[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9837]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I indicated last night that I was going to 
create a vote at 11:30 this morning, but Senators Mikulski and Shelby 
have asked that we put that over a little bit, so we are going to do 
that at noon because they are having an important markup in the 
Appropriations Committee.
  We will continue to work through amendments to the bill today. 
Hopefully, we could have, at that time--at noon--a path forward on this 
legislation. We have a number of amendments that are now pending. We 
hope to have a way of disposing of those, and I hope there is something 
that can be worked out. Senator Landrieu and others have indicated they 
want some amendments, and I hope we can work that out so we can move 
forward on the bill.
  So we will continue to work through the amendments, as I indicated, 
today. The first rollcall vote, as I have indicated, will be at about 
noon today.
  Mr. President, we have made some significant advances on the historic 
immigration legislation that is now before us. I am confident and I am 
hopeful that we can pass this bill. I have indicated on a number of 
occasions that we are going to do everything within our power to finish 
this bill before the July 4 recess.
  I have had conversations with the Republican leader and other 
Republican Senators, and, of course, with my Democratic Senators, and I 
think that is the goal, and I have no reason that we should not be able 
to meet that goal.
  We have made progress on amendments. I expect and I hope that a group 
of Republican Senators working with the Gang of 8 will come forward 
with a way that they think we can move forward on this bill dealing 
with the border. As I have said all along, I am willing to look at any 
reasonable amendment--I think we all are--and I hope something can be 
worked out with my Republican colleagues and the Gang of 8.
  I have said before, and I say it again, I appreciate very much the 
Gang of 8 for their diligent work, both in crafting this legislation 
and in shepherding it through this transparent and thorough process. It 
goes without saying that the chairman of the committee Senator Leahy 
has been remarkably focused on how to get this done.
  One of my favorite Senators I have had the opportunity to work with 
over the years is Chuck Grassley, the Senator from Iowa. He is the 
ranking member of that committee. Even though we disagree on occasion 
on how to move forward, I never remember having an unpleasant 
conversation with Chuck Grassley. So I appreciate his working on this.
  As I have indicated, he and Senator Leahy do not agree on parts of 
this immigration bill, but that is the way things are and should be on 
this legislation--all legislation. But he has been cooperative in 
helping us meet his expectations and move forward.

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