Senate WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 160 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014 No. 73 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Thursday, May 15, 2014, at 2 p.m. Senate WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014 The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was to the Senate from the President pro The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- called to order by the Honorable ED- tempore (Mr. LEAHY). pore. The clerk will call the roll. WARD J. MARKEY, a Senator from the The assistant legislative clerk read The assistant legislative clerk pro- Commonwealth of Massachusetts. the following letter: ceeded to call the roll. U.S. SENATE, Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- PRAYER PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, imous consent that the order for the The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- Washington, DC, May 14, 2014. quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- fered the following prayer: To the Senate: Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, pore. Without objection, it is so or- Let us pray. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby dered. Our Father, You promised that those appoint the Honorable EDWARD J. MARKEY, a f who passionately seek You will find Senator from the Commonwealth of Massa- You. Deliver us from distractions that chusetts, to perform the duties of the Chair. IMMIGRATION REFORM hinder our pursuit of You, as You en- PATRICK J. LEAHY, Mr. REID. Mr. President, this morn- able us to experience Your presence President pro tempore. ing marks 321 days since this body today. Mr. MARKEY thereupon assumed the passed commonsense immigration re- Lord, guard the hearts and minds of Chair as Acting President pro tempore. form. For 321 days the Republican-con- our Senators with Your peace, guiding f trolled House of Representatives has them with Your power. Draw them into done absolutely nothing to address our RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY intimacy with You, helping them to re- Nation’s problems dealing with our LEADER member that nothing can separate broken immigration system. It is a sys- them from Your love. Rescue them The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- tem that is broken and needs to be from misplaced priorities that major in pore. The majority leader is recog- fixed. It cannot be fixed on a piecemeal minors and minor in majors. Bring nized. basis. It needs comprehensive immigra- their thoughts and actions into cap- f tion reform. tivity to Your will. To the Republican extremists in the We pray in Your merciful Name. SCHEDULE House, the time went by like that. To Amen. Mr. REID. Mr. President, following them, 321 days does not seem like a big f my remarks and those of the Repub- deal. But outside of the Capitol, where lican leader, the Senate will resume we are dealing with people’s lives, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE consideration of the motion to proceed those 321 days felt like a lifetime. To The Presiding Officer led the Pledge to H.R. 3474. At 11:15 a.m. there will be American families forced to live in the of Allegiance, as follows: up to five rollcall votes in relation to shadows, each one of those days brings I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the several nominations. Following those the dread of discovery and being torn United States of America, and to the Repub- votes the time until 5:15 p.m. will be away from their loved ones. Undocu- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, equally divided and controlled between mented immigrants have lived in fear indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the two leaders or their designees. At for the last 46 weeks, worrying whether f 5:15 p.m. there will be another series of they will have to leave the country rollcall votes on confirmation of three they call home. For the past 101⁄2 APPOINTMENT OF ACTING district judges and on adoption of the months children have lost their par- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE motion to proceed to the tax extenders ents from government action—all while The PRESIDING OFFICER. The legislative vehicle. House Republicans have twiddled their clerk will please read a communication I suggest the absence of a quorum. thumbs. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S2981 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 03:54 May 21, 2014 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD14\S14MY4.REC S14MY4 bjneal on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE S2982 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 14, 2014 Enough is enough. It is time for the gress—because we are doing virtually this issue. So many of them are like House Republicans to act. They have nothing here in the Senate, he decided Astrid Silva, who is one of the wasted far too much time already fail- to do something administratively. DREAMers. She was 4 years old, a lit- ing to consider a bill that the Senate That is why we have deferred status for tle girl in a boat coming across the Rio considered, and passed in less than 2 these young men and women who want Grande River. She had her Rosary months. to go into the military, finish their beads and a little doll and her mom. A year ago the Senate Judiciary education, and this is the only place Nevada is the only place she has ever Committee, under Chairman LEAHY’s they have ever known as home. known as home. Because she was so leadership, was in the middle of mark- The bill that passed here is common frightened, she was afraid to go any- ing up the commonsense immigration sense. Eleven million people—we can- place. reform. After 2 weeks of consideration, not fiscally deport 11 million people. This is the right thing to do. We need what did they do? A bipartisan bill was We cannot physically do it. It just will to move forward on comprehensive im- reported out of that committee. Within not work. That is why the legislation migration reform, and we can only do a month the Senate passed immigra- that was crafted here on a bipartisan that if the Republicans in the House, tion reform and sent it to the House of basis is fair to everyone. What it says led by Speaker BOEHNER, do the right Representatives. It was a good start. It is that if this is your home and you thing. It is very important. I urge the was really good. But in our system of have improper papers, we will give you House to stop wasting time and bring government, what we did here will some time to get those adjusted. It is immigration reform to a vote. Give the have absolutely no meaning unless the going to take some time. You are not American people the assurance that we House takes it up. We were able to going to go to the front of the line; you are working to finally mend our broken move on immigration reform quickly are going to go to the back of the line. immigration system and give families because both Senate Democrats and You are going to have to pay taxes. the opportunity to come forward and Senate Republicans understood the You are going to have to work. You are work toward legal status. It really is need to fix a broken system. going to have to stay out of trouble the right thing to do. I suggest the absence of a quorum. What is the House Republicans’ ex- and learn English. It would take about The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- cuse? Why are they doing this? What a dozen years to have your status ad- pore. The clerk will call the roll. are they achieving by dragging their justed, but at least during that period The assistant legislative clerk pro- feet on immigration reform? They of time you can come out of the shad- ceeded to call the roll. claim to be working on things—they ows. Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I say jobs, they say legislation to reduce Recently, though, the House Judici- ask unanimous consent that the order the debt. If they are really interested ary Committee chairman appeared on a for the quorum call be rescinded. in reducing the debt, pass this bill. It is Sunday news show and tried very, very The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- $1 trillion to reduce our debt—$1 tril- unsuccessfully to justify his party’s in- pore. Without objection, it is so or- lion. What are they doing over there? action. His reasoning as to why the dered. Day after day, investigations—they in- House is dragging its heels? Repub- f vestigate everything and accomplish licans claim President Obama cannot nothing. be trusted to enforce immigration law. RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY The fact is that the Senate-passed So what Republicans are really saying LEADER immigration bill reduces the deficit is that they will not act on immigra- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- and spurs the economy more than the tion reform unless there are more de- pore. The minority leader is recog- House-passed bills awaiting Senate ac- portations, more families torn apart. nized. tion combined. I repeat: $1 trillion. The That does not make a lot of sense to f immigration legislation passed by the most people. In a nutshell, it is the POLICE WEEK Senate reduces the deficit more than House immigration platform.