[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4-S5]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FUNDING THE GOVERNMENT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it has been less than 2 weeks since we 
convened in the Senate, and those of us who have returned to the floor 
of the Senate may not notice any change, but there is a significant 
change. If you take a close look, one desk has moved from that side of 
the aisle to this side of the aisle. There are currently 49 Democratic 
Senators after the swearing in of our colleague, Senator Doug Jones of 
Alabama. Now it is 49 to 51. It is almost as close a break as you can 
expect or even anticipate in a deliberative body.
  It is an indication of more than just the acquisition of one 
additional Democratic Senator. We are moving closer and closer to 
parity, closer and closer to one another, and, I hope, closer and 
closer in solving problems. I think that was a message of the Alabama 
election; among other things, the American people want to see us work 
together. They have given us 49 and the Republicans 51. I think they 
expect that to be a signal that we should finally sit down and do 
something to solve the problems facing our great Nation. I feel that as 
I go home--of course, I run into my loyal Democratic friends who have 
their own political views, but the vast majority of people say: Can't 
you work together and solve something? Can't you do something for this 
Nation? I believe we can, and this month we must.
  You see, on January 19 there is a deadline looming. It is only a 
couple of weeks away. On January 19, we have to make some very 
momentous, historic decisions about the rest of this year and beyond. 
One of those is where we will spend the taxpayers' dollars. How much 
will we spend on the defense of our Nation? How much will we spend on 
other agencies, which, I would add, also defend our Nation? That has to 
be decided by 60 votes. Do the math. As whip on the Democratic side, I 
have said that I learned basically all I needed to know about this job 
in the first grade. I learned how to count to 60.
  On January 19, we need at least 60 Senators to agree on the spending 
program for this country moving forward, not just the Department of 
Defense but the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the 
Department of State, and so many other critically important agencies.
  The second thing we need to do is long overdue. The fiscal year, the 
operative fiscal year for the Federal Government starts on October 1. 
We are a long way from October 1, 2017. We still don't have a budget. 
We still have not brought the appropriations bills to the floor of the 
Senate for consideration.
  I am not going to be partisan about this. We failed as Democrats in 
bringing those appropriations to the floor in a timely manner as well. 
We have to do something about this process, but we certainly have to 
face the reality that we are steaming through this fiscal year without 
a budget. We have taken last year's budget and continued to live by 
last year's budget. Reflect, for a moment, if you did the same thing 
for your family. If you were determined to spend in January of 2018 
exactly what you spent in 2017, you would think to yourself: That makes 
no sense. The utility bills are different. I may have a different 
mortgage payment. A lot of

[[Page S5]]

things have changed. But we can't change until we pass a budget bill. 
That, too, is facing a January 19 deadline. Again, it will require 60 
votes.
  Here are two major issues--the caps on spending and the budget for 
our government, which need to be passed by January 19 on a bipartisan 
basis. It is time to come together and face not only those two 
overarching issues but the long litany of issues that Senator Schumer, 
the Democratic leader, raised in his opening remarks.
  There are so many other elements--the Children's Health Insurance 
Program, affecting tens of thousands of kids in my State of Illinois. 
They told me when I was home: Senator, we are running out of money to 
provide basic medical care for kids across America. Why haven't you 
done your job to reauthorize this program, as well as the program for 
community care clinics? These clinics are critically important for 
healthcare for thousands of families in my State and across the Nation.
  There is one more issue that I am going to raise, as I have so many 
times, standing in this particular place on the floor, and that is the 
Dream Act. The DREAM Act is a bill I introduced 16 years ago to give 
young people brought to the United States as infants and toddlers and 
children--they have grown up in this country, have no serious criminal 
issue they have been involved in, and have graduated from our schools--
a chance for a future in America, the only country they have ever 
known. They are the Dreamers.
  President Obama gave them a chance with an Executive order called 
DACA. He said: You can come forward, submit a $500 filing fee, go 
through a criminal background check, and we may give you--it is our 
decision--2 years of temporary protection to stay in this country. You 
can work in this country, stay here without fear of deportation on a 2-
year basis. So 780,000 young people stepped forward and did that and 
were approved. Now they are working across America, and 900 of them 
serve in the U.S. military. They are undocumented by legal standards, 
but they have sworn their loyalty to this country and are willing to 
die for this country. What more could we ask of a young person to prove 
their loyalty to that flag and to this Nation? Nine hundred of them are 
now protected by DACA.
  Then President Trump announced on September 5 of last year that he 
was going to eliminate that program, eliminate that protection as of 
March 5 of this year. The clock is ticking; the days on the calendar 
are turning. There are 900 in our military; 20,000 are teachers across 
America in grade schools, elementary schools, and high schools--at all 
levels--and 20,000 of them protected by DACA will lose their ability to 
teach starting on March 5 of this year because of President Trump's 
decision and his announcement.
  He challenged us. He said: Look, I don't like this Executive order by 
the previous President; now pass a law. Pass a law and do something 
about it.

  He asked us to do that months ago, and we have done nothing--nothing. 
I believe that by January 19, we need to take this up as one of the 
critical issues on our agenda. It is absolutely essential.
  Let me add as well that this President has been critical of 
immigration. I couldn't disagree with him more. He has taken an 
approach toward immigration that I believe denies the very basis and 
foundation of this great Nation.
  I have said it before, and I say it with pride: I stand here on the 
floor of the U.S. Senate representing the great State of Illinois, the 
son of an immigrant to this country. My mother was brought here at the 
age of 2--she was a Dreamer in her era--and she grew up in America, 
raised a family, and had a son who was sworn in to the U.S. Senate. She 
lived long enough to see that. That is my story. That is my family's 
story. That is America's story. Sometimes I wonder if the President has 
heard that story or paid attention to it.
  Immigration has been at the heart of who we are as Americans. The 
diversity of this great country, when it has come together in 
citizenship, has been a force to be reckoned with around the world 
throughout history. I still believe that as much this day as I have 
ever believed it.
  I may not be able to convince the President, but President Obama and 
others did plead with him to think about these young people, these 
Dreamers, those protected by DACA. Do you know what President Trump 
said about the Dreamers? Do you know what he said in one of his 
famous--sometimes infamous--tweets? He said we should ``show great 
heart.'' ``Show great heart,'' President Trump said, to these young 
people.
  That is why I am here today making this statement on the floor--it is 
not a long speech; I have spoken many times in the past--to plead with 
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, in this closely divided 
Senate, to get this job done before January 19--not just for the 
780,000 who took advantage of President Obama's Executive order but for 
those who were eligible and afraid. There were many thousands who were 
eligible for this program but afraid to sign up for it, to turn 
themselves in to the government, and they held back. They are eligible. 
There is nothing to disqualify them otherwise. Let's give them the same 
opportunity to be part of the future of this great Nation. That is what 
I believe we can do and should do.
  There are 49 Democrats and 51 Republicans--carefully divided. Can 
enough of us meet in that aisle to create a real majority, a bipartisan 
majority, to solve this? I am convinced we can, as Senator Schumer said 
earlier. Our Acting President pro tempore has weighed in on it, and I 
thank him for his efforts, his personal efforts, on this issue. We have 
had long meetings. Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we didn't agree, but 
that is the nature of the Senate, the nature of compromise, and the 
nature of a process that the American people are begging us, Democrats 
and Republicans, to engage in, in a positive way by January 19 of this 
month.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, before the Democratic whip leaves the 
Chamber, I want to thank him for his leadership, his perspicacity, his 
determination on the issue of the Dreamers.
  It is this Senator's hope that come January 19, when so many issues 
that were outlined by the Democratic leader all come to a head and have 
to be decided in order for the Government of the United States to stay 
open, that one of the issues that will be addressed will be allowing 
the Dreamers to stay in this country legally, the only country they 
have ever known. So many of us are grateful for Senator Durbin's 
leadership on this issue.
  We hope that in the spirit of unity, which has escaped this Capitol 
of the United States--that suddenly there will be a spirit of unity to 
do the right thing in a bipartisan way and that we will be joined by 
our colleagues on the other side of the aisle--now down to 51, as 
Senator Durbin has pointed out. This should not be a partisan issue; 
this should be an issue of right or wrong for the Dreamers to be able 
to stay in the country that they know as their home.
  I thank Senator Durbin.

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