Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to thank the leader, Senator Schumer from New York, for his introduction of the remarks I am about to make. But before I do, let me preface it by saying that I couldn't agree with him more. When you take a look at this empty Senate Chamber and realize we are in session this week with the possibility of bringing important legislation to the floor, you have to ask the obvious question: Where is everybody? Why aren't we acting like a Senate? Why are we meeting and having speeches instead of debate on important legislation? What could be more important than the security of an election?
We have a lot of young people across America. We say to them: Register to vote. Your vote makes a difference. You get to choose the leaders for this country's future. Be sure and vote.
But we have to be honest with you. Your vote is under attack--first, by apathy--people don't register and they don't vote--and second, by outside foreign influence and forces.
We know what happened 4 years ago in the Presidential election. The Russians tried to invade the U.S. electoral process and change it. I know it firsthand because it happened first in the State of Illinois. Turns out someone put together a computer program that had a little opening in it, a little hole, and that is all they needed. Sitting in Moscow, these folks in front of computers were searching day in and day out for ways to get into the voters' list in Illinois, and they were successful. They were successful in invading the voting list, the official records of our State on the people who were eligible to vote. They could have done some mischievous things. They could have disrupted our election. Thank goodness they didn't, but it would have been as simple as going through and just changing the addresses, one digit in the address of every registered voter, so when that voter came to vote, the ID card or information given to the judge at the election place wouldn't match up in terms of their address with the official record. That meant they would have voted with a provisional ballot, and those ballots would have stacked up with the thousands of people who could have been victimized by the Russians in my State of Illinois.
We said very publicly--we were the first State to say publicly: The Russians have done this to us.
We didn't see any changes in the voter file. We knew they had the capacity and ability to do it, but they didn't. We have known ever since that they have been attacking our electoral process.
Why didn't we hear about it as much in the most recent election in 2018? Well, specifically because we were in the circumstance where we were fighting it. Our intelligence agencies were fighting it.
So this is a valid issue, an important issue, and it is one that I hope Leader Schumer made clear to those listening to this debate. Why won't Senator Mitch McConnell bring to the floor of the U.S. Senate election security legislation--bipartisan legislation--that will, in the course of passing it, make us safer when it comes to our electoral process? What is this kind of bromance between the President and Vladimir Putin? I don't understand.
But now there appears to be another party on the scene. Senator McConnell is joining in this effort: Keep our hands off of Russia. Don't confront Russia. I don't understand why the Senator from Kentucky is taking that position. He should be pushing forward on a bipartisan basis to protect our election security.
Madam President, now I see my friend and Republican colleague from Utah is here, and I know the purpose of his attendance. I am about to make a statement about TPS status for Venezuelans in the United States. I will preface it briefly, make my request, and allow the Senator from Utah, if he doesn't want to stay here, to respond, and I will continue.
Last year, I went to Venezuela. It was my first time. I met with President Nicolas Maduro, and I said to him: If you have the election you plan to have, it will not be credible, and around the world, you will find the United States and many other nations will reject the outcome. You have to open up the process. Stop putting your political opponents in jail. Have a real election, a free election. Venezuela needs it, not just from a constitutional viewpoint, but your economy is in shambles, and if you want the world to join you in rebuilding the Venezuelan economy, you have to be the credible leader and you can't be if you go through with this election as planned.
That was my speech. It didn't work. He had the election as he planned it. He made sure that his opponents were under house arrest or in jail. He fixed the vote and ended up declaring himself the winner, and no one accepted it. So across the world, you find this resistance to his leadership.
There are some 70,000 people from Venezuela in the United States. They are here on visitor visas, work visas, student visas, and similar capacities. They are now being asked to return to Venezuela. But listen to the circumstances: In Venezuela--we know that it is not safe for Americans to visit. Senator Menendez has spoken on this issue. He is joining me in this effort today. We are warning Americans that it is unsafe to visit Venezuela, but we are telling the Venezuelans who are in the United States that they have to go back.
What we are asking for is temporary protected status for these Venezuelans to be able to stay in the United States during the pendency of this contest that is going on about the future of that nation.
People are literally starving to death in Venezuela. They have no medicine. It is in the worst possible situation. How can we in good conscience say to these Venezuelans who are in the United States that they have to return?
So the purpose of my effort today on the floor is to say that we should discharge from the Judiciary Committee legislation that allows these Venezuelans to stay here while we have declared it so dangerous in their home country. It is a rational and thoughtful thing to do, although, sadly, the Trump administration has sent me a letter saying they don't approve of it.
It is time for Congress to act. It is time for the Senate to act. I am going to make my formal motion at this point because Senator Lee has come to the floor. Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 549
Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 549 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to thank my colleague from Utah. I am sorry he objected to my request.
Why are we moving so quickly on this? Because it is a matter of life and death, that is why. Why did we decide that this is of such an emergency nature that the House has moved on this already? Because, literally, people who are forced to return to Venezuela may face death. That is why we are moving on this as quickly as we are.
I want to thank the House of Representatives for passing this measure. It is time for the Senate to act, and we certainly have the time on the floor to achieve that.
As I mentioned, if you go to Venezuela, as I did last year, you can see literally on the streets the impact of this disintegration of their economy and the problems they are facing.
I visited Children's Hospital in Caracas, and it was heartbreaking for the medical staff to sit down at the table and tell me they didn't have the basic medicines we find in our medicine chests at home or in the clinics of America when it came to treating these children. They did not have antibiotics. They didn't have cancer drugs.
The economy in Venezuela is disintegrating before our eyes, and these people--Venezuelans in the United States, students and others--are saying they would like to remain in the United States and stay here until it is more stable in their country. Historically, there were no questions asked, and we did that. We have done it over and over again. But under this administration, whenever the word ``immigrant'' comes into the conversation, they freeze.
The same Trump administration has told us that the Maduro regime is unacceptable and that we have to get rid of it because of the terrible things that are happening, that the people of Venezuela should have a free election to decide their leader. This same administration will not help the Venezuelans who say they are fearful of heading home to a country that is so dangerous.
Let me read what this administration, which refuses to give temporary protected status, says to people from the United States who may want to visit Venezuela. To me, it tells the whole story. Here is what the Trump State Department says about Venezuela today in the following travel advisory to American citizens:
Do not travel to Venezuela due to crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, and arbitrary arrest and detention of U.S. citizens. . . . Violent crime, such as homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping, and carjacking, is common. . . . There are shortages of food, electricity, water, medicine, and medical supplies throughout much of Venezuela.
Those are the words of the Trump administration about this country of Venezuela, and when I ask that those who are Venezuelan who are in our country not be forced to return to those conditions, there is an objection not only from my friend the Republican Senator from Utah but also from the Trump administration.
Now, make no mistake, if temporary protected status is granted, that does not mean we won't ask any questions of the Venezuelans here. They will have to go through a criminal background check. If they are a dangerous person, they are gone, period. No questions. They are gone. And that is the way it should be. But for those, for example, in my State who are university students, who have their student visas coming to an end-- they are asking me: Senator Durbin, will you allow me to stay in the United States until it is safe in my country?
Is that an unreasonable request? If it were Americans in similar plights in places around the world, wouldn't we say: Give them a break. Give them a chance to stay in a safe place.
I will close. I want to defer to my friend from New Jersey, Senator Menendez, on this issue.
When I went to Venezuela last year, in Caracas, I had a meeting. It was a dinner meeting, and it was an unusual one because it was with six members of the General Assembly who are opponents of President Maduro, who is currently their leader in that country. These opposition leaders opposed him, and their lives were at stake because of it.
We had dinner in a restaurant. It was an unusual dinner. It was upstairs in a back room, and the door was closed so that no one could see us. There were six of them, and they said to me: If you come back next year, Senator, two of us will have been deported, two of us will be in prison; and two of us will have disappeared.
That is what happens to the opposition in Venezuela if you happen to oppose President Maduro. It is that dangerous.
One of those six was a man named Juan Guaido. I met him that night for the first time. Little did I know that he would step up several months ago and put his life and his family's lives on the line to say: I think Venezuela needs new leadership. Exceptional courage on his part. I met him then. I have met his wife since. They are literally risking their lives for their country. They understand how dangerous it is.
All I asked for today on the floor is for those Venezuelans who wish to stay here in safety until this political scenario plays out, that they be allowed to stay here. That is all I was asking for--temporary protected status. I am sorry that Senator Lee objected. He did note, though, that in some period of time--I hope very soon--he will reconsider that position and give us a chance to provide safety for the Venezuelans who are visiting here in the United States.
Because he is here and has been such a great ally of mine in this effort, I would like to yield the floor to my friend from New Jersey, Senator Menendez.
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Mr. DURBIN. I want to thank my colleague from New Jersey for his statement and leadership on this issue.
It is time. When you think about the circumstances, I am reminded of when I was in Caracas last year. It was 11 p.m. at night after I finished with this dinner with the opposition leaders. As I was headed back to the hotel, I saw long lines of people standing by ATM machines at 11 p.m. at night. I asked what that was all about. Well, they are facing hyperinflation in Venezuela--1 million percent, whatever it may be. Every day, these people have to stand in line to withdraw the maximum amount from their savings accounts so the next morning they have enough money to take the bus to work. That is the circumstance. The economy of this country has collapsed.
The medical care, which you mentioned, and I found at this children's hospital and other places, is virtually nonexistent. Diseases, which were once eradicated in Venezuela, are returning. Children are dying from diseases which long ago we believed were gone. Now they are back because there is no vaccine, nothing to treat these children.
When we ask the Trump administration, which has told us they want to get rid of Maduro, to give the Venezuelans a chance at a free election; when we ask them, will you at least show some sympathy for the Venezuelans in the United States who don't want to return, who want temporary protection until this political mess is over--when we ask them will you give them that protection, we get a letter from Mr. Cuccinelli, who is now the head of citizen services, saying: No, we are not going to do that.
How can you have it both ways? How can you say you care for the people of Venezuela, you acknowledge the terrible circumstances of their leader, Maduro, yet when it comes to those in the United States, you force them to return to this circumstance?
As you just described, for many of them, you are forcing the return to a circumstance which is threatening, if not deadly, with 7,000 already killed by their secret police and who knows how many have not been reported who could have been victims as well.
Today we made this request on the floor. A Republican Senator objected. The next time I am going to come to the floor, I will ask our Republican cosponsors to join us. This is a bipartisan effort to try to protect these Venezuela people. If they will come join us, perhaps the leadership on the Republican side will have second thoughts and give these people of Venezuela a chance to be protected here until their country is safe.
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Mr. DURBIN. Harris), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
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