. I want to see us stay No. 1 in every way and economically above all. This bill will do it more than anything else we could do.

I would say to my colleagues, don't be afraid of the Tea Party. They are afraid of the word ``amnesty,'' even though the bill is not amnesty at all as I mentioned. But Rush Limbaugh says ``amnesty'' incessantly, and I know my Republican colleagues--I am a political guy in some ways--they are afraid primary voters that skew far right believe it is amnesty. The Tea Party may be a sliver of the American public, but they are a huge percentage of primary voters in too many Republican districts and that is what they are afraid of. Talk about courage. Talk about loving the country. Talk about doing the right thing. We have to pass the bill.

The real Republican Party position on immigration is pretend to be pro-immigration reform rhetorically but never allow immigration reform to come to a vote. That is the bad news.

The good news is there is still time to fix it. So I urge my colleagues, avoid this conundrum, avoid your dilemma that you will create. Pass the bill, and we will not even have to debate Executive action.

I yield the floor.

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