Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
April 5, 2006 -- Page: S2882

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I so appreciate that the majority leader has called this to the Nation's attention because we have been working on this bill for almost 2 weeks now. The majority of the body has not had its say. The Judiciary Committee worked very hard on this bill. However, it is a bill that I could not possibly invoke cloture on before we have had a chance to have input and the opportunity to change it in the direction that the full majority of this body--hopefully, a resounding majority of the body--would support.

The House of Representatives passed a bill that probably not one Member of the Senate would support. That is not going to be the final position of Congress. The Senate is taking a different approach. The Senate, in general, agrees that there should be a guest worker program. It has been very difficult to come up with the right solution on how our country handles the 12 million people who are here illegally--a solution that is fair and equitable for the citizens of the United States and ensures law and order on our borders. It would be wrong for Congress to pass a bill which indicates border security is business as usual, or that the laws of our country can be broken with no penalty whatsoever. Most of us want to pass a guest worker program that allows people to come back and forth legally into our country, help our economy, earn their benefits and be able to keep them--not in the underground, but aboveboard. Most of us want that.

Unfortunately, the bill before us does not provide the right solution. Yet, we are sincere in our desire to amend it. That is what our leader is trying to say. I think it is wrong for the Democratic minority to hold up amendments and not allow those who have worked for hours, days, weeks, and months on this bill, to offer alternatives, hear debate, and start shaping a bill that would put our country in the right direction, secure our borders, keep our friendship with Mexico--our neighbor to the South, and treat people fairly.

Passing a bill that achieves these objectives is a goal I think we can all reach, but not if we cannot have amendments and are forced to vote on cloture. I could not possibly vote for cloture, nor could all but one or two on our side. That is not bipartisan. It is not the process we have followed in this Senate.

I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to let us proceed with amendments. Don't waste the next 24 hours. Let Senator Kyl have his chance to have his amendment voted on. Let others who have ideas have their amendments voted on.

I think one area we have not significantly addressed, one I would like to be able to talk about, is an alternative for people who do not seek citizenship in America. There are many wonderful Mexican workers in our country who want to remain citizens of Mexico, who intend to stay with their families in Mexico, but who desire the economic opportunities in America. Why would we not provide them an opportunity to come out of the shadows, to work and earn their pay in the open, and then go home? Why should they wait in a 10-year line for U.S. citizenship, which they do not seek?

Clearly, we have not fully vetted this issue. The Judiciary Committee worked hard to produce a bill, a bill which I do not support. Yet, they certainly worked hard, did their homework, and were very thorough. We need to have a chance to work on that bill with the rest of the Senate because most of us are not on the Judiciary Committee. Immigration is an issue that affects all of our States and our country as a whole. We need to address it in a sincere, productive way that will come to the right solution. The only way to do that is to allow the Senate to debate and vote on amendments. If we can come to a consensus, and have a 75-to-25 vote, or a 90-to-10 vote on a final bill, then we would have produced the right solution. We will not be able to do that if we invoke cloture before voting on amendments.