[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 679-680]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last week, after the Nation celebrated the 
second inauguration of President Obama, I expressed a hope that this 
Congress would be characterized by its commitment to finding common 
ground.
  I am pleased that a bipartisan group of eight Senators--four 
Democrats and four Republicans--will announce an agreement on a 
framework for comprehensive immigration reform as early as this 
afternoon.
  No one denies America's immigration system is broken. As I have said, 
this is one of the most important legislative missions Congress will 
undertake this year. I applaud these eight Senators for setting aside 
partisanship to tackle a crucial issue facing our Nation.
  This is a positive first step, but the true test of our congressional 
leadership will be to pass a comprehensive bill.
  As a Senator from Nevada who has for years witnessed firsthand the 
difficulties our broken immigration system presents for immigrants and 
their families, it is very important to me personally that we finally 
resolve this issue. So I pledge that I will do everything in my power 
as the majority leader to get a bill across the finish line. Nothing 
short of bipartisan success is acceptable to me.
  President Obama has already taken commendable executive action to 
suspend deportation of outstanding young men and women who were brought 
to this country illegally by their parents. I thank President Obama for 
his leadership and for making comprehensive immigration reform a top 
priority of his administration.
  I am also pleased President Obama will present to the Nation his own 
ideas to fix the current broken immigration system during a visit to 
Las Vegas tomorrow. With bipartisan support building in both Houses of 
Congress, and a President who is eager to solve this issue, there is no 
reason we should not pass comprehensive immigration reform immediately. 
It will be good for our economy and good for immigrant families. But 
successful immigration reform cannot be piecemeal, and it must include 
a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented 
individuals in our country.
  Legislators must craft a comprehensive solution that, among other 
things, continues to secure our borders; punishes unscrupulous 
employers who exploit immigrants and undercut American wages; improves 
our dysfunctional legal immigration system; and requires the 11 million 
people who are undocumented to register with the government, pay fines 
and taxes, and go to the back of the line--not to the front of the 
line. They have to learn English, work, pay taxes, and stay out of 
trouble. Only then they, as I have indicated, get to go to the back of 
the line. But they do obtain legal status, which is so important.
  The framework proposed by the bipartisan group of eight Senators 
meets

[[Page 680]]

these criteria. I hope we will soon have a bill to send through the 
committee process and bring to the floor for a vote.
  I have long said when my Republican colleagues were truly ready to 
craft a commonsense legislative solution that was tough, fair, and 
practical, we would stand ready to cooperate. We have been doing this 
alone. It is good to have some friends and partners in this effort.
  For years Democrats have been eager to pass comprehensive immigration 
reform, but the Republicans have been unwilling to work to find common 
ground. I am glad things have changed. I am so happy to see that my 
Republican colleagues--at least some of them--finally seem ready to 
find a bipartisan way to correct the flaws in this Nation's immigration 
system instead of just complaining that the system is broken.

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