mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for illinois. mr. durbin: reserving the right to object. we have six minutes until the roll call and i don't want to inconvenience my colleagues. i ask, with permission from the senator from utah, unanimous consent request to make my unanimous consent request to be the first item of business after the roll call is announced. the presiding officer: is there objection to the senator for illinois' request? mr. lee: reserving the right to object, i want to make sure i understand. you want to do your live u.c. request after the roll call vote. mr. durbin: that's correct. mr. lee: without objection. the presiding officer: is there objection to the original request? mr. durbin: reserve the right to object, i would say as follows, i've been on the floor of the senate more than any other system asking for immigration reform. our system is it broken. the galleries are filled with people following this debate personally because it literally affects their lives, their families and their future. this senator has bee

mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask consent before the roll call to be recognized to make a unanimous consent request. i'd like to take that opportunity now, unless there's some other item of business before the senate. the presiding officer: there is not. the senator for illinois. mr. durbin: thank you t let's start with madge, basic madge, andrew yank math. here's what it boils down to. each year we have 140,000 employment-based visas issued in the united states, 140,000. a decision was made several years ago that politicians were playing favorites, picking countries that would get more of one and more of another and so they put in country quotas, country caps, 7.5%. i'll do the math, liberal arts lawyer. it's about $10,000 per year -- 10,000 for. mr. perdue: country. -- >> mr. durbin: there are some 520,000 people of indian descent in the united states who came here legally on hb1 visas for example have work here for a period of time and now want to stay in the united states. and from this senator's

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: i ask the quorum call be suspensed. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. the mueller report made crystal clear that the russian government interfered in the election of 2016. they called it a, quote, a sweeping and systematic fashion, close quote, of interference. i know this better than some because in my home state of illinois, the russian intelligence service literally hacked into our state board of elections voter file, gave access to a database containing information of millions of voters in my state and the russians extracted the data. they went through election equipment and technology equipment vendors. federal law enforcement and intelligence officers have repeatedly warned us that these interfeern efforts will continue into the election of 2020. in fact, former kgb agent, vladimir putin, mocked us saying that russia would interfere again in the u.s. elections. congress cannot sit back and ignore this threat. we must take acti

mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. i listened carefully to the senator from texas, who is my friend and colleague, and we work together, and i want to continue to. there are three things that he failed to mention that i think should be a matter of record. it was a year ago -- maybe even longer -- that the attorney general from his state of texas initiated a lawsuit with more than a dozen other republican attorneys general to eliminate the affordable care act -- all of it, the protection when it came to preexisting conditions, lifetime limits, allowing members of the family to keep their children on their policy until they reach the age of 26. these states attorney general, starting with his state of texas, said get rid of all of this, eliminate it. and then president trump said, we'll join in that lawsuit. let's eliminate it completely. so when i hear threes pleas on the floor that we're all for the affordable care act, not a single republican senator voted for it and now there is an effort supported by the trump admin

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i thank my colleague from new hampshire for taking it back. and it's my honor to come to the floor to speak on an issue that is important to so many americans. let me start at the outset before i move unanimous consent on a specific piece of legislation to say that i believe that the change in the affordable care act, which prohibited discrimination against people because of preexisting conditions, is one of the most fundamental changes in health insurance in america. who among us doesn't have a member of their family or a friend with a preexisting condition? there was a time, of course, that because of that, people were denied any coverage or charged exorbitant amounts of money. over-wellcomeingly, -- overwhelmingly, we need that if we're going to have a health insurance system that really serves the entire nation, we cannot allow health insurance companies to pick and choose. prior to the affordable care act's passage in 2010, health insurers charged people with preexisting c

mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no, we're not. mr. durbin: thank you. madam president, i want to comment on an incident that occurred late last week on the floor of the senate regarding temporary protected status, known as t.p.s., for people from the country of venezuela. t.p.s. can be provided by the president to nationals of a country when that country's experiencing violence or a catastrophe that makes returning to the country unsafe. this is a protection offered by america under many different administrations to help those who might be in the united states when a calamity occurs in their home countries. it has often been granted for countries suffering outbreaks of war or natural disaster, which leads me to the issue of venezuela. currently, the united states is working with regional partners to foster an end to the disastrous dictatorial regime still clinging to power in venezuela. i was there last year. i saw what was heart breaking -- heartbreaking, considering that this was once a proud latin american democracy. people are literally starving in

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: let me thank the senator from vermont for his kind words. i prove to proceed to calendar 258, senate joint resolution 50. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to s.j. res. 50 providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code of the rules submitted by the internal revenue service, department of the treasury, relating to contributions in exchange for state and local tax credits. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 258, s.j. res. 50 providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code of the rules submitted by the internal revenue code, department of the treasury relating to contributions in exchange for state or local tax credits. the presiding officer: under the -- pursuant to the provisi

mr. durbin: i'm making a unanimous consent request. mr. durbin: as in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 2603 introduced earlier today. further, that the bill be railroaded read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. a senator: madam president, reserving the right to object. no one in this chamber has more respect for the senior senator from illinois and the democratic whip than i do. mr. kennedy: and i share much of his frustration. i also share and i believe the senator also believes that immigration is an extraordinarily important subject that this body should be addressing. we are a nation of immigrants. the american people support legal immigration. i know the senior senator from illinois supports it. i certainly support it. i am rising to object because

mr. president, i look forward to working with senator durbin to resolve the concerns he may have about this bill. and i reiterate that once again this is a narrowly focused bill, one that focuses on a simple but longstanding problem, a problem that subjects some immigrants to needlessly lengthy delays for no reason other than their country of origin. this is from a bygone era that we shouldn't be perpetuating in this country. we need to fix the problem, the fairness for high-skilled immigrants act would do that, and i would encourage all of my colleagues to join me. we're almost there, but we need to get it over the finish line. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for georgia wrd are we -- mr. perdue: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. perdue: i rise to talk about the vote we're going have in just a few minutes actually to appropriate our first appropriation bills for this fiscal year which, by the way, we're already in the first month of our new fiscal year. we're under a continuing resolution which we talked ad nauseam about in this bo

balled wynn, durbin, and ernst for their enthusiastic support of this legislation and when it comes before the senate for a vote, i urge all of my colleagues to do the same. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. con. res. 27. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. con. res. 27, concurrent resolution providing for the use of the catafalque situated in exhibition hall of the capitol visitors' center, and so forth. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, this week the senate has several opportunities to make headway on important matters facing our country. first we will tend to a pending treaty protocol on the accession of a new member to nato and reaffirm the importance of the al