Speech #1140105439

Madam President. I am here to talk about the sanctuary cities legislation and the GMO labeling issue. which Senator TESTER was so eloquent about. If ever there should be a leader on this Senate floor telling us the truth about the GMO labeling bill. it is he because he deals with this. As he explained. he has worked the family farm for a long timeand his family. for generations. Unfortunately. at this point. it is big agribusiness that is influencing this. I am more hopeful than he is that we can stop the bill. But let me talk about the fact that we have an immigration crisis in this Nation. Part of it is because we turned away from a very important bill. a bipartisan bill. in 2013 that was comprehensive immigration reformbipartisan. passed by a huge number of Senators. and it died in the Republican House. That is No. 1. No. 2. we have the Supreme Court that is deadlocked on the immigration issue. and Senators on the other side of the aisle will not even bring up President Obamas Supreme Court nominee for a hearing. They will not do their job. So the House Republicans killed immigration reform that was comprehensive back in 2013. and the Senate Republicans are deadlocking the Supreme Court for partisan purposes. It is a nightmare that can be rectified only in this election that is coming up. Today we are going to be facing a vote on sanctuary cities legislation instead of taking another vote on the comprehensive immigration bill. which would have added 20.000 more Border Patrol agents. increased surveillance. and hired additional prosecutors and judges to boost prosecutions of illegal border crossings. The measure would have made clear that serious or violent felons will never. ever get a pathway to citizenship or even legal status. That bill would have brought families out of the shadows. taking away the fear of deportation. or being separated from loved ones. or parents being sent back. leaving kids who were born here alone. Sanctuary cities are important because it leads to cooperation with the local police. and it leads to reporting crimes in the communities. The fact is. the sanctuary cities bill before us will increase crime and make our communities less safe. It would undermine the trust that has been developed between police and immigrant communities. setting back efforts to protect victims and put criminals behind bars. Let us be clear. The sanctuary cities bill of Senator TOOMEYfor some crazy reasoncuts Community Development Block Grant funding. which can be used by the police to buy equipment. rehab a police station. fund special anticrime initiatives. Why would anyone ever get rid of funding for our law enforcement when they are under siege? The bill also cuts Economic Development Administration grants. which foster job creation and attract private investment. I know this sanctuary cities bill is another piece of political garbage. I want to be clear because. at the end of the day. it will increase crime in our communities. I was a county supervisor. I served proudly. and I know how important local grants are to the local economy. So to punish communities by taking these funds away because they dont decide that Uncle Sam has a right to tell them what to do is the dumbest idea ever. Lets make communities safer by passing real immigration reformcomprehensive reformand defeat these misguided bills that are coming before us.