Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration held a hearing entitled ``Another Biden Blunder: Missing Unaccompanied Alien Children and Criminal Sponsors.'' I attended this hearing. It certainly begs the question, Why, now that they are in control, are Senate Republicans continuing to focus on the Biden administration instead of examining the policies of this administration?

When I was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, we held not one but two full committee hearings on the Biden administration's handling of unaccompanied children. It is a legitimate issue. We must do everything in our power to protect these kids, and that requires oversight of policies that are in place now, not stories of history.

Just look at yesterday's oversight hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel. Director Patel deflected my questions relating to his gutting of the unit in the FBI that was investigating something known as the 764 group--an organization the FBI itself described as a ``nihilistic violent extremist'' group that seeks to blackmail children to perform vile acts on camera.

News reports released yesterday noted that nearly every agent on Baltimore's domestic terrorism squad was reassigned this year to work full time on immigration enforcement, forcing them to walk away from investigations of the 764 group.

This change at the FBI is dramatic in counterterrorism, in counterinsurgency--all of these areas where the FBI has expertise--and developed professionals are being told they have a new assignment: Go out and find undocumented people in the United States. There are 11 million of them. In fact, roughly 20 percent of all FBI agents reportedly have been diverted from their critical national security and public safety roles, including protecting children from extremists and traffickers, to work on President Trump's mass deportation effort.

Even worse, the data show that this administration is not focusing its immigration enforcement on the ``worst of the worst,'' as the President says. Instead, they are picking up innocent, law-abiding people.

Just consider the recent raid of the Hyundai Metaplant in Georgia. Hundreds of agents from across the country raided this factory. The agents--many of whom work on priority counterterrorism and drug enforcement cases--did not have experience in low-priority immigration enforcement operations. They ended up arresting hundreds of South Korean nationals who were in the country to install equipment at the plant so that eventually American workers could go to work at that factory.

Now the South Korean Government is investigating human rights abuses during that raid, and construction on the facility is paused at least for another year, maybe two. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau was reportedly forced to express ``deep regret'' over the incident in a meeting with his South Korean counterpart.

I have read some of the news accounts. The South Koreans are livid. Here is our government, begging them to put businesses and factories in the United States, and we raid this and take away 300 South Koreans who were there for the transition on that factory. Some of them were in shackles and handcuffs. ____

Americans want the immigrants who have committed serious crimes to be deported, but raiding factories, like the Hyundai factory, isn't going after criminal gangs or murderers.

The Georgia raid demonstrated that the Trump administration's priority is not really public safety but, rather, meeting White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's arrest quotas. Mr. Miller needs a body count to slake his insatiable thirst to punish immigrants.

Miller has ordered ICE agents to focus on arresting individuals at Home Depots and 7-Elevens. Remember the categories we were looking for, rapists, murderers, terrorists, and the criminally insane? Go to that Home Depot parking lot, right? It doesn't make sense. His targets are not in those of President Trump's infamous litany. Brown skin and a Spanish surname is good enough.

In order to meet Miller's quotas, ICE is arresting first and asking questions later. DACA holders, immigrants with lawful status, and even U.S. citizens have been caught up in this disastrous effort. Even worse, a recent U.S. Supreme Court order has paved the way for ICE raids on any employer who hires someone with an accent for a low-wage job.

I have seen the devastating impacts of these policies in my State of Illinois. People are fearful of masked men in unmarked vans who could grab them at any time because of how they look or their accent. Parents are terrified to take their kids to school, and businesses are suffering as people are scared to go to work.

Just last weekend, I was in a section of Chicago known as Little Village. The chamber of commerce appealed to me: Senator, would you come out to dinner in our neighborhood next time you are on the road and have a place to pick? We need the business.

The President is ramping up his immigration raids in Chicago in the so-called Operation Midway Blitz. This operation is not going to make Illinois or America safer. In fact, 70 percent of the immigrants detained by Trump so far have no criminal convictions. Instead, this effort will deepen the fear in our communities, making hard-working immigrant families frightened to send their kids to school, go to the hospital, or report suspicious activity to the police.

The majority of Americans do not support these anti-immigrant actions. If it is a dangerous person, they have got to be gone. But these are people who are paying their taxes and going to work and sending their kids to school and sitting right behind you in church. They are not dangerous by any means.

Immigrants have been a key part of the American success story at every level. That is why, in Illinois, including in the great city of Chicago, we embrace immigrants as members of our community who pay their taxes and help make our economy thrive and our city strong. Our Nation needs immigrants more than ever.

Just last week, I had the major farm groups in Illinois meet with me--three different groups in the same day. After they made their presentations about how tough things are on the farm because of tariffs and their inability to sell on an international basis, I said to them: I want to ask you a favor. Each and every one of you have told me you need immigrant labor on your farms to continue operating. Will you say it publicly? Will you let America know that immigrants perform a valuable function in dairy farms, livestock operations, orchards--farms of all kinds? They are an important part of the workforce.

Our Nation needs immigrants now more than ever. Look at the numbers. If DACA is struck down, experts predict that our economy will lose an estimated $11.7 billion each year in wages.

What was DACA? An Executive order of President Obama's based on my bill, the Dream Act, that said if young people are brought here before age 18 and they have grown up in this country with no criminal record or question about their background, they ought to have a chance to stay here without fear of deportation for 2 years at a time.

Even these young people who are complying with that Executive order and carefully making sure they file on time are being subject to deportation by the Trump administration.

Without continued immigration, the U.S. working-age population is going to shrink by 6 million by the year 2040. People like Stephen Miller would cheer that information. I am fearful of it. We need a competent, large-enough workforce--not taking jobs from current Americans but providing for their future.

As Americans retire, this could lead to a 23-percent reduction in monthly Social Security payouts for retirees. When the immigrants are not working, they are not paying their taxes, of course, and they are not paying into Social Security. They are an important part of the future of this country.

So rather than costly operations to deport hard-working immigrants with no criminal convictions, I urge my colleagues to come to the table and work with us on a bipartisan basis to reform our immigration system and secure our border in a sensible, humane way.

It wasn't that long ago that I was part of a Group of 8. Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, and others were joining in a bipartisan effort to build a bipartisan immigration bill. It was a good bill. It passed with over 60 votes on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The House refused to take it up, and it is unfortunate because it would have solved many of the problems which have faced all of the Presidents since.

We can do the right thing for this country: make sure that dangerous people are not part of our future but that those who want to make America a greater country, as they have over and over again, have that opportunity.

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Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator yield for a question?

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Mr. DURBIN. I would like to ask, through the Chair, a basic question of my friend from Vermont.

You have been involved in politics a few years. So have I. I am trying to understand if I were a Republican Senator who voted for this kind of premium increase for people in my State, more than a handful--a lot of people in my State--how I would explain it. Do you know?

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Mr. DURBIN. Excuse me, Senator.

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Mr. DURBIN. When you say it is just about to happen, is it the announcement of the premium or the actual imposition of the premium increase?

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Mr. DURBIN. Through the Chair, you used an example of Wyoming.

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Mr. DURBIN. You said 60,000 people in Wyoming.

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Mr. DURBIN. Well, I was trying to figure out if someone is making $82,000 a year, I think that was your reference point.

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Mr. DURBIN. And they qualified for the Affordable Care Act health insurance, they currently can receive a subsidy to help with the payments based on their income.

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Mr. DURBIN. And you are saying the change in the big beautiful Trump budget by our Republican colleagues is going to result in an increase in monthly premiums in Wyoming of a person making $82,000 a year of $3,000 a month?

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Mr. DURBIN. This is not a casual increase; this is for real.

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Mr. DURBIN. Let me ask you this question: Since we have the continuing resolution being considered, which would go into effect September 30, if we agree on one, if you took care of this tax credit issue, you could spare that family in Wyoming from a $3,000-a-month addition to their hospitalization premium; is that correct?

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Mr. DURBIN. Let me ask the Senator from Vermont his own personal experience. Mine was that last year, I decided to replace my knee--my football knee from high school--and my hip, same year.

I started receiving these projected bills and how much I might, personally, owe if I didn't have any health insurance. We are talking about thousands and thousands of dollars. Now, these were basically elective surgeries but much more than the average person has available on hand to pay a bill.

Imagine if instead of an elective surgery, I had, God forbid, broken my leg, ended up in the emergency room, and needed help with surgery when it was all over. The net result of it is a bill which most families would struggle to pay if they had no health insurance protection.

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Mr. DURBIN. This seems like the reality of the situation. It is your money or your life is the Republican proposal. We are either going to have you pay $3,000 or more a month in premiums or you are going to have to gut it out and hope you don't get sick or don't have an accident that could cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

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Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from Vermont as well as the Senator from New Hampshire for organizing this block. I am going just say that people have contacted me from Illinois and are scared to death about what is going to happen on October 1. This big beautiful budget bill of President Donald Trump, unfortunately, is not going to extend the tax credits available to reduce premium costs. Families are asking me: How in the world, Senator, are we supposed to pay these increased costs of thousands of dollars each month?

I don't have an answer for them, but the Senate has the answer. The Senate can change that. We can restore this tax credit. There are a lot of priorities for a lot of people, but I will tell you, if you have ever lived without health insurance, you understand it is a basic priority.

You never know tomorrow what you are going to end up paying in a medical bill, and if you aren't prepared for it, it can wipe out your savings in no time flat.

I just want to thank my colleagues from Vermont and New Hampshire for organizing this floor block.

Access to healthcare is one of the most important issues facing Americans today, and it is an issue near and dear to my heart--because I know what it is like to live without health insurance.

I will never forget being the father of a new baby, who had a serious medical condition but I didn't have any health insurance. I never felt more helpless than I did in that moment. It is a terrible feeling and something I do not wish on anybody.

Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress are preparing to subject millions of Americans to the stress-filled, sleepless nights, that come from knowing your family does not have health insurance. If Congress fails to renew the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits before the end of this year, the cost of health insurance will spike for almost every American who relies on an ACA Marketplace plan. Increased premiums will create financial hardship for middle-income families across the Nation and cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance.

There has been a lot of confusion surrounding these tax credits, and I want to make clear who is at risk of being affected by these cuts. More than 90 percent of families with a Marketplace plan receive the ACA's premium tax credits to lower their monthly premiums. That is 22 million Americans who rely on these tax credits to afford healthcare.

Without these subsidies, 22 million people will see the cost of their insurance premiums rise rapidly. For most families, the cost will skyrocket 75 percent. That means that a family of four making only $32,150 a year will see a nearly $400 annual increase in their healthcare costs. A family earning $64,300 will see their premiums rise to $905 a year from $180--more than a 400-percent increase.

The imminent expiration of these tax credits, combined with the devastating Medicaid cuts passed earlier this year by Republicans, will devastate families of limited means and hospitals. The increase in premiums will be too much to bear for many families. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if the ACA credits expire, 4 million people will become uninsured. And that is in addition to the more than 10 million set to lose their healthcare as a result of the so-called ``One Big Beautiful Bill's'' Medicaid cuts.

Last night, on the Senate Floor, I shared two messages my office received from Illinois constituents who are terrified about the upcoming tax credit expiration. The first message was from Kristen, from Rochester. She is a freelance writer, who has recently been diagnosed with a long-term degenerative disease. She said, ``I depend on the ACA Marketplace for insurance. Without it, one of my multiple medications could cost $7,500. Without these subsidies, I would be unable to cover the cost of my care.''

The second message was from Zach. He is a small business owner and father of four from Highland. Zach wrote, ``The Affordable Care Act has been a lifesaver for my family. It would ruin us if we lost the benefits from the Affordable Care Act. It would ruin us economically and physically if we lost these big, beautiful benefits from the ACA.''

These are real stories, from real people, who will be affected by the callous inaction of my Republican colleagues. But Kristen and Zach are not the only ones who are living in fear because of the upcoming expiration of these tax credits.

Melanie, from Elmhurst, wrote to my office and said, ``Without the tax credit my monthly payment is unaffordable, plain and simple.''

Vivien, from Evanston, emphasized that ``We cannot go back to the years when millions of Americans could not afford to get insurance.''

I could not have said it better. The end of the year is approaching, and my colleagues from the other side of the aisle seem uninterested in extending these lifesaving healthcare subsidies for Americans in red, blue, and purple States. I am calling on my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to come together on a bipartisan basis to extend these subsidies and offer families some financial relief.

Senate and House Democrats will soon introduce a bill that would keep the government open and permanently extend these tax credits. We can do both. And we should do both. I ask my Republican colleagues to join us in these efforts. In doing so, I am reminded of something my former boss, the late Senator Paul Douglas, said after the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. He said, ``We will indulge in no comments about those who came at the 11th hour to the support of the measure . . . All can share in the thrill of victory. We merely ask that we all work together to make this measure a success.''

I hope my colleagues will heed his words and protect the tax credits that so many Americans rely on to afford their healthcare.

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