Speech #1090139009

Mr. President. I am proud to cast my vote today in support of S. 2611. the immigration reform bill. This legislation has strong bipartisan supportsomething we dont see enough of these days in the Senate. Time and time again. amendments 52. Pt. 7 9589 were offered and motions were made in order to derail this bill. yet time and time again. our strong bipartisan coalition stuck together to fend off every single attack. As a result. were able to pass comprehensive immigration reformreform that has a real chance of solving the immigration crisis that we face today. The bill addresses what I consider to be the four cornerstones of successful immigration reform: (1) strengthening our Nations borders. (2) providing a path to legalization for the approximately 11 million undocumented workers currently living and working in the United States. (3) addressing future flow needs by adjusting visa caps and creating an effective guestworker program with strong labor protections. and (4) implementing a reliable employment verification program. Thus. not only will this bill prevent people from illegally crossing our borders. it will eliminate incentive for coming illegally in the first place. I am particularly happy that the bill included an amendment I offered to strengthen our border security. My amendment increases the number of border patrol agents by an additional 1.000 this year. bringing the total number of agents in fiscal year 2006 to 3.000. It also gives border State Governors the ability to request up to 1.000 more border patrol agents from the Secretary of Homeland Security in times of international border emergencies. We need more agents on the border. and we need to make sure they have the tools to get the job done. That is why my amendment provides more helicopters. power boats. patrol vehicles. GPS devices. encrypted 2way radios. night vision equipment. highquality border armor. and reliable and effective weapons. The bill also includes my amendment to the performing artist visa. which will ensure that international artists will have their visa petitions processed in a timely manner. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS. delays are making it increasingly difficult for international artists to appear in the United States. Currently nonprofit arts organizations confront uncertainty in gaining approval for visa petitions for foreign guest artists and inconsistent policies in processing artist visa petitions which result in delays. expense. and unwarranted requests for further evidence. USCIS practice compounds the growing risk that foreign guest artists will be unable to enter the U.S. in time for their engagements. causing financial burdens on nonprofit arts organizations. and potentially denying the American public the opportunity to experience international artistry due to delays and cancellations. My amendment requires the UCIS to review these visa applications in a timely fashionand consistent with protocols that ensure our security would never be compromised. Of course. the bill contains some things that I do not agree with. For example.