mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, this is immigration week in the united states senate and we are preparing to procedural moves to bring bills to the floor for consideration as early as today, perhaps tomorrow at the late et- at the latest. it is an unusual time when the senate is focused on such an important issue and amendments and substitutes are being offered. the reason we are at this point at this moment in time because of a decision by president trump on september 5 of last year when he announced that he was ending the daca program. the daca program allowed those who were brought to the united states brought here as toddlers to be on a renewable -- it was called daca. several stepped up and paid the filing fee of almost $500 and went through a criminal background check and interview and received daca protection. they went on with their lives. >> 900 of them enlisted in the united states military. undocumented, in america willing to hold up their hands to take an oath that they would die for america t

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, this is immigration week in the united states senate and we are preparing to procedural moves to bring bills to the floor for consideration as early as today, perhaps tomorrow at the late et- at the latest. it is an unusual time when the senate is focused on such an important issue and amendments and substitutes are being offered. the reason we are at this point at this moment in time because of a decision by president trump on september 5 of last year when he announced that he was ending the daca program. the daca program allowed those who were brought to the united states brought here as toddlers to be on a renewable -- it was called daca. several stepped up and paid the filing fee of almost $500 and went through a criminal background check and interview and received daca protection. they went on with their lives. 900 of them enlisted in the united states military. undocumented in america, willing to hold up their hands and take an oath that they would die for america. th

mr. durbin: mr. president, this week in washington, we're going to do something that hasn't been seen for a long time. for over a year. if you're not careful, you may tune in and see an actual debate on the floor of the senate, real senators, democrat, republicans coming to the floor actually debating an issue. i'm not sure what's going to happen because it's been so long since we've tried this, but it really is exciting to think about that men and women elected to this body known as the greatest deliberative body in america are finally going to deliberate. it's true. and it's by design, not by accident. after a lot of negotiation back and forth, senator mcconnell, the republican leader, agreed that this week we would debate immigration and daca, the dream act. it would come to the floor of the united states senate. i'm excited about it, although i have no idea how this debate will end. most good debates you don't know. it depends on the strength of an argument as to whether a measure is going to pas

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i thank my colleague from delaware, tom carper. he and i came to the house of representatives together many years ago. he went off on another assignment, was governor of his state, and then came back and ran for the united states senate. we're lucky to have him. he is a great senator, a great friend, and a great colleague, and he takes on the important issues every day on behalf of his state and nation. i thank him for his support, for this conversation about daca and dreamers. i'd like to take a little different approach to this than i usually do on the floor, and i have come to the floor many times to talk about it. i'd like for everyone here who is listening to this debate to pause and think for a minute, what's the worst job you ever had? the worst job? maybe it was the worst job because it was boring, and boring jobs are terrible, but there are some pretty bad jobs out there. i could tell you my worst job. i was working my way through college, and i was working in what

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, i come to the floor today, as i have over the past few months, urging the united states senate to come together in a bipartisan fashion to address important issues facing our nation. the american people expect it. they understand how closely divided we are, 49 democrats, 51 republicans in the senate, and for the most controversial issues, 60 votes are required. unless we work in a bipartisan fashion, we achieve little or nothing. after many months of difficult negotiation, i stand here today in support of a bipartisan two-year budget agreement announced by leaders mcconnell and schumer that will finally produce results for the american people. for too long, this gridlocked congress has lurched from one continuing resolution -- that's a temporary spending bill -- to another. that's prevented us from working together to craft appropriations bills that save taxpayers money, that invest in things that are important at every level for our future. while this budget deal doesn't i

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, this week in washington, we're going to do something that hasn't been seen for a long time. for over a year. if you're not careful, you may tune in and see an actual debate on the floor of the senate, real senators, democrat, republicans coming to the floor actually debating an issue. i'm not sure what's going to happen because it's been so long since we've tried this, but it really is exciting to think about that men and women elected to this body known as the greatest deliberative body in america are finally going to deliberate. it's true. and it's by design, not by accident. after a lot of negotiation back and forth, senator mcconnell, the republican leader, agreed that this week we would debate immigration and daca, the dream act. it would come to the floor of the united states senate. i'm excited about it, although i have no idea how this debate will e

mr. durbin: thanks, mr. president. mr. president. >> thanks mr. president. i come to the floor today to speak of an issue which really defines america. with the exception of native americans who preceded us, with the exception of many african-americans who were brought here in bondage, virtually all of the rest of us are the sons and daughters of immigrants to america. immigrants from literally all over the world who have come to this nation and made us different, different in a positive way. they have given life to this democracy. they have given hope when it comes to our future. they have inspired us. i will be the first to admit that i do not come to this debate without strong personal feelings like millions of americans. i am a son of an immigrant. in 1911, 107 years ago my grandmother came to this country with three little kids. one of those kids was my mother. she was two years old when they landed -- their ship landed in baltimore. my grandmother didn't speak a word of english but somehow she managed to take those three kids and make her way to join m

mr. durbin: mr. president, i don't know if you want to announce the business for the day or if you've already done that. the presiding officer: the senate is in a period of morning business and the assistant democratic leader is recognized. mr. durbin: thanks, mr. president. i come to the floor today to speak of an issue which really defines america. with the exception of native americans who preceded us, with the exception of many african americans who were brought here in bondage, virtually all of the rest of us are the sons and daughters of immigrants to america, immigrants from literally all over the world, who have come to this nation and made us different, different in a positive way. they have given life to this democracy. they have given hope when it comes to our future. they have inspired us. i'll be the first to admit that i do not come to this debate without strong personal feelings. like millions of americans, i am the son of an immigrant. in 1911, 107 years ago, my grandmother came to th

mr. durbin, mr. graham in the senate and holy we can and hopefully we can pursue those and hopefully his statement about how far he wants to go and who he wants toinclude will dominate speculative tweet yesterday from the president's memorable line from the speech and very much aspace, something axios jonathan swann reports this morning is something a president has said before in private. the president said americans are dreamers, too, and you tweeted you have it backwards. >> well, americans are dreamers but what his, and, of course, was, we understand you dreamers, many of whom came with us, i had a young woman, gabriella hernandez. she is a wonderful 19-year-old. she came from el salvador at the age of four and has gone to elementary school middle school, high school. she now in college, once to be a social worker. delightful young woman. at 19 i had nowhere near the poise that she had, but, and she's a dreamer and she dreams of making a life here which is why most people into this country. they d

mr. durbin. this is pablo desilva. pablo was brought to the united states from brazil in 2001 when he was 13 years old. he grew up in new jersey. here we are again, new jersey. here's what pablo has to say about his childhood. the same as every other kid growing up in the u.s., i attended middle school, pledged allegiance to the american flag and sang the national anthem. as i grew older i came to understand that one thing about me differed from my classmates -- i was undocumented. however, my parents always taught me to see barriers as a measure of perseverance and an opportunity to thrive. pablo was an excellent student. he dreamed of becoming a doctor. during high school and college, pablo volunteered at a nursing home every week. he also was a member of a group called doctor red nose. pablo and other members of the group would dress up as clowns and visit hospitals, nurses and nursing homes to cheer patients and health care providers. he was accepted at rutgers university. because he was undocumented he didn't qual

mr. durbin, senator durbin and received the majority of the votes in the united states senate, but did not reach the 60 threshold and so the discussion goes on. shortly thereafter, president obama issued the daca executive order. none of this success would have been possible without the leadership persistence, optimism and the courage of senator durbin. and he has heard all of these stories, so many of these stories firsthand for nearly two decades. so i congratulate him and as i said earlier, our call today is for our speaker to give the same opportunity to house members to vote on our dreamers' bill, just as you were able to achieve in the senate, senator mcconnell, the senate leader, working with bipartisan groups, which you have always been a part, it has always been about bipartisan to pledge to bring to the senate floor a vehicle that you will act upon. no guarantees that the senate will work its will. what dignity that brings to the united states senate. what commitment to the purpose of america that is there. and feel like second-class members of congress over here when it's not wi

mr. durbin: thanks, mr. president. mr. president. >> thanks mr. president. i come to the floor today to speak of an issue which really defines america.

in particular, i thank again senators durbin and graham and senator flake, the presiding officer, mr. president, thank you, for their advocacy and efforts to find a bipartisan compromise. i thank leader schumer for his leadership in pursuing a resolution and leader mcconnell for keeping his commitment to have this debate. i thank them all. the basic facts of this debate are clear. the american people overwhelmingly support finding a solution for dreamers that protects them from deportation and provides a pathway to citizenship for those who work hard and play biff the rules. -- play by the rules. i believe a bipartisan majority of my colleagues want the same thing. the question before us is whether the partisanship and raw feelings surrounding this debate will prevent a solution to this crisis from becoming law. so i urge my colleagues, let us forge the bipartisan agreement that the american people want and the dreamers deserve. let us end this crisis. then after this bipartisan show of good faith, let us again take up the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that many of us in th

mr. mccarthy and john cornyn and dick durbin. >> i do want to ask you about that. this plays into what the chief of staff john kelly said about daca recipients. it was quite eyebrow raising. listen to this moment. >> the difference between 690 and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say they were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn't sign up. >> what did you think of those comments? >> i wasn't too happy. he said people would say. he didn't say he said it. >> but what's the difference, congressman? to insert that into the conversation that some of the recipients would be too lazy to get off their asses. what's the point of putting that in? >> you'd have to ask general kelly. what i want to focus on is the effort to come to an agreement on this asap. i think we have a lot of young people who are extraordinary young people, not lazy at all, very motivated. college students, high school students, people who are working, people who have served in the military, people making a difference in our communities.

also today democratic senator dick durbin and republican senator john cornyn came to the floor to speak about gun policy. >> mr. president a few years ago malcolm gladwell wrote a book calledpe the tipping point and e really spelled out in the course of history the course of history with changes people's thinking actions and it's a precipitous moment where it stops and is reevaluated. the clear question we have in america today is whether we have we have reached a tipping point when it comes to gun violences. it's only been 13 days, 13 days since the tragedy of hard when florida and look what has happened since. of course outrage, sadness, morning for the families that lost these wonderful students, teachers and administrators but beyond that these high school students 17, 18-year-olds old and some even younger have really become a national voice, a powerful voice on the issue of gun safety in schools. i often wonder when this moment might occur or whether it would occur. litany of mass shootings, massacres. sad to say there's a mountainous setting in where terrible things occurred in places like las vegas and

mr. speaker. this bill, when i mentioned about senator durbin, he introduced the dream act in 2001. it's 17 years later. so some of these children have grown up. but some of them that we're addressing came to the united states in the 1990's. and so 17 years later we still haven't been able to take care of the children? they were very little children when they came. some of them are still -- well, they're still young. but they came, some of them, as i said, 11 month, 6 months, babies. this michul came when he was 9est. grad from high school with a -- 9. he graduated from high school with a 4.2 g.p.a. he graduated from college. with support from the korean american community, he was able to graduate from dental school. he became a dentist. and here's what he wrote. after spending the majority of my life here, with all my friended and family here, -- friends and family here, i could not simply pack my things and go to a country i barely remember. i'm willing to accept whatever punishment is deemed fitting for that crime. but let me just stay and pay for it. i'm begging for a chance to

durbin's bill as well, considering a chain of custody for the ballot. that is another week point. chain of custody, where they are placing them, before any recounts or audits. if mr. driggers, can you say something about vpm? here in chicago, we transmit our results on election night over a vpm, and the vulnerabilities of that. thank you. >> i do not want to go into a deep discussion about the vulnerabilities of a virtual private network because it depends on what the if researcher is behind it. it could be all sorts of things. it depends on how the systems are configured, the software that you are running, what type of antivirus software is on there, all of those types of things going to that. the bottom-line is, the investor pointed to it, if you have a system that is connected to the internet, if it is a vpn, you are subject to a vulnerability or accepting a risk, unless you put in protection protocols and have people monitoring your network and to understand what the adversary is looking for. that has to be taken into account. i want to go back to the gentleman's point here with regards to the constitution. i want to make this clear. the department of homelan

also today democratic senator dick durbin and republican senator john cornyn came to the floor to speak about gun policy. >> mr. president a few years ago malcolm gladwell wrote a book calledpe the tipping point and e really spelled out in the course of history the course of history with changes people's thinking actions and it's a precipitous moment where it stops and is reevaluated. the clear question we have in america today is whether we have we have reached a tipping point when it comes to gun violences. it's only been 13 days, 13 days since the tragedy of hard when

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority whip. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, every day in america, we face the devastating reminder of the toll of gun violence. today we watched the scene at the high school in parkland, florida, where yet another school shooting has taken place. it is gut wrenching. we know that so many families have just had their worlds and lives changed forever by senseless gun violence. ironically, this is the tenth anniversary of a similar shooting at northern illinois university in dekalb, illinois. our prayers go out to the victims, to those families, and to the first responders and of course to the parkland community. yesterday, in the city of chicago, which i am honored to represent, we lost one of our finest. commander paul bauer of the chicago police department, shot and killed by a gunman in the chicago loop. commander bauer was a 31-year veteran of the c.p.d. and the commander of the 18th police distric

mr. durbin: thanks, mr. president. i come to the floor today to speak of an issue which really

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, we're in the midst of a debate on the floor of the united states senate on the issue of immigration. it's the first time in five years we've taken up this issue. there are many compelling reasons for us to get this right. president trump, on september 5, announced that he was going to end the daca program, a program created by executive order by president obama which protects 780,000 young people documented in the -- who were undocumented in the united states. march 5, which is just a few weeks away, means that many people and those just like them will be subject to deportation and no longer allowed to work legally in the united states. president trump challenged congress to do something about it, to pass a law. five months have passed and we haven't done that but now we have a chance to make this work. this morning i want to come to the floor in a very brief

mr. durbin: mr. president, the toomey amendment will withhold critical funding from cities, counties, and states whose police department refuse to deploy their police officers as immigration agents for the federal government. listen to what the two chief of police in storm link iowa wrote last week. most significant, the proposed bill would diminish the trust that keeps our cities safe in the first place. we depend on our residents, including residents, to come to us when they seeing is suspicious. if they hear of a looming crackdown that could affect their family and friends, they are less likely to come forward to report crimes. iowa chiefs of police, midwestern, common sense. from eddy johnson, he said, undocumented immigrants are not driving violence in chicago and that's why i want our officers focused on community policing, not trying to be immigration police. vote for our men and women in uniform. vote against the toomey amendment. the presiding officer: time has expired. the yeas and nays are

mr. durbin: mr. president, reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the stability democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, there have been meetings that have been going on all day on a bipartisan basis to try to resolve the issue before us, which was the president's decision to end the daca program effectively march 5 of this year. i believe progress is being made. i hope that we can continue along those lines. the proposed amendment by the senator from pennsylvania does not address this issue and for that reason, i will object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent -- the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session for the en bloc consideration of the following nominations, executive calendar 155, 261, 469. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: nominations, department of transportation, adam j. sullivan of iowa to be an assistant s

mr. durbin: mr. president, a few years ago, an author named malcolm gladwell wrote a book called "the tipping point." he really spelled out in the course of history when something occurs which changes people's thinking, actions. it is a precipitous moment where what has been done for so long stops, is reevaluated, and a different course is followed. the clear question we have in america today is whether we have reached a tipping point when it comes to gun violence. it's only been 13 days, 13 days since the tragedy in parkland, florida. and look what's happened since. of course, outrage, sadness, mourning for the families that lost these wonderful students, teachers, and administrators, but beyond that, these high school students, 17, 18 years old, some even younger, have really become a national voice, a powerful voice on the issue of gun safety in schools. i often wondered when this moment might occur or whether it would occur. there has been such a long litany and string of mass shootings, massacre