[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 169 (Thursday, October 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 549

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 549. I 
ask unanimous consent that my amendment at the desk be agreed to, that 
the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and 
that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cramer). Is there objection?
  The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I 
share the concerns expressed by my colleague, the Senator from Florida, 
about the situation in Venezuela.
  I have met with many of my constituents of Venezuelan heritage and 
have discussed with them the crises that their relatives back in 
Venezuela face every day--shortages of food, water, medicine, and 
state-sponsored violence, which has caused 4.3 million people to flee 
the country.
  That is exactly why I joined many of my colleagues in supporting 
legislation from many months ago of granting temporary protected status 
to people who flee the horror in Venezuela. Of course, the House of 
Representatives passed legislation to do exactly that. I have a copy of 
H.R. 549 in my hand, and it is sitting here in the U.S. Senate.
  I say to my colleague, the Senator from Florida, that I am happy to 
sit down with him and discuss how we can revise and reform the entire 
TPS system in our going forward. In fact, I introduced legislation back 
in March of this year, S. 879, to extend temporary protected status to 
all of the people who are, right now, in great fear of being deported 
from the United States when their protected statuses expire. Yet I 
recognize there may be reforms we can make to the overall system.
  I suggest that a bill that is just focused on TPS to Venezuela is not 
the place to try to reform the entire TPS system, about which I am more 
than happy to have a discussion. As the Senator knows, we have people 
with TPS status from many countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, 
Honduras, Haiti, and a number of African countries. To try to overhaul 
the entire system in one piece of legislation by passing something 
right now for Venezuela doesn't make a lot of sense, which is why I 
support what the House did, for it immediately addresses the situation 
in Venezuela with our current TPS system.
  Let's not try to rewrite the whole TPS set of rules now. Let's 
address the emergency situation right now. The Senate can do that by 
passing the House bill, which, in a moment, I will ask to take up.
  I object to the Senator's request to pass this version, which also 
tries to overhaul the entire TPS system.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 549. I 
ask unanimous consent that my amendment at the desk be agreed to, that 
the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and 
that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my 
unanimous consent request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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