Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I want to return today to the subject of immigration. Today marks the 285th day since the immigration bill passed right here in the Senate with almost 70 votes, and 285 days later we are still waiting for the House of Representatives to act on that bipartisan piece of legislation.
Every single day the House drags its feet on immigration, our borders remain less secure, our visa system keeps us less competitive, our economy suffers, and millions of families remain in the shadows.
Hard-working immigrants who came here to live the American dream and who are part of the fabric of our communities all over the State of Colorado and all over the United States of America are suffering because Congress has not passed a bill, families such as Dulce Saenz's family from Hudson, CO.
When Dulce's father was deported, she and one of her sisters stayed in Colorado to start college while her mom and younger sister moved to Mexico to be with their dad. It was a heartbreaking decision for the family to separate, but that is what they needed to do. Now all three sisters have gone to the University of Denver in Colorado. They have started careers in public service. But they rarely see their parents. They worry about their safety.
It is clear to everybody I talk to here and at home that our current immigration system is broken. It is also clear to me and I think to many people that separating families does not reflect our history and it does not do honor to the values that shape that history. So while the House stalls, the Secretary of Homeland Security is reviewing our deportation policy and exploring other ways we can help keep families together. It is a good step in the absence of a bill. We should prioritize deportation in a way that reflects our values as a country, upholds the rule of law, and keeps families together. But in the end, the only way to come to a full and permanent solution is to pass this immigration reform bill.
Of course, this is not unusual in Washington these days when we have become so used to getting the bare minimum accomplished, keeping the lights on for another week or for another month. But what is so frustrating on this issue is that we have bipartisan agreement that the current immigration system is broken and that it is doing no favors to this country.
The coalition we built in favor of reform is unprecedented. I was not surprised. When we started this in Colorado, first I would travel around the State and I would hear peach growers in Palisade say one thing about what they hoped for in an immigration bill, I would hear the cattle ranchers say something else, the ski resorts say something else, our high-tech community, our immigrant rights community--everybody coming together to say: You know what, it is long past time to get this fixed.
When we brought this to the national level, working together with the so-called group or gang of 8 on immigration, we were able to build a coalition that really is unprecedented. In the 5 years I have been here, I have not seen universal agreement on anything like we have seen on the immigration bill.
In June of last year, right here in the Senate, we passed a strong bipartisan bill--a bill that strengthens our economy and reduces our debt, a bill that keeps families together, protects our borders and our communities, and gives families who came to this country for a better life a chance to earn citizenship and contribute to our economy and to our society.
As I mentioned, I was part of that Gang of 8 who negotiated the bill. For those who despair about the lack of leadership in Congress--and I hear about this all the time, as I know all of my colleagues do--I tell them that for my part, as one American, the greatest sign or signal of legislative leadership that I have seen in the past 5 years was the leadership provided by John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, and Jeff Flake, the four Republicans who sat at that table for 7 or 8 months and negotiated the immigration bill. It was a lot harder for them to stay there than it was for the Democrats. But those four Republicans sat at the table for 8 months and negotiated a bill because they knew it was the right thing to do for the country and, parenthetically, the right thing to do for their party in that order.
Yet here we are. After all that bipartisan agreement, after all that bipartisan work, after a great bipartisan vote on the floor of the Senate on one of the most immediate issues facing this country, 9 months after our bill passed the Senate we still do not have a bill at the President's desk.
The House of Representatives is privileged to have the opportunity to rise above politics as usual and to do something big, something real, something consequential that will last for this country. The House of Representatives has the privilege to show that stalemate does not have to be standard operating procedure in Washington, DC.
This issue is completely bipartisan at home. I hear about this as much from Republicans--maybe even more from Republicans in farm country than I do from Democrats, the chance to do something important for our Nation and for our future. But until the House acts, families, farmers, and businesses all across my State and all across the United States will continue to suffer, farmers such as Eric Hanagan and Michael Hirakata outside of Rocky Ford, who cannot get the seasonal workers they need and are forced to watch crops--in their case, melons--die in the field.
Colorado's high-tech companies on the front range--ranging from bioscience, engineering, and aerospace--cannot always find the employees they need. In fact, they often cannot find the employees, which introduces an entirely different subject that relates to our K-12 education system, but that is not the topic of the speech today.
We know that almost one-quarter of STEM graduates from Colorado's STEM--math and science graduates from Colorado's leading universities are immigrants who are graduating in the United States, many of whose education has been subsidized by us. Instead of saying to them, ``Please stay here; build our business here; go work for one of our high-tech companies here,'' we are saying to them, ``Go home. We would much rather have you compete with us from India. Go home. We would much rather have you compete with us from China.'' It is ridiculous. It makes no sense.
The Senate bill, the bill we passed, changes that. The bill we passed says: If you are a STEM graduate from another country and you graduate from an American university and you have a job offer in the United States of America, we will staple the green card to your diploma.
That is what we need in this country. That is what the high-tech industry in Colorado needs out of the House of Representatives.
I mentioned tourism at our ski resorts. They will continue to suffer. This is Colorado's second largest industry.
There are a lot of reasons to act, there are a lot of economic reasons to act, but I think there are also fundamental reasons that have to do with who we are as a country. It is often said that America is a nation of immigrants. Of course that is true. There is literally no other country in the world for which immigration is so central to its history and to its identity.
I have heard enough speeches in this Chamber to know that for a lot of us, for a lot of the 100 of us, it is very personal as well. I am a first-generation American. I know there are many others who are here. There is not a person in this Chamber who does not have immigration as part of their family's history.
But this is not just a theoretical idea, that we are a nation of immigrants. I want to take a moment to reflect on what this really means. This is a photo I am proud to say I actually managed to take with my cell phone. My daughters would be shocked to know that I was able not only to get the picture taken, but it is not even blurry.
I had an occasion--I hope the Presiding Officer has had the opportunity to do it--to do something I never imagined I would ever have the chance to do. I attended a naturalization ceremony held for Active-Duty servicemembers at Fort Carson, CO. Let's be clear. These are men and women who are serving the United States of America in uniform. On that day they became citizens of the United States. Until that day they were not citizens but still they were serving and are serving in our Armed Forces. The 13 soldiers and spouses who became U.S. citizens that day represented 12 different countries. This is a picture of them--12 different countries among the 13.
I am going to read the list. I was so blown away by the list that I asked one of the people from the INS who was there to give me what is called the oath ceremony nationality report from which they read the names of the countries. It is an astonishing list. Here are the countries these folks are from: China, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Haiti, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, South Korea, Togo, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom--12 different countries.
Every single one of them came here in pursuit of the American dream, just as generations of people from around the world have sought out the United States to build their future. These are the people--and people just like them all across the United States of America--who are going to determine our future, just as every generation of immigrants has helped us to determine our future. Whether it is refugees fleeing persecution, whether it is parents seeking opportunity for their children, it is those stepping forward to sacrifice for our shared values, as all of these young men and women are, who make America the country we love.
There is no way to argue that our current immigration policies reflect that history or our values.
Let me paint a picture of what our country would look like if this immigration bill were passed. Just to be clear, again, it is not imaginary; we passed the bill in the Senate.
If people on the other side have issues with the bill, what I say is we have no monopoly on wisdom. Bring your ideas; improve the bill. I can think of some things I would do to improve that bill, but you can't just do nothing. You can't do nothing, because if we pass the bill in the House, those who come to this country for a better life, including young people--whose parents brought them here as children, and they are here through no fault of their own--would have the opportunity to enter a tough but fair path to citizenship. With a path in place we would then see higher wages, more consumption of goods and increased taxes.
It would reduce our debt. This bill--and this is not me talking, Michael Bennet from Colorado, this is the Congressional Budget Office--would reduce our debt by nearly $1 trillion over 20 years. I am unaware of any other piece of legislation that has passed with a bipartisan majority in the Congress that reduces our debt by $1 trillion but this would. It wouldn't do it in across-the-board cuts. It would do it because of the growth it would create in our economy, the incremental economic growth. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has said that if we pass this bill, we would see an increase of almost 6 percent of incremental GDP growth over this 20-year period, 3 percent in the first 10 years and 5 percent in the second 10 years.
Second, our bill would put into place an efficient and flexible visa system that would catapult our competitiveness in a changing 21st century economy. Canada, our neighbor to the North, is figuring out how to attract the world's talent to its shores. That is what they are spending their time doing. We, a historic nation of immigrants, are saying please go home and compete with us from someplace else or maybe go to Canada and compete with us from there. Talented entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world would have the opportunity to stay if we passed this bill and create jobs to fuel our economy. It is well-documented how many Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants, but millions of small businesses across the United States have been started by immigrants as well. High-skilled workers in science, technology, engineering, and math and lower skilled workers in industries such as hospitality and tourism would come into the country to fill jobs where there are no available U.S. workers. This was a bill that labor and the chamber endorsed. That is the first time that has happened. It was a difficult and painful negotiation, but we were able to get it done, and they agreed we ought to get it done.
It is very important for Colorado and a lot of other States. We would stabilize the challenges facing our agricultural industry with a new streamlined program for agricultural guest workers that is more usable for employees and protects our workers.
Again, this is the first bill ever. We call this portion the AgJOBS bill, the first one--first one--to be endorsed by the growers and the farm workers. That has never happened before, but working with Senator Rubio, Senator Hatch, and Senator Feinstein, we were able to get that done.
Finally, and more importantly, our borders would be more secure with new fencing, double the number of border agents, and increased spending on new technology. We have what they call full situational awareness on the border to allow us to interdict threats rapidly and successfully--and, very importantly, with a mandatory employment verification system and more effective entry-exit system, we would prevent future waves in illegal immigration so we don't end back up in the problem we are facing today. Then our small businesses all across the country can stop being the INS and concentrate on building their businesses. These are all changes our Nation urgently needs, and there are more.
I am not here to argue for some partisan piece of legislation that didn't attract votes on both sides. This bill was entirely bipartisan from beginning to end. I have heard a laundry list of excuses out of people in the House why they haven't addressed immigration reform, but at some point it is time for those excuses to stop and for the stalling to stop. If they want to show the country they are serious about growing our economy and keeping families together, then they need to show us they are serious about immigration reform.
I actually think the Speaker wants to pass a bill. In fact, I think he could pass a bill if he put it on the floor tomorrow and let the House work its will. But it is not my job, obviously, to try to tell him how to do his job. It is no one's job in the Senate to tell him how to do his job, but I suppose it is our job to give him encouragement, to say we will be there to support you if you can find a way to get this bill passed.
If they want to show the country they are serious about growing our economy and keeping families together, then they need to show us they are serious about immigration reform. It doesn't have to be a carbon copy of what we passed, although if they look at it, what they will find is the elements that are in there hang very well together.
Look at this photo. Again, this is what America looks like. This is what Colorado looks like. This is what America looks like. It is what it is all about. These are faces of people who want to contribute. This diversity is how we thrive as a country, and it is how we are going to thrive in the future. It has always been our strength, and it is what sets us apart in many ways from countries all over the world.
These new citizens want to contribute to our economy and to our communities. They want to serve our country, they want to pay taxes and abide by the law, and they want to build a better life here for themselves and their families.
This picture is exactly why we need reform. These brave men and women say it all. They say it much better than I do.
I see my colleague from Pennsylvania is in the Chamber, so I will wrap up.
Let me say that two of the things that set us apart from countries all over the world, two of the essential components that make us the United States of America, are our commitment to the rule of law and our understanding of ourselves as being a nation of immigrants. Almost no other country in the world can say what we can say about that. I can tell you no other country in the world was having that naturalization ceremony the day we were having it at Fort Carson.
This bill gives us a chance to reaffirm those two ideas that we are a nation committed to the rule of law and that we are a nation of immigrants.
I had the chance this weekend to spend some time in my wife's hometown in the Mississippi Delta. It is one of the poorer parts of the country, and it has been for a very long time. It is a tough place in a lot of ways. We have a lot of great family there. After we finished, we went to Memphis to visit the civil rights museum, which has just reopened. If anybody has the chance to go, they should go to visit it, because what you see is the history of a struggle from the 1600s forward--generation upon generation--trying to perfect this country and keep it true to the idea that in this case we are all created equal.
For a long time we weren't able to perfect that. We still are having to perfect it. We are making progress, and that is what we are meant to do. Today we have that chance. The House has that chance tomorrow or next week or next month to make sure that we honor our commitment, this generation's commitment to a generation of immigrants and to the generations that are coming after them. I hope they will take up that challenge.
I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania and the Presiding Officer as well for his patience.
I yield the floor.
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