[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 17 (Thursday, January 28, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HOLD ON S. 2415

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I want to inform my colleagues that I 
have placed a hold on S. 2415, the EB-5 Integrity Act of 2015. I have 
been working for years to reform the EB-5 immigrant investor program, 
which is run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and have 
introduced legislation with Senator Leahy to overhaul the program.
  Our bill, S. 1501, is a comprehensive approach to dealing with the 
fraud, abuse, and national security vulnerabilities. Our bill also 
restores the program back to its original intent to ensure that rural 
and high unemployment areas have access to this source of capital.
  S. 2415 is a bill that is modeled almost identically after S. 1501; 
yet it is weaker and leaves behind many provisions that would in fact 
bring integrity back into the program. Late last year, I objected to 
bringing S. 2415 up by unanimous consent and have placed a hold on the 
bill because I hoped we could consider more effective measures to root 
out fraud and abuse and create real jobs and do it in a comprehensive 
manner that ensures the program is able to work for every part of the 
country for years to come.
  As I stated previously on this floor, the failure to include needed 
reforms last year means the program continues to pose risks to the 
homeland. I am not so sure reforms are possible anymore. It may be time 
to do away with it completely.
  Nevertheless, if we pass legislation to extend the EB-5 program 
beyond this fiscal year, I hope to work with my colleagues to achieve 
true reform.

                          ____________________