[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 1 (Thursday, January 4, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18-S19]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CESAR CHAVEZ

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President I will speak briefly. One of the things I am 
going to do today is join the distinguished Presiding Officer, Senator 
Salazar--in fact, I should note that this is the first time I have seen 
the distinguished Presiding Officer in the chair. He looks as though he 
was born to preside here, and he does it well. I am going to join him 
in introducing a bill to include Cesar Chavez among the names of the 
great civil rights leaders we honored in the title of last year's 
Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006.
  When we were considering this legislation in the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, Senator Salazar made a compelling argument why that name, an 
American hero's name, should be added to the bill: because he devoted 
and sacrificed his life to empower the most vulnerable in America, as 
did Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King.
  Cesar Chavez's name should be added to the law as an important 
recognition of the broad landscape of political inclusion made possible 
by the Voting Rights Act. This bill would not alter the act's vital 
remedies to address continuing discrimination in voting, but rather it 
is overdue recognition of the importance of the Voting Rights Act to 
Hispanic-Americans.
  I offered Senator Salazar's amendment in the Judiciary Committee. The 
moral weight of what he wanted to do was so compelling that in a 
committee often fractured, it passed unanimously. It was included. It 
was not included in the final bill because as we were nearing the 
ending time, we did not want to have to have the bill go back and forth 
to the other body again because we wanted to get it on the President's 
desk in time. I committed to the distinguished Senator from Colorado 
that I would join him again this year, and I say with virtual certainty 
that the Senate Judiciary Committee will move very rapidly with that 
issue this year. I have the commitment of the new chairman backing that 
up, as does he have mine. And so I urge the Senate to quickly take up 
and pass this measure as we convene the new Congress and commit 
ourselves once again to ensuring that the great promises of the 14th 
and 15th Amendments are kept for all Americans.


                    Comprehensive Immigration Reform

  Mr. President, as this new Congress begins, we have a tremendous 
opportunity before us to enact fair, comprehensive immigration reform. 
It is time for bipartisan action. So I join with Senators from both 
sides of the aisle to call for comprehensive immigration reform, and I 
will work to enact it. We have to put aside the mean-spiritedness and 
shortsighted policies driven by fear and recognize the dignity of those 
whose work contributes to reinvigorating America. Consistent with our 
heritage as a nation of immigrants, we need to bring people out of the 
shadows. My maternal grandparents were immigrants to this country. My 
wife's parents came as immigrants to this country. We are a nation of 
immigrants. And those of us who are here now should not think that 
somehow we got here differently, and that we should close the doors to 
the rest. That is not the American way.
  Through comprehensive immigration reform, we can increase the 
opportunities for American businesses to obtain the workers they need 
while ensuring that priority is given to willing workers already in 
this country, from dairy farms in Vermont to multinational 
corporations. We have been told of the plight of the American farmers 
from New York to California. We have seen the pictures of the piles of 
rotting fruit that have gone unharvested. We hear American technology 
companies lamenting lost opportunities and the loss of skilled 
innovators to other countries. Dairy farmers are yearning for more 
available legal workers in my own State of Vermont. But worse yet, 
others have watched families in their employ be torn apart through 
piecemeal, inconsistent, sometimes heavyhanded enforcement efforts. I 
have met some of those families. I have talked to people who were 
fifth, sixth, seventh generation Vermonters who say how unfair it is to 
see these good families torn apart by seemingly arbitrary immigration 
enforcement efforts. No American farmer, no business, should be put in 
the position of having to choose between obeying the law or losing 
their livelihood.
  Where American workers can fill available jobs, of course they should 
be given priority. But where these jobs are available but unclaimed by 
American citizens, it makes no sense to deny willing foreign workers 
the opportunity to work. We can strike a balance if we work together.
  We must streamline and reform our visa system for low-skilled workers 
so we can help reduce the crippling backlogs that affect American 
businesses. And we must increase the number of low-skilled work visas 
issued each year to keep up with the needs of our economy. We should 
enact stronger, consistent employer verification procedures. We should 
impose penalties for those employers who flout the law and exploit 
those who have no voice. We can do this by working together and 
enacting comprehensive reform.
  Through comprehensive and smart reforms we can increase our security. 
Let us work to focus enforcement efforts and protect our citizens from 
those who seek to do us harm. Let us put an end to the enforcement 
conditions that end in too many needless deaths in the deserts of the 
Southwest, families--spouses and children--who die needlessly trying to 
seek the promise of America. We also have to take a smart approach in 
dealing with the millions of people already here, one that does not 
divide families and make instant criminals out of millions of people 
but rather honors our Nation's best traditions. When we enact reforms 
to bring the millions of undocumented people of this country out of the 
shadows, greater accountability will follow. When we provide incentives 
for undocumented people to enter a path to citizenship, we will 
encourage them to live up to our traditions of citizenship and civic 
responsibility. When we endow those who seek to better their lives and

[[Page S19]]

the lives of their families with the tools to do so legally, we help 
instill in them a sense of belonging, of patriotism, of opportunity. 
Those who decry this aspect of immigration reform must carefully 
consider the alternative path. By driving more people underground, we 
foster a culture of lawlessness and mistrust.
  We can't wall ourselves off from the world. A 700-mile fence on a 
2,000-mile border is not the answer. Last fall, the Republican Congress 
rushed through a bill to build 700 miles of fencing and did so against 
the advice of the Department of Homeland Security. That fence bill was 
neither fair nor comprehensive. I share the disappointment of tens of 
millions of Americans who had hoped President Bush would have exercised 
his constitutional authority to veto that costly, cobbled-together and 
mean-spirited law. Instead, the President seemed to have abandoned his 
principles in signing the Secure Fence Act: legislation that will cost 
between $2 billion and $9 billion and fail to perform as advertised to 
seal our southern border. Scarring our southwestern landscape with a 
symbol of fear, pandering, and intolerance offends the great heritage 
of our Nation by sending the wrong message to our neighbors and to the 
world about American values. It was a pricey bumper sticker law passed 
to curry favor in certain quarters before the elections. Instead, by 
focusing on technology, innovation, and personnel rather than partisan 
politics and divisive walls, we can do a better job of securing our 
border.

  The President has said many times that in order for the United States 
to achieve real security, we must have comprehensive immigration reform 
which must include a realistic solution to bring out of the shadows the 
millions of undocumented immigrants in this country and at the same 
time meet the pressing needs of employers who are looking for willing 
workers. In numerous statements, including a speech in Mission, TX, in 
August 2006, he recognized that without all components of comprehensive 
reform working together, immigration reform will not work.
  So I will continue working to enact legislation to secure our borders 
and strengthen our economy and bring about a realistic solution for the 
millions of people who want to work and live legally in our country. I 
will continue to support fair and comprehensive immigration reform that 
will respect the dignity of those who seek to join mainstream American 
society and better their lives in the United States. Let's hope that 
common sense and bipartisanship will prevail and that the promises of 
America, those promises of America that encouraged my grandparents to 
come to this country and my wife's parents to come to this country, are 
still there. Let us not enact laws that are beneath the dignity of a 
great and noble and welcoming Nation. Let us pass legislation that 
reflects what is the best of America and reflects the America that is a 
diverse country made up of people of diverse backgrounds. We will be 
stronger and better for it.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, before the Senator from Vermont leaves the 
floor, let me commend him for his remarks and the passion he brings to 
this subject which is based on his own personal experience but which 
reflects the experience, I believe, of the vast majority of Americans. 
I just want to tell him how much we all look forward to his leadership 
on this and so many other issues.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, might I thank the distinguished senior 
Senator from Michigan. He and I have been dear friends for years and 
years. I thank him for those words. I am also happy to see the gavel of 
the Armed Services Committee go into his hands.
  Mr. LEVIN. I thank my dear friend from Vermont. I join him also in 
telling the Senate just how pleased we are to see the Presiding Officer 
sitting where he is. We have worked together on many issues. We have 
traveled together. His commitment to such critical issues as 
immigration, environment, energy, and a number of other issues has made 
a real difference. He is a very quick study and a quick learner, as 
noted when we traveled together to Iraq and other countries. So he 
indeed fits the chair which he is sitting, and it is a pleasure to look 
at him as I address the Senate for a few minutes this afternoon.


               REBUILDING AMERICA'S MILITARY ACT OF 2007

  Mr. President, I join our majority leader, Senator Reid, in 
introducing S. 8, the Rebuilding America's Military Act of 2007. Every 
Member of the Senate, every Democrat, every Republican, strongly 
supports our men and women in uniform and is committed to providing 
them with the training, equipment, and support they need and deserve. I 
commend Senator Harry Reid for recognizing that much needs to be done 
in this regard and that we need to commit ourselves to doing what needs 
to be done.
  As the situation in Iraq has grown steadily worse over the last 3 
years, our military commitments in that country have placed an 
increasing strain on our Armed Forces. For example, delays in ordering 
body armor and other protective equipment have left some of our troops 
vulnerable in combat. Failures to fully fund special replacement and 
repair of equipment that has been damaged and destroyed in the course 
of ongoing operations endangers our troops. The decision to send our 
best and most ready equipment to Iraq has left the military's 
nondeployed ground forces with a declining and dangerously low level of 
readiness to meet their wartime missions. For example, at least two-
thirds of the Army units in the United States are rated as not ready to 
deploy. That is a totally unacceptable situation relative to the 
readiness of our forces. The repeated deployments and a sustained high 
operational tempo have placed increasing strains on members of the 
Armed Forces and their families.
  It is my hope that we will change course in Iraq for many reasons, 
but one of them surely is that such a change will help address many of 
the problems that I have identified here in these few minutes. Placing 
the responsibility for the future of Iraq in the hands of the Iraqis 
and beginning a phased withdrawal of our troops from that country in 
the next 4 to 6 months would be an important step toward turning 
responsibility for the future of Iraq over to the Iraqis, but also a 
critically needed step toward rebuilding our own military. We must act 
to ensure that our troops have the training, equipment, and support 
they need to remain the strongest and best military force in the world.
  Senator Reid's S. 8, Senate bill 8, the Rebuilding America's Military 
Act of 2007, commits us to taking such action. I am confident that we 
can do so on a bipartisan basis, and I look forward to proceeding in 
that manner as the weeks and months unfold.
  I again thank the Chair. I again commend him for the way in which he 
has proceeded as a Senator in so many ways and for his friendship.
  I yield the floor.
  THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho is recognized.
  Mr. CRAIG. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. CRAIG pertaining to the introduction of S.J. Res. 
1 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask each side, the Democratic and 
Republican sides, be given an additional 10 minutes to speak in this 
period. I will take the first 5 minutes of that, and then my colleague 
from California, Senator Boxer, will take the second 5 minutes of the 
Democratic time remaining for us.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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