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Floor Speech
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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I am honored to join my colleagues in this colloquy and to support this measure. We are nearing the end of the debate for today. We are nearing a vote tomorrow.
But the debate will continue, and we will have other votes. Whether this measure passes or not tomorrow, it is only the beginning of what we need to do. So that debate nationally and in this body will continue. And there will be votes on other steps that carry forward the effort that this bipartisan security act reflects.
But we must act. Everyone agrees that we must act to make our border more secure, to fix our broken immigration system, to find a path toward earned citizenship for millions--tens of millions--of undocumented people in this country who are paying taxes and playing by the rules and, of course, for the Dreamers and for people seeking visas so they can work here and fill jobs that otherwise will be vacant.
We often hear Republicans talk about the need to secure the border. I sit on the Judiciary Committee where it seems like my Republican colleagues want to talk and talk and talk about the border. Every hearing, every markup, regardless of our actual agenda, they want to talk. Republicans want to talk about the border so much that they sent us contrived Articles of Impeachment against a Cabinet Secretary for the first time in 150 years. More talk.
Politics is the reason that this body failed to pass this measure just months ago. So for Republican colleagues who now claim politics is the reason we are here--yes, their politics, their presumptive Presidential nominee saying that they should not vote for it because of the political advantage they would have from keeping it as an issue. They made clear that all they want to do about the border is talk and use it politically.
Democrats spent months negotiating with Republicans. I give great credit to my colleagues, Senator Murphy, Senator Sinema, Senator Lankford, and others, who have worked on this issue over the years.
I remember well in 2013, the Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan measure that then was approved by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in this body, and it went to the House where it died, not because it was voted down but simply because it had no vote. The Speaker of the House refused to give it a vote.
We will have a vote tomorrow on a measure that falls way short of what that one did in 2013. We provided a path to earn citizenship for 11 million then-undocumented--for the Dreamers. We provided billions of dollars for border security. And we reformed visa and asylum programs, among other ways, by enabling more fairness in that asylum system.
This bill is the strongest measure in recent history. It was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council and the union of Border Patrol agents.
Let's be very clear-eyed. It was a tough compromise. It limited asylum claims in ways that many Democrats and I remain concerned about doing. But it includes some key Democratic priorities, including providing new pathways to citizenship for our Afghan at-risk allies, ensuring legal representation to vulnerable children under 13 attempting to navigate the immigration process on their own, and providing for new ways for family members to enter the United States legally for short stays to visit relatives and attend major life events. That is an issue I have worked with colleagues across the aisle for years as well as some of those other provisions.
These are key parts of the Democratic vision for immigration: fix our broken immigration system to continue growing our economy and maintain America's international leadership at a time of severe global unrest.
It will be tough for my Republican colleagues to vote for this measure. It will be tough for many of us. But that is why we are here, and that is the measure of why it is a compromise. A lot of what is here, we would not choose to include.
Let me conclude by saying, Donald Trump wants to campaign on the border, not fix it. The question is whether my Republican colleagues are so beholden to him that they will follow that lead like lemmings off a cliff and, at the end of the day, take the country with them.
My Democratic colleagues and I are not giving up. To the Dreamers, we will keep faith with you. To the undocumented millions around the United States who are paying taxes, working hard, following all the rules, we will keep faith with you. To businesses that want more visas so they can have workers, skilled and others, we will keep faith with you. We will keep faith with America on this issue. We are not abandoning this effort. We are not going away.
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