Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate 11142017 20171114 : vimar

CSPAN2 U.S. Senate August 17, 1115

Help our citizens to live for your honor. Increase our faith, hope, and love that we may receive your promises. Lord, be merciful to our nation, for you are our hope. Today inspire our lawmakers with the music of your wisdom that they may bring hope out of despair and joy out of sadness. Teach them to celebrate even in the darkness, because you are the god who saves us. Give us all the strength to not become weary in doing what is right, knowing that in due season a bountiful harvest will come. We pray in your great name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C, november 14, 2017, to the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable ben sasse, a senator from the state of nebraska, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed orrin g. Hatch, president pro tempore. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell tax reform represents our best chance today to get the economy living up to its true potential, and its onceina generation opportunity. The last time major tax reform happened was more than 30 years ago. In the years since, our country, our economy, and the global marketplace have changed in profound ways. Moreover, the lingering economic challenges of the last decade only compound the urgency to get this done. Jobs went overseas, wages didnt grow like they should have, hardworking families worried if theyd be able to send their kids to college or save for retirement. Its clear that families and Small Businesses had a rough go of it during the obama economy. They deserve relief. They deserve the chance for something better. Tax reform is an important way to help get the economy, jobs, and opportunity moving again in a serious way. Listen to this Small Business owner and franchisee from lexington, kentucky. She wrote to my office expressing the need for tax reform. With the rising cost of doing business, she wrote, and the government regulations that have been imposed on Small Businesses over the past several years, we desperately need tax relief and competitive rates. The current high tax rate that i pay, she continued, reduces the amount of earnings i can invest into my businesses, into my employees, and into my community. For Small Business owners in kentucky and throughout the country, we want to make it easier to grow, invest, and hire. For families everywhere, we want to make taxes lower, simpler, and fairer. In short, we want to take more money out of washingtons pockets and put more money in the pockets of the middle class. Thats why were pushing tax reform. Yesterday the Senate Finance committee began to mark up its tax reform legislation. The meetings this week represent the next step in a years Long Campaign which included dozens of hearings and significant input from both sides. Chairman hatch said yesterday, first and foremost, this legislation will provide muchneeded tax relief to American Workers and families. It reduces rates across the board, particularly for those in the middle class who have struggled to get through the past eight years of economic stagnation. And indeed, under the finance committees proposal, the typical American Family of four earning the Median Income could see a tax cut of nearly 1,500. As these hearings continue, id like to once again commend chairman hatch for his leadership of the committee and his commitment to regular order. As the tax proposal advances through an open process, members of finance committee will consider many of the hundreds of amendments that have already been filed on the bill. Once the committee completes its work, the bill will come before the full senate. Along with our colleagues in the house, as well as President Trump and his team, we will continue to push for tax reform to fulfill important shared goals for our country. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are committed to getting this done for the American People. I hope that our democratic friends will join us. As ive said before, until very recently our colleagues on the other side of the aisle used to support many of the ideas included in this bill. The underlying ideas havent cheangsd. Changed. The urgent need for tax reform hasnt changed. The only thing that has really changed is the occupant of the white house. So i hope that Senate Democrats can put aside partisanship and work with us in a serious way to deliver this muchneeded relief to Small Businesses and the middle class. Now on another matter, in addition to the other work being done by the committees, the senate is continuing to confirm qualified and talented nominees sent to us by the president. Yesterday we confirmed an important official for the department of transportation and today well confirm another. Then well advance the nomination of David Zatezalo to serve as the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, a position of particular importance in my home state of kentucky where mining supports thousands of good jobs. Zatezalo spent a lifetime working in the mining industry. He began as an underground coal miner, worked his way up through the ranks to most recently lead a lexington, kentuckybased mining company. He knows about various levels of the business, which will be an important asset as he works with operates, miners, and inspectors to ensure that Mining Operations are safe for our nations mine workers. Having begun his career as a coal miner himself and having later managed and operated a number of mines, mr. Zatezalo has a keen understanding of the challenges and risks sometimes associated with mining. And his firsthand experience will serve him well in his new role. As assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, mr. E responsibility to reduce workplace accidents and promote safe and Healthy Workplaces for miners. I strongly support his nomination to serve in this role and i would ask my colleagues to join me in advancing this nomination. Mr. Durbin mr. President. The presiding officer the assistant democratic leader. Mr. Durbin mr. President , would you like to announce the business of the senate. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the bradbury nomination which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, department of transportation, Steven Gill Bradbury of virginia to be general counsel. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin mr. President , it was 16 years ago when i introduced a bill known as the dream act. The purpose of the dream act was to give to undocumented young people brought to the United States under the age of 18 an opportunity to go through a background check and to earn their way to legal status. 16 years ago. The bill passed the senate at various times. It passed the house never quite in the same year at the same time. Now we face a crisis. Literally a crisis involving hundreds of thousands of these young people across america. It was just september 5 when the president of the United States announced that he was going to eliminate daca. Daca was the executive order of president obama which allowed these dreamers to come forward, pay a filing fee of about 500 or 600, submit themselves to a criminal background check and after that background check, if they cleared it, to be given a twoyear allowance to live in the United States without fear of deportation, two years at a time, and the legal capacity to work. That was what daca was about. 780,000 young people did it. They came forward, they surrendered their information about themselves and their families. They submitted themselves to criminal background checks and they ended up getting the protection of daca. They went on to go to school, to go to work, to become teachers and engineers, to go to medical school, to do things that really mean that theyll have a future in this country that will be of benefit to them and to all of us. So President Trump said that program will end on march 5 of 2018, and he established a deadline for those who were going to see their daca eligibility that would end during that period of time, a deadline for them to renew. The deadline was october 5. And it meant that they had to come forward with the filing fee, go through at least apply to go through the process again. Now it is quite a hardship on many of these young people to come up with the money for the filing fee and to realize that the clock was ticking in a very meaningful way about their ability to protect themselves. And so many of them stepped forward and asked for help from family, from churches, from friends to come up with the filing fee to make sure that they renewed their daca eligibility in time. Let me tell you what happened. What happened to some of them who went through this process. Heres one case. On september 14, allison baker, a lawyer for Legal Aid Society in new york, sent one of these Young Persons application to renew this permit that would let him stay and work in the United States legally as part of daca. The date september 14 should be remembered because the deadline for filing was october 5. To be sure, just to be sure, this lawyer sent this renewal application for this young man by certified mail. Back in the day when i practiced law that was one way to make sure you had written proof of when you actually mailed something far in advance of a deadline. Tracking data from the United States Postal Service showed the envelope arrived in chicago on september 16. Mailed september 14, arrives in new york it mailed. Arrives in chicago september 16 on its way to a regional processing warehouse of the United States citizenship and immigration service. The agencies that administers the program known as daca. Then the packet started circling the chicago postal system in a mysterious holding pattern. From september 17 to september 19 it was in transit to destination, according to the Postal Service. Then its tracking whereabouts disappeared until october 4, where once again the Postal Service assured the sender it was, quote, on its way. Close quote. On october 6, the day after the deadline, this certified application which was sent on september 14, arrived. And the application for this 24yearold man was rejected by our government. He wasnt alone. We know at least 33 other cases just like this. Congressman Louise Gutierrez of my state of illinois told the story of another application renewal september on september 13 for an october 5 deadline. It arrived on october 6 as well. Another sent paperwork on september 21. It wasnt received until october 9. What congressman gutierrez said is very obvious. Because somebody else did not do their job correctly, we are taking innocents young immigrants and making them deportable. That is unacceptable congressman gutierrez said. What does the u. S. Postal service have to say about what i just read to you, the two or three cases . On thursday in a rare admission from a federal agency, the u. S. Postal service took the blame. David partenheimer, spokesman for the post office said there had been, quote, an unintentional Mail Processing delay in the chicago area. Remember what im saying here. Young people undocumented and applied successfully and been accepted into the daca program, the president announced hes going to end the program, and those many of them had to resign up, renew by october 5. They did it. They mailed it. Their application didnt arrive in time. Well, it doesnt take a big leap of faith or intelligence to realize what should be done. Clearly, this agency should be giving these young people a chance. Once again, they have done everything they can think of to comply with the law and trust our government. They trusted our government to give them daca status to allow them to stay in the United States, and they trusted the Postal Service in a matter of two weeks to be able to deliver a letter. Yesterday, i spoke to the uscis director francis cissna, and i asked him about this. And i said to him, there must be a way for us to acknowledge the obvious. These young people in good faith did everything we could ask of them to comply with the law, and now they have been rejected. Now they are subject to deportation because the Postal Service didnt do its job. And i asked him are you prepared to at least reconsider this decision and to give them a chance to renew their daca status . He said he was aware of the situation and that it was being considered at the highest levels of the department of Homeland Security. Mr. President , i raise this issue because real lives are at stake here. These are real people. These are young men and women who are doing everything they can think of to become part of americas future. Theyre hiring lawyers, theyre raising money, theyre filing the documents that are asked of them in the hopes that they can stay in the United States of america, and the system is fighting them every step of the way. In this situation, this is totally unfair. Our governments better than this. Our people are better than this. Our values are better than this. And im pleading with the department of Homeland Security and those who are seeking positions in that department to show some common sense and a little bit of heart when it comes to these young people who are simply trying to make a future for themselves and a better United States of america. Mr. President , i ask consent that the next statement i make be placed in a separate part of the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin mr. President , this week, republicans in congress are determined to barrel ahead at full speed in a rushed, partisan effort to pass a tax plan at any cost. Mr. President , make no mistake, for working families in illinois and across the United States, this is a mistake. Preliminary analysis from the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation revealed that by 2019, more than 13 million americans who make less than 200,000 a year will experience not a tax cut but a tax increase under the Senate Republican plan. That number jumples from 13 million to 21 million by the year 2025. And in my state, taxpayers at every mcbracket in illinois are going to see their taxes increase for this tax reform thats being pushed through at the last minute of this session. 14 of the middle fist of taxpayers in illinois, those who are the very definition of middle income, will see an average tax hike under the senate plan of 1,400. So much for a tax cut. Its a tax increase. Mr. President , imron about taxpayers in your state, but in my home state of illinois, a 1,400 tax hike is a gut punch to a working family. Thats not all. Further analysis from the center for budget and policy priorities show that in addition to the millions of households which will see their taxes rise under this Senate Republican plan, 53 million households thats 40 of all households earning less than 200,000 per year, would see no significant tax change under the new plan. Lets be clear. If youre a middleclass family listening to that and youre thinking you might want to take your chances under this republican plan, please look at the facts. Even if youre one of the lucky ones who manages not to pay more under the republican tax plan, make no mistake that when this plan blows a 1. 5 trillion hole in our nations deficit, it will be working families who end up paying the bill. When republicans fake republicans faik math indeed fake math indeed falls short and the budget is skyrocketing, the republican budget has already identified how they will pay for these tax cuts in the future. Are you ready . They are going to do it with an additional 470 billion in cuts in medicare benefits. Medicare. Theyre paying for a tax cut for wealthy people by reducing the benefits paid out under medicare to retired americans, and another trillion dollar cuts in medicaid. Remember medicaid . Thats the program, the major expense of that program is to maintain the lives and health of twothirds of americans who are in nursing homes. So the republicans want to give a tax break to the wealthy. Theyre going to ask seniors who have retired to pay more or receive less for medicare and make a dramatic cut in medicaid as well. Theres no hiding. Congressional republicans have made clear that one way or another, working families in america are going to pay for what they call tax reform. At the heart of the republican playbook for how to bankroll massive tax cuts for the wealthy few and the largest corporations is the elimination of three vital tax breaks for working families. The House Republican plan will be voted on this week. They are dead set to get this done in a matter of days. And theyre going to eliminate in the house plan the medical expense deduction. What does that mean . It means if someone in your family is diagnosed with a serious illness, god forbid cancer or whatever it is, and your family ends up incurring massive debts, making sure that that person survives, if y

© 2025 Vimarsana