mr. durbin: no. if i might say through the chair, that is not the argument anyone is making these children should receive amnesty. we're what we're saying is they should be treated humanely. mr. cruz: absolutely. mr. durbin: and go through an orderly process that will result in the majority of them returning to their countries. what the gentleman from texas is asking us to do is disqualify two million children in the united states and could qualify for daca as dreamers, people here long before these unaccompanied children showed up at the border and that was the proposal that came before the house which you inspired them to vote for and they stood with a standing ovation because they denied an opportunity to two million young people in this country to be able to stay here without fear of deportation. that's what you're asking for today. mr. cruz: i thank my friend from illinois but i would note the comments he made are not connected to the facts of the proposal. the proposal is explicitly prospective.

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and to be recognized to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. durbin: mr. president, most members of the united states senate have a house, and the american people are awaiting the president's speech this evening. it is a critically important speech about america's national security from our commander in chief. it is going to address the horror of terrorism in the middle east, and particularly the islamic state, a terrorist group like few others, maybe like no other we've ever seen. this islamic state known as isis or isil has been moving in full force in both syria and iraq. they are different than other extremist terrorist groups because they take and hold territory. that has not been seen in the past. they are also hellbent on establishing resources and ongoing visible tr

mr. durbin: mr.resident, i chair the subcommittee of the senate judiciary committee that senate judiciary committee that >> mr. president i said chair the committee subcommittee of human rights and civil rights obviously your most important serious charges to consider proposals to amend the constitution. resolution 19 as a democracy for all was the first considered by the constitution subcommittee since 2009 when i became the chair. the u.s. constitution and the wisdom of its framers has endured for generations. have established and so have my colleagues, a high bar for suggestions to amend that constitution. that is why the majority leader and patrick leahy and i were committed to ensure this proposal and that until nearly twentieth century century, most americans were not allowed to vote and even after the franchise was legally expanded a racist campaign prevented many african-americans for posting. landmark decisions that helped to make the of one person one vote a reality. in my time in generatio

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'm going to give a brief statement about corporate inversion. but before i do, i'd like to respond to the senator from texas, who is my friend, and we served together for many years. he has taken the floor for a period of time here and spoken about some of the problems facing this nation at home and abroad and has largely been critical of the president in both categories. i wasn't here early enough to hear his parade of horribles when it came to domestic policy. i just caught the end of it, when he suggested that there was something wrong with this president because america's labor force, its workforce, is shrinking. people are giving up looking for work. well, that's a serious concern, and we ought to ask the question, why are they giving up looking for work? it turns out it has perhaps something to do with the policy of our government. but it also has something to do with the life expectancy of

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection the quorum call is suspended. mr. durbin: mr. president, i chair the subcommittee of the senate judiciary committee that is entitled the subcommittee on constitution human rights and civil rights. obviously our most important charge, the most serious charge of the subcommittee is to consider proposals to eam the constitution. senate joint resolution 19, the democracy for all amendment, was the first amendment considered by the constitution subcommittee since 2009 when i became its chair. the constitution and the wisdom of its framers endured for generations. i have established, and so have many of my colleagues, a very high bar for suggestions to amend that constitution. that's the way it should be. that's why majority leader reid, chairman patrick leahy of the senate judiciary committee, and i were committed to ensuring this proposal would be thoroughly vetted and that it moved through the senate

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i have great respect for the senator from tennessee. we work on many things together. and i mean that sincerely. politicians often throw those words around but i don't when it comes to my colleague from tennessee. i mean it. he is a good senator and i enjoy working with him. i have to take exception to one thing though. yesterday we had a vote on a labor issue. this was a vote as to whether or not men and women in the workplace working the same job should get the same pay. most people would say isn't that the law already? yes. but unfortunately, the law as written in 1963, the equal pay act, isn't working very well. and a lot of workplaces, women are paid less. in the state of illinois, it's about 75 cents for every $1 paid to a man for most women, unless you happen to be african-american, and then it's 65 cents. or hispanic, it's 55 cents. so the actual working relationships in many businesses discriminate against women. so we offered a bill yesterday, the pay equity act.

mr. durbin: i thought i had 15 minutes of my time. the presiding officer: four minutes left. mr. durbin: thank you very much. madam president, i also want to say a word about secretary kerry, who has been working night and day since he left the senate as secretary of state, and he testified yesterday. and i know what he is trying to achieve here. i salute him for that. and, of course, the president as well. let me hope that one thing emerges from this. i remember serving in the house of representatives and we voted on the invasion of kuwait under president george h.w. bush. i had my questions about that. i had voted "no." the house voted "yes" to go forward that foreign people. speaker of the house, tom foley, if i'm not mistaken, speaker of the house, tom foley, followed that vote where we decided to go forward with the invasion of kuwait with a resolution saying that now the foreign policy had -- now that foreign policy had been decided by this country, we should stand together in a bipartisan fashion to support our men and women in uniform who were engaged in this conflict. tha

mr. durbin, the senator from michigan, ms. stab know, the senator from new jersey, mr. menendez, the senator from connecticut, mr. murphy, the senator from kentucky, the senator from missouri, mr. blount, the senator from missouri, mr. barrasso, and senator corker. the speaker: members of the escort committee will exit through the lobby doors. >> mr. speaker, the acting dean of the diplomatic corps. . >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. >> mr. speaker, the president of ukraine. the speaker: members of congress, i have the high privilege and distippingt honor of presenting to you his excellency, petro poroshenko, resident of ukraine. president poroshenko: mr. speaker, majority leader, members of the house, members of the senate, ladies and gentlemen , it's impossible to imagine what i'm feeling right now. of ymbolic is the unity united states congress and solidarity with ukraine. this is exactly which ukraine now needs the most, unity and solidarity. not only with the united states congress, to the only with the united states, but with the whole world. t me thank yo

mr. chairman, thank you very much. >> senator durbin, do you, do i understand you wish to make a statement as well? >> mr. chairman, i know we want to hear from the panel. i want to especially recognize the attendance of mr. elvin daniel who's a resident of and is going to tell us the sad story of his sister. mr. daniel makes a declaration early in his statement that he is a conservative, constitutionalist, member of the nra, and he comes to us today still asking for protection for women like his sister and others who might have a chance if we pass the manchin-toomey background check to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons and people who are mentally unstable as well as the klobuchar and blumenthal legislation to protect women who are victims of domestic violence and stalking. thank you, mr. daniel, for being here. >> thank you, senator. will the witnesses please stand to be sworn. do you affirm that the testimony you will give here today will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> i do. >> thank you. i'll introduce the whole panel, and then w

mr. leahy: i want to commend senators coons and durbin and menendez and others who have introduced s. 5401. i am a cosponsor of that. it's on the ebola epidemic which poses a potential devastating threat to africa and people everywhere. before the august recess, we were preparing to receive dozens of african heads of state here in washington. at that time, doctors without borders and other nongovernmental organizations had been ringing alarm bells for weeks about the worsening ebola outbreak in west africa. but the world health organization and governments, including our own, were slow to respond to what was viewed as a manageable, localized public health problem rather than a crisis that could spin out of control. well, no longer controllable. infections and deaths in liberia and sierra leone are increasing rapidly, potentially into neighboring guinea. but official reports are only a piece of the picture. the ability of these countries to locate and diagnose and isolate and treat patients and trace and monitor contexts and safely bury the dead can't possibly keep pace. while the epidemic

mr. durbin: mr. president, i chair the subcommittee of the senate judiciary committee that is entitled the subcommittee on constitution human rights and civil rights. obviously our most important charge, the most serious charge of the subcommittee is to consider proposals to eam the constitution. senate joint resolution 19, the democracy for all amendment, was the first amendment considered by the constitution subcommittee since 2009 when i became >> since 2009 when i became its chair. the u.s. constitution and the wisdom of the framers have endured for generations. i have established and so have many colleagues established a high bar for suggestions to amend that constitution. that is the way it should be. that is why majority leader reed and patrick and i were commit today ensuring the proposal was vetted and moved through the senate by regular order. it is important to recall that until the early 20th century most americans were not allowed to vote. and even after the franchise was legally expande