I appreciate the Senators comments. I ask the Senator a question myself. As we move now 20 minutes away from the cloture vote. would he not agree with me that the Senate is not in a filibuster about illegal immigration. but basically we are in a filibuster on the minimum wage. I tried to point out that we are in day No. 5 now on the questions of illegal immigration. Most of us have supported the increase in the Border Patrol. although there has been some difference on the various pilot programs being developed to try and deal with the issues of jobs and the jobpull issue and amending the various numbers of cards to make them tamperproof and other factors. Would the Senator not agree with me. as he is the Democratic leader. I do not detect that there is a desire of any Member on our side to have a filibuster. We are prepared to address those Issues in a timely way and move forward. That we are here this evening on a procedural vote to close down the debate is really about the unwillingness of the majority to permit a simple vote on the increase in the minimum wage. an Issue which more than half of the Senate has indicated they wanted to address and that they did support. Does the Senator. as a leader and as someone who knows the Senate well. find it a rather extraordinary circumstance where most Americans say. "They are voting on a filibuster on illegal immigration. why are they doing that whon that really has nothing to do with it at all"?
Keywords matched
illegal immigration Border Patrol