[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 18 (Thursday, January 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                DACA and Other Issues Before the Senate

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, there are now only 13 days remaining 
before the continuing resolution expires on February 8. In that short 
amount of time, we must seek a budget deal, an agreement on healthcare 
legislation, and a bipartisan bill to protect the Dreamers and provide 
for border security. All these items are important. All of them are 
urgent, and we are working hard to get them all done.
  On the issue of immigration, the bipartisan group of moderate 
Senators should continue trying to find a consensus. I think that is an 
excellent idea. The White House, unfortunately, has proven unreliable 
and wildly unpredictable. Within the course of hours, they say 
different things. Every time the President moves forward on one thing, 
his staff pulls him back and undoes what he said. The action should be 
here in the Senate to find a narrow deal on DACA and border security.
  Now, as we have found time and again, when we open up the 
negotiations to discussions of broad immigration reform, there is no 
end to what each party says could be on the table. Republicans want 
vast curtailment of legal immigration. Democrats want to discuss a 
pathway to citizenship for 11 million. That is a recipe for delay when 
we can't afford one. Some on the other side are insisting on expanding 
this beyond the DACA and border security issues. That will just delay. 
That will just make sure that things don't work.
  My Republican colleagues, particularly the leader and his more 
moderate Members, should feel the pressure to get this done, or else 
this administration will start separating families, taking kids out of 
school, servicemembers out of our military, and workers out of our 
companies. They will rip them from the American fabric in which they 
are embedded. What a tragedy that would be.
  So the clock is ticking on Dreamers, and we don't have time for 
extraneous issues that some on the right or the left might want to add 
that have nothing to do with DACA or border security. The clock is also 
ticking for pensioners, for victims of opioid addiction seeking 
treatment, and for our veterans seeking quality healthcare. We have 
other issues: rural infrastructure, childcare, things that Democrats 
want to get done in this deal. We have to get a budget deal and a DACA 
deal that can get 60 votes--13 days before Dreamers get a lot closer to 
deportation; 13 days to help our economy, our communities, and the 
middle class, who have been waiting for over a year for this Congress 
to do something for them, instead of just helping business interests.