American Safe Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Republican leader has said that he is going to bring and, in fact, has brought to the floor the House-passed refugee bill, as he calls it. It is, of course, an immigration bill. Yesterday he said that the debate over the bill should be based on ``facts and common sense.'' I agree with that. The facts speak for themselves. Our enemy is clearly defined. ISIS is the defined organization. It is a terrorist organization that poses a threat to the United States, women, children, and families fleeing persecution. They are not the enemy; ISIS is the enemy. We should be focusing all of our efforts on defeating our real enemy, the brutal, evil ISIS. Yet the bill the Republican leader is bringing to the floor scapegoats refugees who are fleeing war and torture instead of creating real solutions to keep Americans safe.

You don't have to take my word for it. The junior Senator from Arizona has said he will oppose the bill because it is ``intended to knock out all refugee entrants and I'm not there.'' So says the junior Senator from Arizona.

National security experts from Democratic and Republican administrations have warned against advancing bills such as this.

Former Secretary Gates is such a good person. I enjoyed working with him very much. Yesterday he said--in words much stronger than I am going to say right now--that the Republicans running for President don't understand the issue. He is much stronger and more firm in saying that what they are talking about is ridiculous. By the way, he is a Republican.

President Obama has already made it very clear that he will veto this legislation. As written, this bill will not be signed into law. Some say it is a waste of our time. By advancing this bill, Republicans are creating a terrible distraction for the sake of embracing the hateful rhetoric, vitriol of the Republican Party's standard bearers, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

I guess this should come as no surprise to anyone. Over and over again Republicans remain committed to pledging loyalty to the divisive platform that has been built by the Republican people running for President, led by, at this stage, Donald Trump.

We believe we must destroy ISIS. Everyone on this side of the aisle believes we should destroy ISIS and defend our Nation, but we believe we can accomplish this goal without compromising Americans' core principles. Sadly, many leading Republicans have proposed policies that compromise our fundamental values and threaten the identity of our great Nation. Democrats are committed to opposing the violent views of Donald Trump and providing the American people with solutions that make our Nation safer. We think it is way past time for the Senate to vote on these policies.

My friend, the Republican leader, has pledged over and over again that when the Republicans lead the Senate, they will thrive under an open amendment process. For example, he said the following: ``I said at the beginning of my time as majority leader that the open amendment process was going to be the rule rather than the exception.''

My friend continued to say that tough votes should be expected, and I quote: ``We'll just take our chances. You know, we're big men and women. We're prepared to vote on proposals that are offered from both sides.''

If Senate Republicans are prepared to abide by this, Senate Democrats will seek to advance a limited number of amendments on this bill that is before this body. I am not talking about tons of amendments or scores of amendments, but four or five amendments. For example, we could have one that dramatically increases the funding for local police anti-terrorist efforts and airport security. That is one that we want. They are overworked and underresourced. We could close the terror gun loophole to prevent those on the no-fly list from being able to buy firearms, explosives, or radiological materials, as has been attempted. We would offer an amendment to denounce Donald Trump's reprehensible proposal to impose a religious test on admission to the United States.

The Democratic ISIS security bill has been filed. It is a very important piece of legislation. It includes keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists and stopping radicalization here in the United States. It includes active shooter training. As I have already indicated, we are going to move our airport security substitute forward so we can prevent dirty bombs and work abroad to take care of refugees who are over there.

These are the amendments we feel confident about, based on the statements my friend has made. We are not asking for unlimited amendments. I have listed four amendments here.

The Republican leader here in the Senate and the Republican Speaker have pledged their loyalty to Donald Trump and his disgraced policies. They have said that if he is the nominee, they will, of course, support him.

As a frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump and his proposals are leading the public debate in our country. Republicans who support these illogical plans should be prepared for the next logical step: voting on his vision of America.

Over here, we believe that all of these measures are deserving of a vote. I talked about four of them. We are ready to vote on the proposals now--this week. If for any reason the Republican leader needs more time to discuss the proposals with his caucus, we are happy to reschedule the vote.

Now, I know it is a big day in the Senate because during my news briefing on the way to work, I heard that the junior Senator from Florida is going to be here to vote--and the junior Senator from Texas. They will actually be in the Senate to vote. It is a big day. I know we have a tight schedule because they are going to be here for only an hour or two, but perhaps we could have a debate on the amendments we have suggested. I am sure that if we offer these amendments, the Republicans will offer amendments, and we could have some time here to deal with these amendments. But we will not allow Republicans to hijack the Senate floor to play politics with our Nation's security. The American people deserve better. I look forward to offering these amendments.

I publicly want everyone to know that I did not try to jump ahead of my friend the Republican leader. I was told by staff that I should go first. If I had known the Senator was going to be here so quickly, I would have waited, so I am sorry about that.

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