Before it was too late but they refused to listen ignoring the americans that were against this. The leader then promised what had been the plan all along which is to continue bipartisan discussions that will be followed by open debate on the floor. Shortly, this evening, we will take up a vote on a vehicle to which members can offer their ideas on how to best solve this problem. Be a process thats fair to all sides. Once we adopt a motion to proceed we will have the opportunity to have our proposals considered under regular order, in other words offer amendment, debate amendment and vote on amendments. It willt have a 60 vote threshold before it can be adopted. I we need one i can pass the house and be signed into law. This should be about getting a bill signed into law. A group of members from the side of the aisle will put forth a comprehensive proposal. Most people have been surprised, maybe shocked is a better word at the generosity of the present offer for the daca eligible recipients. Right now there are 690,000 of them whoig signed up but the presence proposal would not fully offer them a legal status, it would offer 1. 8 million eligible young people a pathway to citizenship. That is far more than president obama ever offered. It provides a real opportunity to keep our commitments when it comes to Border Security. It reallocated visas fromlo the diversity lottery system in a way thats fair and continues the existing family based current backlog is cleared it changes it to a meritbased system. Im proud to cosponsor this which i think canoo pass the senate. I know that others have been working hard on their ideas and i work forward to revealing their work product. I urge my democratic colleagues to consider immigration, one of the great civil rights leader of our time, the first black woman to be elected to the u. S. House of representatives. She also servese as the chairwoman for immigration reform. While serving in that role she set for our policyar to t make sense it is necessary to make distinctions between those who obey the law and those who violate it. I think thats a great principle to keep in mind as we sort out the challenges. We all recognize the anxiety of the dreamers who came to this country through no fault of their own and face uncertain futures. They are dreamers and we need to restore our legacy as a nation that believes in and applies the rule of law. Indeed, equal justice under the law. Heres the bottom line, im not interested inse a futile exercise or gamesmanship or political theater or ideas that can become law. Mr. President said two weeks ago the ultimate proposal must be one where nobody gets everything they want but our country gets the Critical Reforms that it needs. More than 124,000 young people in my state and i hope we can rise to the occasion. I hope we can Work Together in a bipartisan fashion to provide relief to the dac recipients but also to restore our Border Security and to craft immigration laws that serve americaser best interest. Again, the two pillars upon which our immigration system has been felt that we are a nation of immigrants. Almost all of our family members came from somewhere else. We are also a nation of laws which distinguishes us from most of the rest of the world and has been those great pillars that need to be restored and which need to be our focus. Madam president , i yield the floor. The senator from iowa. Thank you very much. Before the senator of texas leads the floor, i think he needs become committed because one of the four parts of the bill im talking about and introducing and he is one of the cosponsors and thats borderke security. He has worked years on Border Security and needs become demented about it i also think is not on think you and senator johnson are to be complemented for being in the lead of 100 senators to make sure we dont make the same mistakes we did in 1986 when we gave amnestyt because we thought we had Border Security and the numbers show we didnt do a very good job at Border Security in 1986 and the senator from texas and the senator from wisconsin are going to make sure we dont make the sameto mistake again. I rise today to announce a formal introduction of the amendment hr 2579 that is the vehicle for immigration. This amendment is cosponsored by senators cornyn, tell us, langford, purdue, cotton and ernst. It is a product of several months of hard work between the senators, including the white house. Since this past september ive held more than two dozen meetings with interested senators in an attempt to craft a fair and permanent solution to daca. Ive also met with the president on four separate occasions to figure out what he needs to see in a legislative package so it can be signed into law. What is the point of our working hard if we are not going to get something that will be finalized by a signature from the president of the United States. I just said ive met with the president on four separate occasions. I should have said that this group of introducers of this legislation met with the president on those four occasions. Most importantly, i have beenco continuously listening to my colleagues have said that they need inn any immigration consensus. As a result of our meetings and conversations with our colleagues, the senators sponsoring this amendment have attempted to develop a simple common sense framework that can address everyones concerns while providing necessary and critical changes nations immigration laws. Ons immigration what does our amendment too, working off the bipartisan framework agreed to january 9 at the white house, our amendment has four key pillars. I said bipartisan, bicameral, thats a 23 members of congress that met with the president for an hour and a half to boil down all the issues that can be brought out and we ended up with these four key pillars. First and mor most importantly, our amendment fully funds the president Border Security request, other plans weve heard about claim they fund the president s Border Security request by, i will put this word in quotes, authorizing money, but anyone who knows washington knows that just an authorization turns out to be a gimmick sometimes, it turns out to be a promise sometimes or an iou to maybe find something at some later date and every member of the United States senate knows that in this town washington d. C. Promises are quite cheap. We went down the road in 2006 when congress authorized money for border fencing, much of which Congress Never actually funded. It rejects that we appropriate 25 billion into a Border Security trust fund. This trust fund will allow Homeland Security to use between two and a half and 3 billion. Your for infrastructure, for technology, and for personal recruitment and retention. By setting up a Border Security trust fund we ensure that the department of Homeland Security will actually have the money it needs every single year to secure our borders. Will also regaining congress ability to exercise oversight. But unlike other plans, we recognize that real Border Security is more than just trying money at the border we have to close the legal loopholes in the current law that allow dangerous criminals to enter and remain at large within our country. Our amendment and sees dangerous loopholes it makes it easier for our Law Enforcement to apprehend, detain and remove sex offenders, drug smugglers, human traffickers, international terrorists, criminal gang members, repeat border crossers, drunk drivers and other dangerous people. Second our amendment provides a generousne and permanent solution for daca. Our plan contains an earned path to p citizenship for these young people. Provided these young men p and women have no, record in serving the military, attending college or vocational degree or maintain fulltime employment, they can eventually to citizenship. This concession is necessary to provide a permanent and fair solution to this issue. Thirdr, pillar, our proposal reforms, family based immigration to place greater emphasis on nuclear family, moving forward we limit family base immigration to the nuclear family, meaning the spouses and minorit children of citizens and lawful permanent residence. This change change doesnt and family base immigration, it simply recognizes that extended family immigration doesnt serve thery American People were our countries economies. It is important for all my colleagues to recognize the family base changes are post back to you. This means all 4 Million Immigrants were waiting in line. This group of senators understands that the people actually follow the law and doing the right thing. In addition by grandfathering all pending petitions in the pipeline, it will take years, by some estimates more than a decade to implement meritbased immigration. It reallocate the 55000 visas and the diversity the salt lottery to clearing backlogs and employment based backlogs. By reallocating these visas, we not only promote faster family reunification and the skill workers in eb one, eb two and eb three categories. Supporting this will require concessions. The senate is ready and willing to make a major concession and vote for a path to citizenship. Senators need to be willing to do the same. At the end of the day, in spite of everything else, the simple facts remain that this amendment is the only plan that the president supports. This plan is the only senate plan that has any possibility of passing the house of representatives and becoming law. I have asked my colleagues, are you interested in actually getting something done and actually providing a path to kids, or are you interested in a political issue for the 2018 elections. If you are actually interested in getting something done and getting a bill signed into law and fixing the issue, well, the choices obvious. If my colleagues are more interested in grandstanding and passing the bill that will never become law and not wont actually protect daca kids, that choice is pretty clear as well. To all my colleagues i urge her support for this amendment, lets fix this issue. Lets demonstrate that we can find solutions to the challenging problems that americans are calling on us to solve. This is a compassionate compromise and the people that have been advocating to this for years, longer than i have been, because ive been at it just a short period of time, let them accept a compassionate optimize. Let them do what theyve done for a long time, settling the daca issue once and for all. Lets show the world we are serious about finding a longterm solution instead of kicking the problem to a future date. I yield the floor. The senator from arkansas. I wanna thank my colleague from iowa, senator grassley the excellent work that he has helped lead us all on this issue. We have introduced legislation that transforms into an actual bill. Its the one bill that can become law. We havear a plan not to pass a bill, but to pass a law. Twice in the past 12 years the senate has passed the bill that has and become a because the house of representatives couldnt pass it in the president couldnt sign it. I urge myna colleagues, lets not simply signal our virtue to our counterparts in the house of the president by passing a bill, lets solve this problem by passing a law in this bill provides legal status and ultimately citizenship for people who are brought here through no fault of their own as minors before the age of accountability. It provides more money and legal authorities to secure our southern border and help our brave immigration agents. It eliminates the useless visa lottery and it puts an end to the practice of chain migration. It doesnt solve every problem under theoe son we have with immigration, it doesnt include mandatory. [inaudible] it is consistent with the presence framework and it solved the problem in front of us, of young people who were brought here through no fault of their own and that we should give legal status to these 1. 8 Million People in return for southern border. It will not do. It is not responsible. If we give them legal status we will have two negative side effects. First we will create more incentives to encourage illegal immigration with minor children to this country. It willan include their parents, the very people who created the problem to begin with, undermining the rationale and the rationale is that the parents shall not pay for the sins of the parents but surely parents can pay for the sins of the parents. If we do those things, provide legal status for the 1. 8 Million People who find themselves in the situation through no fault of their own but control the negative side effects by securing our southern border and extended family chain migration we will have a bill that can become a law. We will also grandfather in every person in the backlog waiting to come to this country because they have a parent or child or sibling in this country prince some of them have been waiting up to 20 years. No one will be cut out of that waiting line. They will be trying to get a renewable visa for their elderly parents. If you immigrated and you saw parents back in the home country that need your care, who need to live in a home with you are down the street in a nursing home this will allow you to have a visa and bring them here. Humanegenerous solution we need a system that focuses on the skills that our economy needs. A recent poll shows that 65 of americans support this proposal. And they should because every part is popular. Would be in the press and migration. Often times in car and it has be generous and humane on the other hand. Its the only approach that will begin to change our immigration system from one that treats people that where they come from and who theyre related to. Nothing can be more american than that and i urge my colleagues to recognize this is one bill that can pass the house of representatives, in the president signature and become law. I will simply say again, if we go through p the exercise this is a paid plan that will pass into law, not just pass a bill. I yield before cash i yield the floor down i yield the floor. The senator from iowa. Mr. President , i would like to start by thanking my colleagues and especially my friend from iowa, our senior senatocenter. This legislation puts us on the best path forward to provide a permanent solution for our recipients all while strengthening our borders and entering security. Our legislation wrestles with the unique challenges faced by the dreamers, many of whom were brought to america by their parents, through no fault of their own when they were just children. In iowa and across our nation, they are an integral part of our community. They are our neighbors, they are our classmates, and they are our fellow goers. This last summer, while i was at the clay county fair in iowa, i was approached by a young lady and she came up to me and said senator ernst, id like to know where you stand on daca. Meanwhile shes pulling out her billfold and out of the billfold she pulled out a small card. She said i am at daca recipient. I said thank you for taking the time to come up to me and share your story with me. She was there with her younger sibling at the county fair, just enjoying the day, and she explained her situation to me. She had been brought into the country by i her parents. They came illegally into the countryut from mexico, and she pointed at herd younger sibling and she said they were born here. They are citizens. But i am not. She went on to explain to me, as we were standing there at the clay county fair right by the Army National guard recruiting booth, of which i was a member of the Iowa National guard, and she explained to me that a while back she had actually met with one of the recruiters and they had told her we cant accept you because you are a daca recipient. She expressed to me how disappointed she was. She wanted to join our military. She wanted to serve this countr country, thenl only country that she had known to be her home. The country that she loved. Her determination and desire to serve this country and defend our freedom was absolutely clear to me. This girl wanted to defend the only country she had ever known, the countryov they love. That said, i cannot overstate the importance of addressing the legal, economic, and security concern that are ever present in this debate. A huge priority has been, and remains to be, Border Security. Our homeland in our borders the light must be secure. Tragically human, drugs and trafficking are still viable markets in the darkest corners around this world. Unfortunately we have those corners of theld world right here in our own nation. Ensuring the integrity of our immigration system is essential in working to prevent these bad actors from infiltrating our borders. This legislation would direct funds toward bolstering our borderf control and various degrees of security along the border that his physical and virtual, radar and other technology. It also cuts immigration loopholes and ensures that dangerous terminals are denied entry. It addresses the debate in a humane and thoughtful manner and i urge my colleagues in the side to support this common sense legislation. I yield the floor. Eight. We want to be able to create a viable solution for daca program as wees take this major step in immigration reform. Senator langford, who will be speaking after me, last year decided that we really want to get a discussion around a legal path to citizenship for significant population of the illegal presence or a significant portion of the population. S Action Program was implemented a president obama is what we used as a baseline for determining how we could actually define that population and set terms so that we could alternately accept them into this country and they could get citizenship. The proposal weve outlined today, i should also thank senator grassley for his leadership, ive served on the Judiciary Committee for three years in my first term here in the senate and three years in the immigration subcommittee. Under his leadership we crafted a framework consistent with what the president has proposed. Its also consistent with what everyone around here has voted for in one form or another. Its a framework that begins with a path to citizenship for 1. 8 million daca eligible persons in this place today. They were young when they came here and some are adults now. They came to this country through the decision of the parents. I for one believe they should be given an opportunity to be u. S. Citizens. They will have an opportunity based on an ten or 12 your timeline and the certainty of having legal status and then a path to citizenship that can be ten or 12 years. Fairly straightforward in terms of the requirements to come into the program. Its important to go down not to make the mistakes of the past. Not assume that it has its been attempted. Its failed under republican and democratic legislation. It even failed at a time when president obama was in the white house and super majorities of democrats in the senate and a majority in the house. Even when not a single republican vote wouldce be necessary they were unable to produce a solution. Noww this week, we have an opportunity to debate one that works. There is broad consensus that this isew a workable, viable, compassionate framework. 1. 8million persons qualify for a path to citizenship. Then we get into Border Security. Senator ernst talked about Border Security. Its critically important to think about it as not the wall and he does not see a wall going from the Pacific Ocean to the gulf of mexico. There are certainly places where we need structures but we also need so many things layered on top of it so we actually know whos coming to this country, whats coming to this country and if they do try to cross the border illegally for humanitarian reasons because thousands of people have died. Almost 10000 people, aboutut a thousand of young children, by putting into place a wall structure where it makes sense , Better Technology and resources at the border, we will know whos coming, we will know what drugs are coming into the country and have a better job of finding and protecting people who may be trafficked to this country for the purpose of trade. Human trafficking. It comes for a commonsense implementation that was developed by Homeland Security and border patrol. This wasnt something that started in the white house. It has taken a year or two to get into place touches a rational multifaceted solution for Border Security. Then what we have to take a look at is the reality of our broken immigration system. We have millions of people waiting to come to this country, some as long as 20 years. Thise proposal draws down a queue that has been out there for almost 20 years. 3. 9Million People that are in the process right now have been petition for because of a hefamily relationship with some other u. S. F citizens. We are trying to figure out a way to accelerate that. To have them move through the naturalization process far sooner than they will if we fail to produce o a solution this week. Over time we can find other possible opportunities for immigration but today, when we look at how we fix the broken immigration system, make sure they know we are not turning their back on them in overtime weas can get a case for even more illegal immigration with pathways to citizenship. I think were beginning to see more consensus on the three pillars i just discussed. Green cards bring countries intoha bring people into the countrys sooner. We arent out of step with most other countries in terms of how we allow people into our country. People who come over by whichever immigration process they may choose, to have such a small number of our immigrant populations coming in without merit is irresponsible. We do it at the expense of future immigration where we want more skilled people to satisfy the needs of our society and we can do that through a reasonable, rational discussion about what our immigration policy should look like overtime. I will leave you like this. In a country like canada, 63 of their immigration has a skilled a requirement. In a country like australia, the same thing. We have almost three quarters of our immigration has no tie whatsoever to the needs of this o nation, our economy, our education institutions, our community. Were saying lets look at this and maybe change the proportion so that we can actually have a program thats modernized and focused on the needs that we have for our great country. You will hear a lot of great things. Im going to do that and i suspect i will c have republican colleagues and democrat colleagues t. [inaudible] i dont have a problem with the underlying policy but i have a huge problem with producing a result in the senate that has virtually no chance of going to the president s desk and then will ultimately get on the secure and succeed act. Its a well structured solution thats been very much instructed by myy colleagues on the other side of the aisle that i know he will support this. I want to thank my colleagues and all those who have weighed in who is responsive to the framework, responsive to the concerns that our friends on the other sidep of the aisle have and now its time for us to act. Lets do something different. But produce a result. Lets not get appearance and i tried, lets provide certainty to the dreamers waiting for us to act to those recipients, lets secure our border and modify our immigration system. If we do that, weve done a great thing. Thank you. Tomorrow in the senate, a vote is expected on whether to begin debate on immigration policy. Earlier today Chuck Schumer traveled to kentucky. We will show the entire event at 8 00 eastern our companion network cspan. Tonight on the committee caters, from the Consumer Electronics show in las vegas, Technology Leaders discuss the latest innovations in artificial intelligence. You can have it in something as simple as your music playlist. Those are all using technologies which is Machine Learning to figure out what movies you love to watch and what will music you like to listen to. It could be in your internet email system and filtering spam. Its a computer algorithm using technology within ai that can do that. You can also have ai powering self driving cars. It helps the card navigate through the street. Watch the communicators tonight at eastern on cspan2. Attorney general Jeff Sessions spoke at the winter meeting of the National Sheriffs association today and talked about the justice departments effort to combat the gang ms 13. You can watch all of his remarks at cspan. Org or on cspan tonight at 945 eastern. Here is a preview. We arrested and charged hundreds of people suspected of contributing to the opioid crisis. We secured the convictions of nearly 500 traffickers and 1200 gang members worked with our International Allies to arrest her charge more than 4000 ms 1300 we went down to el salvador and they were pretty supportive. Thats a big problem in el salvador. They dont need to import it here. If theyre caught here and there selling dope here and there illegally here, they are here. I can tell you that. [applause] our success, they didnt like it, the ms 13. The director of the fbi Criminal Division testified lately that gang members in el salvador, if they get notice of whats happening, they know hundreds of their members are now behind bars so now theyre trying to bring younger more violent gang members to the u. S. To replenish their riots. That wont happen. We will continue to pound them. I hope that as you identify ms 13 members, i hope you will help us. This is the most violent gang. Murder, rape and control is their motto. They are by far, the most violent gang. Lets crush this bunch and show them they can take over our streets. [applause] cspan washington journal live everyday wit news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up tuesday morning, she talks about her frontline documentary the gang crackdown about the Trump Administration policy on targeting the ms 13 gang. Then chief economist mark zandi discusses the market volatility, the gop tax cut and rising deficit. We are live in little rock arkansas for the next up on the cspan bus 50 capitals tour with arkansas governor on key policy issues facing his state. Be sure to watch cspan washington journal live at 70 string tuesday morning. Join the discussion. Now a conversation on efforts to lower Prescription Drug prices from washington journal. Each weekend we take a look at the intersection of your money and federal policy. We are joined by David Mitchell to talk about Prescription Drug crisis. You can go for a spread what is your group. Guest its to help patients for affordable drugs. We are the only National Patient organization focused exclusively p