about a bill today that would cut federal funding to sanctuary cities. no votes expected on the floor today. live coverage here on c-span2. eternal god, the foundation of goodness, you have done more than we can imagine to draw us to you. draw our senators nearer to you, prompting them to find joy in your presence and inspiring them to obey your commands. as they remember how you have sustained them in the past, deliver them from

the fear of failing at their difficult tasks. lord, help them to focus on being productive, striving to please you with their harvest of substantive legislation. when they encounter disappointment, encourage them to remember that you can transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. may your grace, mercy and peace sustain them now and always. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the 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., october 19, 2015. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable joni ernst, a senator from the state of iowa, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: in the coming days and weeks, we as a congress face a series of real and important deadlines. first, we must address the debt ceiling. last week, treasury secretary jack lu let the american people know that in two weeks, november 3, the united states faces the threat of being unable to pay its bills.

unless we act, the federal government will default on its accrued debt. a huge percentage of this debt is the result of unpaid tax cuts for the wealthy, and two unpaid wars during the last bush presidential administration. if we allow the united states to default on this debt, the consequences to world markets would be catastrophic. but that's not all. it's not all that the republican leadership has ignored. congress must reauthorize the export-import bank which has basically gone out of business, causing loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs here in the united states and hurting our economy in more ways than one. it's also important we pass a long-term surface transportation bill, and again avert another potential republican shutdown for our government by december 11. and yet as the senate reconvenes today, we're considering none of these vitally important matters.

instead, just as we did as the shutdown loomed last month, the republican leader is spending the senate's time on a partisan ideological bill to placate the radicals within his own party. the senior senator from louisiana is the architect of this bill, which targets the so-called sanctuary cities. senator vitter's legislation fails to match the family values rhetoric that he so frequently touts. this vital legislation might as well be called the donald trump act. like the disgusting, outrageous language championed by donald trump, this legislation paints all immigrants as criminals and rapists. at its core, senator vitter's bill undermines the ability of local law enforcement officials to place their own communities -- police their own communities and ensure public safety. it's no surprise that the if fraternal order of police and the chiefs of police do not

support the vitter legislation, and that is an understatement. if implemented, this bill would punish local jurisdictions by withholding federal community grants that police departments use to enhance public safety and build community trust. imagine that. holding public safety funding for police as a result of this misguided, far-fetched legislation that everyone knows won't pass. senator vitter's legislation was also withhold community development block grants and affordable housing and providing services to the most vulnerable in our communities. the donald trump act would establish new mandatory minimum sentences for those who enter the country illegally. initial estimates show this new mandatory minimum in this bill would result in the need for 20,000 new prison beds, 20,000, requiring the construction of 12 or more huge new federal prisons, costing billions and billions of taxpayer dollars. but it seems republicans don't

care about the costs to republic safety. they now care about the costs of building new prisons. a few billion here, a few billion there of taxpayer dollars. that's okay. after all, republicans are not really proposing this bill to solve any problem within our immigration system. this donald trump act was designed to demonize immigrants and spread the myth that they are criminals and threats to the public. it promotes discrimination and bias. decades, decades of research demonstrates that immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes or be jailed than native-born individuals, and high rates of immigration are associated with lower rates of violent crime, not higher. so the notion that the donald trump act is necessary to protect americans from violent criminals is preposterous. violent gun murders are a tragedy our nation faces far too often. every year -- and it's getting worse, not better -- 32,000 people are killed by guns in this country. that's how many were killed last

year. that's how many are going to be killed this year, but the number's going up. more americans have been killed by guns since 1968 than all the wars in our nation's history, all the wars in our nation's history. republicans should direct their energy toward saving the lives of thousands for safer, smarter gun safety legislation instead of cappizing on hateful political rhetoric to advance the republican agenda. even though 90% of the american public think there should be a background check for someone who is a criminal or who has mental problems, even over 50% of the members of the national rifle association believe that there should be background checks, but not congressional republicans. no, they know better than 90% of the american people. democrats believe local communities and local law enforcement are better judgments of -- judges of what keep their

communities safe than donald trump or bill o'reilly. the safety of our local communities should not be a pawn for republicans' failure to act on comprehensive immigration reform and that's all this is. local law enforcement officials, domestic violence groups, immigrant rights groups, mayors, faith leaders and mayor groups all oppose the donald trump act. this bill does nothing to keep americans safe and it certainly does nothing to fix our broken immigration system. america is and always has been a nation of immigrants. we're all the better for having hardworking immigrants as contributing members of our communities. this nation deserves a commonsense immigration process that works, one that is tough on law-abiding citizen, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement. but instead of joining the democrats in passing comprehensive immigration reform, it unites families, strengthens communities and improves our economy, republicans remain committed to their only approach to immigration policy -- mass deportation. we all know that this extreme

right-wing approach would hurt our country and simply cannot work. the donald trump act would shatter the trust between law enforcement and communities that keep our nations safe. republicans should abandon the shameless attempt to appease the base elements of their party. they should work with democrats to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which is years overdue. sadly, though, until republicans get serious about immigration, the republican leader shouldn't waste the senate's time on legislation that he knows won't pass. this legislation is not going to pass. he knows it. we all know that. instead, he is just treading water, waiting for time to go by. the republican leadership focused the senate's time and all of our efforts on pressing matters we face like avoiding a catastrophic default to keep our government open so we can do the people's business. madam president, would you announce the business before the

senate? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2146, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2146, a bill to hold sanctuary jurisdictions accountable for defying federal law, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: madam president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the snrr florida. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection hel--without objectio. mr. nelson: mr. president, on september 29, an almost 800-foot cargo container vessel, the el faro, a cargo ship carrying 33 men and women from florida, left port in jacksonville, florida, bound for puerto rico. there is a regular trade route

between san juan and jackso jacksonville and a lot of the goods that the puerto rican commonwealth receives are shipped by cargo container from the port of jacksonville. three hours before it left port, the tropical storm that had been brewing had from a tropical storm to a hurricane. and over the course of the next two days, with communications from the ship, that hurricane started to intensify to the point, starting out at a category 1, category 2, later at

a category 3. on the morning of october 1 -- so it's september 29, the 30th, now this is the third day -- in the morning, the 7:00 in the morning, there was a communication from the captain of the ship, first left on a voicemail and then immediately calling back and the person in the communications department of the company, the shipping company, talked to the captain and the captain, in a very calm voice on both the telephone message voicemail as well his communication to the person,

said that they had taken a position where the ship was leaning 15 degrees, they were in rough seas, and they had lost power. and apparently in that communication, since his voice was very calm, had some degree of confidence that he was going to be able to get the ship back underway, under power. now, that is not a good thing to have a ship that is tilting 15 degrees in the middle of a storm, much less an oncoming hurricane and with no power because that does not allow you to keep it directly into the

waves or either going away from the waves. instead, the ship is going to turn broadside with the full force of the waves hitting the side of the ship, and oh, by the way, it's already listing to one side 15 degrees. well, that was the last communication. the hurricane had turned in a southwesterly direction and eventually, according to the forecast, it finally but later on made that turn to the right to start taking it north. and, as a result, it did not hit the continental east coast of the united states.

it's out there to the east of the bahama islands. and so it took, since the hurricane was still in the vicinity, it took our search-and-rescue efforts another two days until it would subside enough so that the u.s. coast guard could get in there, supplemented by the united states navy, and start looking for survivors. now, let me just say something about the coast guard. we have -- the coast guard in our jurisdiction in the commerce committee, this is an extremely professional military operation. i have spent time this past summer with the coast guard up in alaska. they are so good at what they do that the united states navy can take its resources and use them

elsewhere in the alaska coast, which includes the bering see and the bering straits, which we share with russia, and the coast guard does an extraordinary job. and, of course, throughout the caribbean, all around my state of florida, the coast guard stands tall, they rescue folks, but it took them, before they could get their c-130's flying in -- and some of those may well have been air force -- but until the coast guard could get its c-130's and its h-60 helicopters with the swimmers that propel down from the helicopter to rescue a survivor. it took them that long, and they started seeing debris.

i have seen a picture of a lifeboat. it's an old lifeboat. it's an open lifeboat. if you saw the movie "captain phillips," where captain phillips and the people who had taken over the ship went in that lifeboat, it's a covered orange lifeboat, and they propel it off the back of the ship, and it dives into the water. these are just plain lifeboats. they found a life preserver floating. indeed, they found a life preserver suit, which is a body suit, that went i -- that when n the water inflates and when the helicopter finally got there checked it to make sure there

was not a survivor in it. they saw remains. they're still actively searching for any survivors. they went around, and in this particular case, when the swirm went in the water -- when the swimmer went in the water, its remains in the bod bodysuit, partially decomposed and so forth. now, i can't say enough about the coast guard, but those that were on that ship, most of them were from the state of florida. maritime work is a part of our culture. we know the extreme importance of these jobs and the very real risk that mariners face, and they're tough jobs. they take you away from home for weeks and months to do hard work. yet, without our maritime

efforts, we could not survive. that's where the biggest part of our shipping from other places is on the sea. the mariners provide this critical service. they move products and cargo that drive our economy. look at the economic engines that seaports are. well, it's been a tremendous loss for us. not a loss of that cargo, which was certainly an economic loss, but it's a loss of 33 lives. and especially it's a loss for the families and the friends who you into and loved the crew of el faro. we share their grief. the loss of this ship raises many questions. so over the recess, mr. president, i went to jacks jacksonville. i went to the port.

i talked to the national transportation safety board. i talked to the coast guard. they've opened an investigation, and i'm giving these remarks to the senate at this time because tomorrow we expect a preliminary report from the national transportation safety board i went to the sister ship, the el yunke. one ship would be in one ship and the other ship would be in the other port and they would cross. in fact, those two ships crossed in the caribbean within sight of each other before the el faro heading southeast got into trouble. and so i wanted to go there because it's our commerce committee that has the job of seeing that these agencies are

doing as thorough a job as possible, and we expectantly await that report. i know we want all of the answers right now. it's important that a thorough examination is conducted to find out exactly what happened. and for the family and friends of those lost on the el faro and for the safety of all mariners, we're going to make sure that we get the answers. what would i speculate? well, i certainly don't have the expertise in the sea. but if you get a call and the captain's voice is calm and he says, we're listing 15 degrees, then there has been some breach

of the ship, and likely there's water inside of the ship. and if in that same phone call that you get he's saying we've lost power, now we know that there is the making of a disaster. why didn't the captain and the crew know that the hurricane had become a hurricane that was announced by the national weather service and the national hurricane center three hours before they left the port of jacksonville? what caused the captain to think that he could sail and sail in a direction for an on coming hurricane that he would not get into its effects? why did the engines cut off so that he lost power? all of these things we don't

know, but we expectantly look forward to getting some answers and maybe in this preliminary report tomorrow. and so, mr. president, in honor of those lost on board the el faro, i would simply conclude my remarks by asking for a moment of silence. thank you. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, i can still remember the day in june a few years ago, june 27, 2013, two and a half years ago, the senate gathered and voted on comprehensive immigration reform. the vote was 68-22. the bill meant a lot to many of us. eight of us, four democrats and four republicans, had literally worked for months trying to craft a bill to address the massive immigration system in america, a system that is terribly broken. and i think it surprised a lot of people that we did it. democrats and republicans agreeing on something, there's a headlineer. and who sat across the table? not an easy jury to decide an

issue when it came to senate business. on our side of the table, chuck schumer, new york, chair of the senate immigration subcommittee of the judiciary at that point. myself. bob menendez, hispanic american senator from the state of new jersey. and michael bennet of colorado. the four of us. on the opposite side of the table john mccain led the effort on the republican side along with lindsey graham of south carolina, who had a background in law enforcement in the military and currently running for president. and next to him marco rubio from the state of florida, cuban american, came to this undertaking. he too is running for president of the united states. and jeff flake of arizona, a conservative republican. we worked for months. we went through every provision and came to a bipartisan agreement to move the bill forward. we passed it 68-22, and i think

it would have been a dramatic improvement over the current laws or lack of laws in america. the house of representatives refused to call it, wouldn't even bring the matter before committees. never had a debate on any immigration issue in the two and a half years since. they missed an opportunity, an opportunity to do something important. and a rare opportunity where democrats and republicans happen to agree on a solution. that's hard to come by in this place. this bill would strengthen border security, crack down on illegal immigration, protected american workers and established a tough but fair path for 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country who are currently living here, and it gave them a path to legal status. pay their taxes, pay the fines, go through a criminal background check and then they are eligible, not before them.

democrats were a majority in the senate at that moment. we reached across the aisle to work with republicans, so the bill was truly bipartisan. well, it's a shame that the republican-controlled house of representatives would not even consider the bill. we asked them just call the bill. if it's going to be defeated, call it. no. not going to consider any immigration reform, and they have not. well, we're in a new senate now, a new senate under control of the other party. and what has been the approach to immigration? well, unfortunately, little time has been spent trying to find common ground. first, some senate republicans threatened to shut down the department of homeland security. this is the department that not only has us take our shoes off at the airport, they are literally trying to protect us from another act of terrorism in the united states. for months, the senate republicans refused to pass an appropriations bill to fund the department of homeland security until the democrats would accept

anti-immigrant amendments. after we repeatedly reject this approach, they finally relented and passed a clean appropriations bill for this important department for america's security. now here we go again. some senate republicans have brought partisan legislation to the floor and understand this. to defund, remove the funding from law enforcement efforts in this country. i don't know what's happening in many places, but i do know what's happening in the midwest. we've seen violent crime, gun-related crime go up dramatically. 20% increase of gun-related deaths this year in chicago over the previous year. in the city of milwaukee, 100% increase in gun-related crime this year, so why would we even consider a bill before us on the floor of the united states senate offered by the senator

from louisiana to reduce funding for law enforcement and police departments? senator vitter has offered a bill that would block important police, disaster relief and other funding from communities that do not chair immigration information with the federal government or don't hold a detainee at the behest of federal immigration authorities. my republican colleagues know that this bill has no chance to become law. they made no effort to engage democrats in a bipartisan conversation. it may pass the senate, but i doubt it. and if it does, the president would veto it. this is done for reasons other than passing a bill and creating a new law. some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim they are responding to the tragic -- and yes it was, tragic death of kate steinley, a young woman who was allegedly shot and

killed by francisco sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with a long criminal history. mr. sanchez had several drug convictions. he illegally re-entered the united states several times after he was deported. earlier this year, he finished his third prison sentence for illegal re-entry. the bureau of prisons should have turned mr. sanchez over to the immigration and customs enforcement department to be deported, but instead they sent him to san francisco to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge. not surprisingly, local authorities decided not to prosecute this old charge, so sadly, unfortunately, tragically, he was released. this never, ever should have happened. federal and local authorities must do a better job of communicating and coordinating so that undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records are detained and deported, period. the bill before us doesn't solve the problem which i have just described. it wouldn't have prevented the tragic death of this young

woman. in fact, this legislation would actually make us less safe. by threatening communities with the loss of millions of dollars in critical federal funding for local law enforcement as well as discouraging immigrants from cooperating with local police. the "chicago tribune," not known as any liberal publication, published an editorial opposing the bill that's coming before us, and they said threatening to take money away from local police is a sound bite, not a solution. republican congressman bob dole from my home state of illinois was one of five republicans who voted against the house version of the bill, and he said cutting funding for local law enforcement would not have prevented this horrible crime. what would the consequences be of passing the vitter bill that is pending before the senate? at risk are tens of millions of dollars in funding from many programs. the state criminal alien

assistance program, also known as scap, helps cover the costs for states and localities to detain undocumented immigrants with civil records. the burn program, the most important and largest grant program to support crime-fighting efforts of our local police departments. and the community development block grants provide critical funding for local communities for disaster relief and other priorities. let me give you some examples from illinois of the impact of the vitter bill. in fiscal year 2014, cook contribute county, our -- cook county, our largest county, received $1,381,000 in scap funding, $7 million plus in burn jag funding. in 2016, chicago received $22 million in cdbg funding. the fop fop -- fraternal order of police sent a letter opposing the vitter bill which is before the senate on behalf of the 330,000 police members who

belonged to that fraternity. here's what it said. it is wrong and gross unfairness to punish these brave men and women or the citizens they serve because congress disagrees with their enforcement priorities with respect to our nation's immigration laws. this bill is supposedly an effort to punish so-called sanctuary cities, including some in my own home state that have policies limiting dealings between federal immigration authorities and local law enforcement. but the goal of these policies is to promote effective community policing by encouraging immigrant communities to trust local police. many of these policies were established in response to secure communities, a program created by the bush administration, a program which sadly damaged the relationship between immigrant communities and local law enforcement around the country. the illinois state police signed a memorandum of agreement with immigration authorities to participate in secure communities. the agreement said the goal of the program was to -- quote --

identify, detain and remove from the united states aliens who have been convicted of serious criminal offenses, end of quote. however, it turned out more than 30% of those deported from illinois under the program had no criminal record. less than 20% had been convicted of a serious crime. illinois law enforcement officials say that the program eroded trust in law enforcement in the hispanic community. their conclusion is backed up by polling data. a 2013 university of illinois study found that 44% of latinos report being less likely to contact the police if they are a victim of crime out of fear that the police will inquire about immigration status. the vitter bill makes this even worse. forcing local law enforcement to become enforcers of immigration laws. i received a letter opposing the vitter bill from the law enforcement task force, a group of more than 30 law enforcement officials, including republican,

lake county sheriff mark curan, a local law enforcement official from my home state that i have worked with in the past. these officials are very concerned that this bill will make our communities less safe by discouraging immigrants from cooperating with law enforcement. here's what the local law enforcement in illinois said -- when state and local law enforcement agencies are required to enforce federal immigration laws, undocumented residents may fear that they or people they know or depend upon risk deportation by working with law enforcement. this fear undermines trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve, creating too much room for dangerous criminals and violent crime. the vitter bill also dramatically increases penalties for illegal entry, including two new mandatory minimum criminal sentences. estimates are that these new penalties created by the vitter bill would require approximately 18,600 new prison beds and up to 12 new federal prisons.

new federal prisons cost several hundred million dollars to construct, tens of millions of dollars to operate. in sum, these new mandatory minimums will cost taxpayers billions of dollars. there is no suggestion in this bill of how we would pay for that. the real solution to this problem is smart and targeted immigration enforcement that encourages cooperation with local law enforcement. the homeland security department only has enough funding to deport a small fraction of the undocumented immigrants in our country. president obama has wisely said that we should focus on those who could do us harm. in fact, 85% of those deported from the interior of our country in fiscal year 2014 had a criminal conviction, and they should have been deported, compared to only 38% in 2008 under the previous president. this president's policies focus our limited resources on deporting dangerous people, deporting felons, not families. criminals, not children. as part of the effort to target

immigration enforcement, secretary of homeland security jeh johnson has preabd the priority program, also known as pep, to replace secure communities. pep is designed to protect our safety while improving trust between local communities they serve. the program enables d.h.s. to work with state and local law enforcement to take custody of individuals who pose a danger to public safety before they're released. pep has only been operational for a short time. we need to give it a chance to work before we rush in to pass this legislation which can only make the problem worse. the best way to fix our broken immigration system, incidentally, and make our communities safer, is to pass comprehensive immigration reform once and for all. the bill the senate passed in 2013 would have made unprecedented investments in border security, would crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants and ramped up interior enforcement of immigration laws.

the bill would have invested $46 billion in new resources in border security. no fewer than 38,000 u.s. border patrol agents along the southern border, enhanced penalties for increased immigration violations with sentences of up to 20 years for those with criminal histories and increased penalties for passport and immigration document trafficking and fraud. most important, this bill would bring millions of people out of the shadows and require them to prove their identity, pass a criminal background check, pay all fines and taxes. this would allow immigration enforcement to focus on the people who are truly a public safety threat. so instead of this senate taking up a bipartisan bill for true immigration reform, we have this bill, a bill not likely to go much further than this procedural motion which we will face tomorrow. this bill would not have prevented -- the bill on the floor, would not have prevented

kate steinley's tragic death. here's the reality. a vast majority of immigrants are hardworking, law-abiding individuals with strong family values. i work with them, i know them and i trust them, and i believe that they have an important role to play when it comes to this country's future. many studies have shown that immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than native-born individuals. this bill, unfortunately, focuses on the violent acts of the few to scapegoat an entire community. this is dangerous and irresponsible. this bill continues down a dangerous path by promoting the myths that immigrants pose a threat to our nation's safety. i urge my colleagues to reject this legislation, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i thank the president. i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. so ordered. mr. brown: thank you,

mr. president. both of my parents spent their final days in hospice care. my father passing away a decade and a half ago at the age of 89. my mother in hospice care for a few weeks -- it seemed to be long weeks, but a few weeks, died at 88, seven years, i guess -- six and a half years ago. i saw firsthand how home care workers and hospice workers make a difference in someone's final days and the comfort they bring to families. during the last moments of my mom's life, people who didn't even know her showed incredible care and kindness and helped bring peace to her and comfort to her and to our family. last week, i visited in my home city of cleveland only a few miles away the hospice of the western reserve, one of the best not-for-profit hospices in the entire midwest. i held a roundtable with a number of employees who made a career of caring for ohioans reaching the end of their lives. western reserve's core values of

compassion and excellence, quality and integrity, service and stewardship. each worker there from social workers to cooks to maintenance workers to nurses, each of them embodies these traits. they this work in what some might assume to be a sad environment. many of the patients they don't care for die in a matter of days or weeks. each day they encounter not only ohioans who are near the end of life, but they spend time with family members who are preparing to grieve fora loved one. and yet hospice of the western reserve is far from being a depressing workplace. the staff is committed to caring for patients and families. they imbue their patients and families and workplace with a fascinating, if you will, joy of serving others. an assistant told me it is an honor to work here. a dietary server talked about the sense of togetherness among the staff. she compared it to an extended

familiar. workers spoke about other jobs they had elsewhere. they echoed the same sentiment, "it's different here," they said. their compassion and their commitment had a -- has a deep impact on their patients and their families and frankly on me on my visit. one of the social workers, jennifer stevens, talked about how they helps patients understand where they are in theirdjourny. a volunteer ros bravado, a longtime teacher, spoke with passion about her work in a bereavement camp that the hospice runs without any revenue from that bereavement camp. that's what not-for-profit hospices often do, the hospice runs for 6 to 12-year-olds who have lost loved ones. the bereavement center is --

it's staff provide counseling to families after the senseless shooting at shardon high school in 2012. these practices were used for several students as a model by counselors after the tragic shooting at sandy hook. thriewl of this work, these men and women maintain a positive at most sphier. kelley keystone x.l. is a nurse at the hospice. he had coworker and pet, linus the therapy dog, a beautiful golden retrieve history accompanies her to work each day, all he has to do to bring a smile to patients and family members is to snuggle up with them or put his nose up to their hands. western reserve has more than 3,000 volunteers. that tell us how you need to know about this place that so many ohioans are willing to take time o out of their lives. alvin fomby, who used to work at

quicken loans arena and used to know lebron james, decided that he wanted to work at hospice and make a real difference in preparing food for families and people in hospice care. janet buildstein who works at who is spes spies of western reserve grew up only a few blocks from there and spent many years working hospice. joe tiler, who makes things work, he's reminded me, as i told him of my father-in-law, who was a maintenance work in ashtabula, ohio, he carried a 12-foot wrench around hi with he powerpoint. he said he works under more pressure, which he loves, to fix something in a room, if the air conditioning or heating or electricity goes out or something happens to a lamp. the men and women at this hospice are an inspiration to all of us, but they aren't alone. mr. president, i would ask that

the next part of my speech be in a different part of the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: last year president obama launched the my brothers keeper challenge to expand opportunities for a group that is far too often left behind in this country: african-american boys and young men. the president reached out to cities across the country to find people committed to ensuring all americans have access to the opportunities that they deserve. one of the cities that rose to the occasion is dayton, ohio. i had the privilege last week of visiting dayton with mayor unanimous whaley, one of -- a young, bright mayor of one of america's great cities, dayton. i visited with broderick johnson, the chair be of the my brothers keeper task force, works in the white house with the president. we held a round table with policy-makers and activists and citizens who had heeded the call to action. dayton with the mayor and others

has a number of successful programs in place, learn to earn, city of learn,several mentorship programs. i had heard of stories of mentors and their mentees, if you will. i meant a high school senior, miles. he had a single mother had a tough time he recall any high school, he wanted to drop out. he was with mentor quinn who wouldn't let miles drop out. he clearly loves about him and cares about him and pushes him to do better. miles is close to grad waiting after three years in junior rotc. he wanted to join the air force reserves wants to go to the citadel. i met them at round traibl at dayton boys preparatory academy. the best way to make yourself feel better is to look outside yourself and go out of your way to help others, said miles. that seemed to be the theme of these young men ages anywhere between about 15 and 2k0, who

had been helped by a mentor and their goal in life to s. is to turn around and help somebody younger than they. alexander worry a tv and referred to the exrain. the campaign asked dayton residents to come together and combat a culture of violence and rethink what it means to live with honor. alexander learned disciplined work ethic from his mentor. he helped him keep his summer job at their job and he now participates in the youth group. terry group with a lot of good folks around him, a strong father and mother but still made plenty of mistakes. he serves as a men teanders a police officer in dayton's west side. he holds -- he's formed a group called the unit. the unit holds free workout classes three days a week downtown. thousands join the unit for a class.

and in each one he asks participants to volunteer to help the community. the unit takes on a new project each month. at one round table the mentors and mentees told theard story. one middle schooler was at first too shy to speak. finally he raised his hand and talked about how he picks up trash at his school to keep it clean. he helps a blind boy walk to launch or to the baghts room. james talks about wanting to make good grades and most of all he said "i just want to stay normal." think b about that. this chil child isn't in high sl yet. mennermentors can provide a stey influence. frederick douglas said it is easier to build strong children understand that repair broken men. we need a strategy to allow our

children to reach their full potential, not one that accepts an entire segment of our citizens will grow p with limited options. it means to continue to work to reform our criminal justice system. it means working to rebuild the broken relationship between police department departments io many cities and the communities they serve. it means take steps to address the unemployment gaps. it means working to end the scourge of gun violence. it means providing those in our society who have made mistakes a second chance. i encourage all of my colleagues to support the work my brothers keeper is doing. we also have one in columbus. we hope we see more of those in ohio. it is up to all of us to ensure that our children, regardless of the zip code, or the kol our of their skin, that thech the opportunity to succeed. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. vitter: mr. president?

the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: i have one unanimous consent request for a committee to meet during today's session of the senate. iit has the approval of the minority and majority leaders. scwi that it be agreed to and this request be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today in support of an important piece of legislation i've introduced that would bring an end to the dangerous existence of sanctuary cities. the stop sanctuary policies and protect americans act. the illegal immigration reform and immigrant responsibility act of 1996 included language that specifically prohibits state and local governments from enacting sanctuary policies. despite this, cities continually violate that provision by having sanctuary policies in place. if these cities and localities want to continue to blatantly

disregard federal law, they should no longer receive certain federal funds. as sanctuary policie policies te talking about fall into two categories. one, ordinances that bar city employees from asking about a person's immigration status under any circumstances and, two, policies that prevent them from reporting a suspected illegal alien to federal immigration law enforcement authorities. these sanctuary policies and sanctuary cities that enact them are dangerous and counterproductive to both law enforcement efforts and reducing illegal immigration. we know that there are many instances in which an illegal alien is released by local authorities and then commits a very serious crime, sometimes a murder, a fatal crime. by now we all know of the tragic ventrag-- the tragic event backn

july, the murder after 32-year-old woman named kate steisteinle in san francisco. kate's murderer was an illegal immigrant who was released this past april by local law enforcement who specifically citing san francisco's sanctuary city laws, defied a request by u.s. immigration and customs enforcement officials to hold him for deportation proceedings. if this illegal immigrant had been held for deportation proceedings instead of being set free, kate steinle would be alive today -- period, end of story. unfortunately, san francisco is far from the only city in the country carrying out this dangerous policy. katestein lee is far from the-- ---katestein lee is far from the

only -- on july 24, 20 are 15, marilyn farris was ripped, forritude and murdered in her home in santa maria, california, by an illegal immigrant released from custody because the county sheriff does not honor detainment. again, a clear instance that would be stopped but for sanctuary policy. on july 27, 2015, an illegal imrant was arrested and accused of killing 60-year-old margaret coastal in mic in ohio. before murdering her, the man allegedly attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl and shoot a woman in a nearby park. the suspect also was previously in the custody of law enforcement but released because the department of homeland security refuse toished a detainer and take custody of the sis expect for a related problem. on july 30, a 2-year-old girl

was brutally beaten by an illegal immigrant in california. he was released from local custody despite a u.s. immigration and customs enforcement detainer and extensive criminal history. other cases include last year when a virginia man who killed a catholic nunn in a drunk driving crash was revealed toab an illegal alien who had been previously arrested. an illegal ail yeng committed a shocking execution-style murder of three college students in the sanctuary city of newark, new jersey. he had been arrested twice before this grizzly crime and in the aftermath of the murders the attorney general of new jersey effectively eliminated newark's sanctuary city policy. now, according to documents uncovered by a freedom of in fact act request by the center for immigration studies, it

lists at least 340 cities defying federal law providing safe haven to illegal immigrants, including my original hometown of new orleans. these policies again are in direct infringe regiment of federal law, and it's simply unacceptable. woirs still, these cities are actively releasing criminal illegal immigrants back into our communities instead of working cooperatively with federal officials to deport them or lock them up. i furthermorely believe it's time -- i firmly believe it's time to reverse these illegal policies, to bar them once and for good. that's why i have joined on this crucial piece of legislation with senators toomey, grassley, cruz, johnson, cornyn, sullivan, purdue, isakson, rubio, barrasso and thune. we're introducing this legislation. we're getting a vote tomorrow to end the practice of sanctuary

cities violating existing federal immigration laws. this legislation takes a commonsense approach to this problem. and there are three key parts to the bill. first, this bill changes the incentives for cities by creating penalties for states, local governments and law enforcement entities that choose to have them, these policies in place. these penalties come in the form of the removal of certain streams of federal funding for sanctuary jurisdiction and the penalties apply to whatever government entity is actually making that bad decision. in cases where a law enforcement entity like a jail or police department has a policy or practice that refuses to comply with federal immigration law, they will be prevented from receiving community oriented policing services grants or state criminal alien assistance program grants. so that entity