Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015—Motion to Proceed
by Senator Jeff SessionsPosted on 2015-02-05
SESSIONS. Mr. President, how much time remains on this side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 10\1/2\ minutes.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask to be notified after 7 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will so notify the Senator.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, the key part of the President's unlawful
executive amnesty, the overwhelming majority of it that actually is
involved in the House bill, deals with adults and providing them work
permits. It is not about the young people, as has been discussed. It
involves 4 million-plus people.
We have talked at length about the President's executive action and
how he is unlawfully, unconstitutionally making law--Senator Collins
laid that out--when only Congress can make law. We have shown that the
law he has created is law that he proposed and that Congress
specifically rejected. We have shown that the President himself has at
least 20 times said he does not have the power to take this action,
rightly declaring he is not an emperor--those are his words--and that
Congress makes laws.
So now Senator McConnell has moved to bring up the House-passed
legislation that fully funds all lawful aspects of the Department of
Homeland Security and all its lawful actions to protect the homeland.
But the legislation has a provision in it that simply bars the
President from spending any money to execute his unlawful Executive
directions. It stops the Department of Homeland Security from outlaw
activities. This is a matter of great constitutional importance.
It is, in addition, a matter of great importance to working
Americans. What the President is doing is giving lawful status to over
4 million adults--persons who entered our country against the law or
came in and overstayed their time. These persons, under current law,
cannot be hired by any business or employer, but the President wants
them to work anyway.
Congress considered and rejected this plan. The result is that the
President's plan will be a further kick in the teeth to down and
struggling American workers. The facts are clear. I am not seeing them
disputed.
Median family income since the recession of 2007 to 2009 has declined
by almost $5,000. This is a catastrophic event. This is unbelievable
damage to America's middle-class workers. Such a decline is
unprecedented since the Great Depression 80 years ago. While some say
jobs and wages are recovering and we can stop worrying about that, the
facts show otherwise. In addition to depressed incomes, America has the
lowest percentage of persons in their working years who are actually
working in nearly 40 years.
So consider this. There were huge worker layoffs during the 2009
recession, and many more had their hours reduced as a result of
ObamaCare and other events.
There are other factors that combine to reveal that job and wage
conditions are much worse than the unemployment rates would indicate.
Despite these problems--a slow economy, job-killing automation, and
low wages--the President is carrying out his unlawful plan rejected by
Congress that we give 5 million persons unlawfully here legal status--a
Social Security number, a photo ID, and the right to take any job that
may be available in America. The President's policies are in perfect
accord with those of his nominee for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch.
When I asked her this simple question last week, I got a surprising
answer.
Question:
Who has more right to a job in this country? A lawful
immigrant who's here, or citizen--or a person who entered the
country unlawfully?
Answer:
I believe that the right and the obligation to work is one
that's shared by everyone in this country regardless of how
they came here. And certainly, if someone is here, regardless
of status, I would prefer that they would be participating in
the workplace than not participating in the workplace.
That is the testimony last week by the chief law enforcement officer
in the land who is supposed to be enforcing the laws of the country.
That is her view of who should be working: Regardless of how you came
here, you are entitled to work and apparently take any job in America.
This was a moment of inadvertent candor. She tried to modify that
later, I acknowledge, but essentially all she said was: Well, I don't
think anybody should work except those the President says should work--
and that would include the 5 million who are here unlawfully.
Let's be clear. These 5 million persons, with their new government-
issued documents, will be able to apply for and take any of the few
jobs now available in the economy. Sadly, the problem in America is not
too few workers, but too few jobs. Last year, the administration
celebrated the creation of over 2 million jobs. The President's actions
would create from unlawful immigration over twice that many workers in
one single amnesty act. Millions more Americans who lost jobs during
the recession still haven't found work today.
Is this the right thing to do? I don't think so, and neither do the
American people--by a wide margin. But, arrogantly, the President
refuses to listen to the legitimate concerns of hurting Americans. He
dismisses them, and supported by his palace guards in the Senate who
blocked legislation----
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama has used 7 minutes.
Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the Chair, and will wrap up and save some time
for Senator Hoeven.
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He pushes on to advance the interests of immigration activists,
political consultants lusting after votes for the next election, and
big business interests lusting after low wage labor. Businesses, who
have become so transnational that their interests and those of the
American workers are often incompatible.
President Obama supports these business interests. But I ask: Who
represents the interests of dutiful American citizens and the lawful
immigrant who followed the rules? Who is speaking out for their
interests? They are the ones who are forgotten.
I am going to make a prediction: Their voices are going to be heard.
No longer, in secret, will the legitimate wishes of good and decent
Americans be denied. The people's voice will be heard. The day of the
special-interest operatives, tone-deaf politicians, and those who would
allow this--their voices will end. This time, the American people will
get what they rightly demand--the protection of the laws already on the
books. They will force the political class to end the massive
lawlessness, and to produce an immigration system that serves the
national interests, not the special interests. They will force these
self-interested forces out of the seats of power and demand policies
that protect their wages, their jobs, their national security, and
their government budgets.
I thank the Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this, and
I hope, when we vote soon, our colleagues will recognize it is time to
consider the opportunities Senator Collins has said will be provided
here--to have amendments and to go forth and do the right thing for the
American people.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues, both from Alabama
and from Maine, for coming down to the floor and saying: Let's do the
work of the Senate. Let's advance to this Department of Homeland
Security bill, let's offer amendments, let's have the debate. Let's
fund the Department.