and if it happens, it'll be due to hoeven and corker and a lot of our colleagues. if we pull it off, it will be the most dramatic effort i've seen since i've been in congress to secure the border. >> according to new details provided to nbc by senate aide, the agreement the senators are calling a border surge is expected to double the size of the boarder patrol and require 700 miles of border fencing. the group is also compromised on a series of other issues including the e-verify program that workings for businesses and benefits. the corker/hoeven proposal will be an alternative to an amendment introduced by texas senator republican john cornyn that requires 90% apprehension of undocumented immigrants crossing the border. the democrats have said is basically a poison pill. cornyn's amendment expected to go to a vote today. the senate has voted down several border security amendments as you've seen put forward by republicans including a measure from kentucky senator rand paul on wednesday that would have required congress to certify that border security measures ar

hoeven: mr. president i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: i ask unanimous consent that i be recognized for up to ten minutes of senator leahy's time. the presiding officer: without objection. i rise today to address comprehensive immigration reform and to talk specifically about the hoeven-corker amendment. the focus of the hoeven-corker amendment is to secure the border. what senator corker, myself, and the 11 republican cosponsors on the bill and our four democrat cosponse others the bill, bipartisan legislation this is all about securing the border first as a first step for comprehensive immigration reform. that's what we're seeking to do. and so i come to the senate in regard today to address some of the misperceptions that have already been circulating about our legislation. throughout the weekend some of the pundits and others have put out information that's incorrect in regard to the hoeven-corker amendment to the new immigration bill and so, as the old saying goes people are certa

what did you think about what senator hoeven had to say? this is part of a more comprehensive plan when it comes to security. >> that's true, jenna, and i like the second half of what senator hoeven said about e-verify and the guest worker program. but i think if we had an effective guest worker program which would allow people to come in legally through the normal ports, work and then go home when there was no more work, you would not have to spend $40 billion fortifying the border between the united states and mexico because no one would want to come across the border like that, as he's suggesting, if there was a program in place. so why do we want to spend $40 billion and array 40,000 border patrolmen along that border when what he's proposing in the second half of his bill will make it unnecessary? jenna: some people say it's like what you do for your home, you have locks on your door, an alarm system because you want to be the most secure as possible. apologize for that audio our viewers are hearing. what about that? >> the problem wit

sessions: madam president, this is not a vote on the corker-hoeven amendment. it's a vote on a complete substitute of over a thousand pages that includes all aspects of the bill before us. it includes the amnesty, include the failed entry-exit visa. and if we vote for cloture tonight, we will be transferring complete control of the entire process of this immigration bill to the majority leader, harry reid. you can hear the whistle in the distance right now as the train is arriving to the station. if senator reid and corker and hoeven are able to cut off debate today, the next vote will come in about 30 hours on another substitute vote in 30 hours after that. senator reid has filled the tree. there will be no amendments allowed. mr. leahy: regular order. the presiding officer: the opponent's time has expired. mr. sessions: -- without the approval of the majority leader. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cotour. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate,

hoeven: thank you. i rise today to discuss an amendment that i will be introducing to senate bill 744, the comprehensive immigration reform legislation that this senate body is carefully considering and debating. that amendment is the hoeven-corker border security amendment. it's being finalized and i plan to introduce it this afternoon along with the senator from the great state of tennessee, senator bob corker, who's here with me. and i want to thank him for the tremendous work that he's done on this legislation. he has been absolutely inspirational to work with, a great leader and somebody who is really working to -- to do immigration reform the right way, to get a bipartisan solution that truly addresses the challenges that we face with immigration reform and to get it done the right way. in addition to senator corker and myself, other sponsors include senator john mccain, senator lindsey graham, senator marco rubio, senator jeff flake, senator kelly ayotte, senator dean heller, and others that are

i spoke with senator hoeven a short time ago. senator, welcome to the program. at this hour, are you feeling confident about all the pieces being in place for a deal that previously reluctant senators can sign on to? >> well, we put forward a piece of legislation that we're adding to the bill that greatly strengthens border security. i think it is going to really help in terms of getting a bipartisan support for the immigration reform legislation. but, you know, we're kind of in the last minute of getting everything buttoned up, and there's just a lot going on. but i'm hopeful it will be very helpful to getting the kind of immigration reform the people of this country want. >> what are the most important new provisions? what has been added that helps bring on board some people who might not have been able to support the bill before? >> it really strengthens border security. we put a $3.2 billion high-tech strategic plan in place right in the legislation that must be accomplished on the southern border, everything from unmanned aircraft and helicopters and planes

but senator john hoeven thank you from north dakota. i hope you follow with that consistency right through the conference. i don't want to see any hanky-panky in the conference. this has to be a bill we're proud to enforce for the next 350 years. >>> youning us now is ed rendell, former governor of pennsylvania. governor, it sounds like he's on the right track. it sounds like a tough proposal. i'm wondering whether the liberal side of this equation will accept what looks to be a darn tough approach to enforce am. >> i think we will, chris, for two reasons. number one, because it took away the requirement that we reach 90% apprehension of anybody who tries to get across the border. it turns that into a goal. that's very important because the 90% figure was in some ways particularly early on unattainable or undocumentable. so i think that would have -- that was in the cornyn amendment and that was a poison pill. you took away that. this is almost overkill, senator corker said that himself, but senator cork ser a good man and i know john h

but senator john hoeven, thank you, from north dakota. i hope you follow with that consistency right through the conference. i don't want to see any hanky-panky in the conference. where it's watered down and jammed through the house. this has to be a bill we're proud to enforce for the next 50 years. any way, thank you so much for joining us and good luck with it. >>> joining us now is ed rendell, former governor of pennsylvania. governor, it sounds like he's on the right track. it sounds like a tough proposal. i'm wondering whether the liberal side of this equation will accept what looks to be a darn tough approach to enforcement. >> i think we will, chris, for two reasons. number one, because it took away the requirement that we reach 90% apprehension of anybody who tries to get across the border. it turns that into a goal. that's very important because the 90% figure was in some ways, particularly early on, unattainable or undocumentable. so i think that would have -- that was in the cornyn amendment, and that was a poison pill. you to

leahy: madam president, the hoeven-corker a.m. is subject to a -- amendment is subject to a budget point of order. it increases on-budget deficit over both the five and ten-year periods and exceeds the judiciary committee's alloy indication for direct spending but on-budget effects do not take into account the significant off-budget savings. and last week the nonpartisan congressional budget office concluded the bill is going to especially help us achieve nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction. and we also have learned that the hoeven-corker amendment would significantly increase our border security and would, as the c.b.o. said, i would say to my friends from tennessee and north dakota, the amendment would reduce both illegal entry into the country and the number of people who stay in the country beyond the end of their authorized period. so when we vote on the -- waiving the point of order, i will vote to waive it because the hoeven-corker amendment and the overall amendment will spur job growth and will dramatically reduce our

now we have an amendment before us by senators corker and hoeven that actually defines the plan. let me describe this new plan to you because i think it is the most substantial border security plan we have ever had before any body of congress. number one, it mandates -- doesn't say you can, doesn't say you should. it says you must. you must have universal everify for every business in america and you have to wrap that up within four years. it starts with big businesses until it gets to ag and the small businesses. the reason you need three or four years, in small businesses it will take time to buy the technology to do this. that's number one. number two, you have to finish the entry-exit tracking system. after this bill was presented to committee it says the 30 major airports in this country will have it biometricically. third, you have to this technology: radars, sensors on the ground, night vision goggles, motion detectors, even unarmed drones. things that allow you to see people. and even if they get past you at the first stop on the border, you can follow them and apprehend

the schumer-corker-hoeven amendment does just that. we also need to make sure that we are being fiscally responsible. last time i checked, we are still $17 trillion in debt. yet, this amendment throws $46.3 billion at border security with no plan -- no plan -- from the department of homeland security detailing how that money is going to be used. there is no clear justification for the amount detailed in this request. there is absolutely no strategy driving this funding request. there is also not nearly enough accountability. the reporting requirements to congress are toothless. i reject and i suspect nebraskans reject the idea that massive amounts of spending alone are the solution to our border security problem. in addition to the lack of strategy behind the funding, i'm concerned that this legislation provides legalization first and border security second. specifically, this legislation creates a loophole allowing certain people who have overstayed their nonimmigrant visas to obtain a green card without returning home. the schumer-co

hoeven: i rise to speak about senate resolution 154. senate resolution 154 is a resolution i introduced last month with senator blumenthal, calls for fair and free elections in iran and points out that the ruling iranian regime is fundamentally illegitimate. americans believe in the power of elections. we believe voting means something. the rest of the world also understands and respects that elections are powerful events. most countries that hold elections want to channel the will of their people into the governing of their country. the supreme leader of iran believes in the power of elections, too, but he doesn't respect them. he himself has never been elected, and he knows that a free election might threaten his power base. so he ensures that a truly free election is impossible for the iranian people. in past elections, fraud has been rampant. the government has cracked down on public dissent and moved against media sources that aren't officially sanctioned. but most of all, iran's supreme leader has developed the unfortunate habit o

i always refer to senator hoeven as governor hoeven. i think it's remarkable that he's here with the background that he has. he, too, understand how important it is to work to get things done. his experience is more than just being part of a legislature, it's working with a legislative body. so i admire the work both these fine men with have done. but for them, weep couldn't have gotten this done. now, mr. president, these senators have charted a path to a broad bipartisan vote on this measure. they've followed the model that we have use -- done too infrequently in this body, violence against women, marketplace fairness, the farm bill, but next week we're going to add immigration as another example of how to get things done. and i hope it portends well for the future of this august body that we all so love, but have been disappointed in in recent years. but even with this broad bipartisan support, these broad bipartisan majorities that we have, and this package that is a wonderful product, there are still a few who continue to take the

that vote on the so-called hoeven/corker amendment is expected about 5:00 this afternoon. advocates say they expect a big vote when a final vote is taken on the overall legislation as early as thursday this week. >> about a two-thirds of the senate right now. so i believe we'll be in the neighborhood of 70 votes. >> we're close to 70 votes. the hoeven/corker amendment i think gets us over the top. >> we heard what is probably best described as the last gasp from immigration proponents in the senate. senator bob corker's office clearly doing some rapid response fired back. to be clear, the tough border security and interior enforcement provisions that senator hoeven and i offered on friday make up 119 pages added to the 1,100 pages that have been public since may. president obama will sell the economic benefits of immigration reform. where he's expected to highlight the new congressional budget office numbers that estimate the bill will reduce the deficit by about $200 billion over the next ten years and about $700 billion over the following decade. the chamber of commerce

christina, we talked about the hoeven and corker agreement. it looks like that's going to get rolled into a bigger amendment that pat leahy, democrat from vermont, is offering and that's going to get a vote this coming monday in the senate. this could tell us, is that big bipartisan vote going to be there? >> it looks like it's going to be there. it looks like the gang of eight looked like they got everybody on board for this. the number of people that are going to vote for final passage will be very similar to this. the higher that number, the more pressure on the house side. >> ko you have a sense what that number could be? 70 is what we've always been using? >> actually, i was talking to somebody yesterday who said it could be as high as 80. i think that's unlikely. i think you'll see upper 60s at this point. a lot of republicans aren't normally going to come out and announce their support like senator keller and senator kirk, they'll just vote for it. the big question is the cost because that gives conservative republicans who are already

as soon as they put together the major elements of the corker-hoeven amendment. and then that amendment process shut down. now they're trying to resurrect a little bitsy piece of it at the tail end of the entire debate for what reason? for the purely cynical reason that they can get a few amendments they want up to try to grow and maximize their vote. well, that is a purely cynical one-sided process. and i for one won't stand for it. i've been here urging my amendments from the beginning and consistently. the senator from new york was on the floor a few minutes ago saying this was a last-minute plea. hasn't been last minute on my part. i started on day one. i continued on day two. i continued on day three all through the process. i was ready with my amendments early on. friday i organized a letter expressing this very concern about a shutdown of the amendment process and organized signatures and sent that letter monday to the distinguished majority leader. so my plea for votes on significant amendments didn't start today, didn't start yesterday. it's been part of

bob corker and john hoeven of north dakota, wrote the new agreement in hopes of softening g.o.p. opposition. the republican colleagues argue that the original gang of eight proposal didn't do enough to supremesecure the border at mexico. this new border surge deal calls for 20,000 new border patrol agents, doubling the agency. here's bob corker on msnbc this morning talking about that. >> for people who are concerned about border security. once they see what is in this bill, it's almost overkill. i think that's the issue that people have. i think everyone working together has come up with a way to deal with that issue. so i do hope that we can send it over to the house with the momentum. >> michael: look a smidgen of reasonableness. the deal also features other previously debated ideas. immigrants on tourist and student visas would not be available for obamacare. even though this new agreement is winning some republican support it can't win them all. many g.o.p. senators say this deal does not do enough. >> apparently plan-b is to breck up this corker-hoeven amendment very very q

we hear from two senators behind the drive for a deal, north dakota republican john hoeven and new mexico democrat tom udall. >> brown: then, markets around the globe tumbled today. we examine how concerns with a credit crunch in china and uncertainty over the federal reserve have wall street

and it cites efforts by senator hoeven who has been trying to improve the border security component of the underlying bill. i applaud him for his efforts and applaud him for moving the underlying bill in a more positive direction when it comes to border security. i'm going to wait final judgment until we actually see language, because the devil is so often in the details on things like this. but i would just point outer that just before -- but i would just point out that just before their efforts, which now reportedly would include an additional 20,000 border patrol agents, i would point out that the original bill had zero additional boots on the ground. my amendment adds 5,000 border patrol agents, and now reportedly -- and again we need to see the details -- the proposal by senator corker and senator hoeve hoeven would add 0 additional border patrol agents. just to show what a dramatic change that's been, senator schumer, one of the chief architects of the underlying bill, in a speech on june 12 said, "whenever -- whatever c.b.o. say, 6,500 border agents is a multibillion-dollar prop

congress doesn't do it, i think there is going to be hell to pay. >> we have a situation where this hoeven and corker amendment pretty much know it was written by chuck schumer. >> don't give him too much get. >> he was busy in the back room last night. he rejected hard trigger position. up have to turn 90% of the people trying to come back across the border back home. have them in formal deportation proceedings or resists them right away at the border. schumer said absolutely not. that might interfere with the pathway to citizenship. that's the golden goose for them, the pathway to citizenship. they don't want anything to interfere with that they nixed that from the hofn amendment. >> over a 10 year period. >> when hillary is running against rubio or general 2016. >> there is a presidential debate. hillary clinton says you want these people to be perpetual second class anyones in this i'm going to make them january 21st? what do you think they will say? you think the la dean knows aren't going to say i'm going with her. >> if we have a good bill that's bipartisan he have a perfect out. th

we hear from two senators behind the drive for a deal, north dakota republican john hoeven and new mexico democrat tom udall. >> brown: then, markets around the globe tumbled today. we examine how concerns with a credit crunch in china and uncertainty over the federal reserve have wall street

we have an all-star lineup looking at it, senators john corker and john hoeven -- bob hoeven will join us live. then senator john mccain joins us with his thoughts. >>> and he was destined to live his entire life in silence, now a little 3-year-old gets to hear his parents' voices for the very first time. his story could help thousands of others, it's a great one, and it's coming up, "happening now". rick: jon scott, thanks very much. we'll see you and jenna at the top of the hour, and we'll be talking a little bit about that story that jon just mentioned, very emotional. a young boy who had never heard before given a cochlear implant. an amazing story. we'll talk with how doctors were able to make this happen, that's straight ahead. >> we don't really know exactly what it's like for him. we don't know exactly what he hears, if he hears everything we hear, some of what we hear. his brain is still trying to organize it still to use. martha: boy, look at this rescue in china that was caught on camera. a group of deliverymen spot a 2-year-old girl -- did you see that? they stand underneat

corker and hoeven have an amendment where they are calling for a border surge. it would require an additional 20,000 border agents on the u.s./mexico border. 700 miles of fencing at the u.s. border, 350 miles more than we have now. and full implementation of electronic entry and exit system complete with u.s. customs and border protection officers. price tag? it's all for a cool $30 billion. or more. >> so it's about $30 billion total? >> correct. maybe slightly higher. >> it will be more than that. >> another bill or so. probably more than $30 billion. now when you were evaluating the american voter, the american taxpayer is thinking is this a smart way to spend money? i would like you to keep in mind these two important things. the migration policy institute, a nonpartisan think tank found in 2012 we spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement agencies, a 43% increase from 2006. here's the kicker. that $18 billion, that's more than we spent on all other law enforcement agencies combined by 24% and do you happen to know what the net migration between mexico an

the folks who are key here, the people who introduced the amendment, bob corker, john hoeven. they might be on the fence and might be able to get you a big number voting out of the senate, but as we saw with the farm bill, tamron, you never know what's going to come into the house of representatives. >> we'll be talking more about the farm bill as mark pointed out in the surprise it was defeated. we'll take a look at the implications and why so many were so upset about the cuts to the foot stamp programs, s.n.a.p. as it's called now. >>> despite the controversy over the hpv vaccine program, it's working better than is expected. does this mean more parents will allow their daughters to get the vaccination? when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover, and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i've been with bp for 24 years. i was part of the team that helped deliver on our commitments to the gulf - and i can tell you, safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge safety equipment an

should point out that the very day that the hoeven-corker amendment was filed, a cnn headline read, "four bodies found in the arizona desert." four more deceased immigrants had been located near hela bend. this is an issue that plays for keeps. it's in everyone's interests that we gain control of the border. the unprecedented level of resources this bill provides coupled with the mandatory employment verification system and guest worker plans to allow for future flows, this is much-needed and it takes the right steps to get us there. as in previous immigration debates, there are those who claim that this legislation is amnesty. to the contrary, this legislation provides for provisional status for those who are already here as a means to bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. it requires them to meet eligibility criteria, pass a background check, make good on any tax liability, and pay a fee and a fine. before anyone can apply for a green card, they'll have to pay an additional fee and a fine, pass another background check, continue paying taxes, learn english and civics

james, there's going to be a vote at 5:30 this evening on the senate on the cork ker hoeven amendment to the bill. it was described as is almost over kill by senator corker himself. it does everything to secure the border short of digging a big moat and filling it with man eating fish. will that be enough for gohmert, steve king and the other he members of the house republican self-deportation caucus? >> no, which is evident. it won't be. nothing would be enough for them. but look, the question you there's enough house members right now to pass this pretty easy. the question is, will boehner let the republican caucus dictate what the house does or the house as a whole in. >> i defer 0 congresswoman norton on this. i bet you immigration reform could pass the whole house right now if boehner would bring it up. >> congresswoman holmes norton, do you agree with that? >> easily. the senate bill would pass the house even with some republican votes but overwhelmingly with democratic votes. you would think if they get this bill through with 70 votes, that would be a virtual mandate to pass it

north dakota senator john hoeven is a co-author of the border surge amendment and joins me now from capitol hill. senator, thanks for being with us. >> you bet. >> do you think that this now, having at least gotten past cloture and past phil bufilibus does this now make the immigration reform palatable to you? will you support it? >> we made major improvements to it but continue to work for more amendments both to continue to improve it and to get more bipartisan support. i think that's the right approach because we want a product that the american people support with as much bipartisan support in congress as possible. as we work on it in the senate and get it over to the house. >> this is expensive and john mccain, among others -- but john mccain said it is not necessary, that it is overkill, that it is spending too much. he said, okay, he would support it, but he thought that immigration reform, in and of itself, was obviously an important goal but that it was not necessary to do this much on the border side. >> we're taking a secure the border first approach to xr comprehensive immigrati

-mexico immigration to net zero, senators are on board with the corker and hoeven amendment. yesterday they had passionate pleas to pass the dang legislation. >> the fact that 11 million people live in the shadows and live here in dee facto amnesty, and by god, being exploited every day. isn't it in our nation to come together and pass this legislation and not manufacture reasons for not doing that? isn't there enough of a penalty? isn't there enough border security now, thanks to my colleagues from north dakota and from tennessee? >> we are on the verge of a huge breakthrough on border security. with this agreement, we believe we have the makings of a strong, bipartisan final vote in favor of this immigration reform bill. >> but that optimism seems to stop at john boehner's doorstep. as indeed does most optimism. even if the bill passes in the senate, it will still have to overcome the electrified border fence and alligator-filled moat that is the u.s. house of representatives. matt, i will read a fairly i think astute observation from jonathan shait in "new york" magazine.

so with regard to this new amendment, i'd like to ask a couple of things to the -- senators hoeven and corker. does your amendment put enforcement before the legality? does it put enforcement before amnesty? before the first legalization is allowed to occur? or is the amnesty still first? they told us initially that they were going to have enforcement first. by a 4-1 margin, the american people have said they are prepared to treat compassionately people who've entered the country illegally, who've been here a long time and done otherwise right things, and we're prepared to be compassionate and deal with th them. but we don't trust washington, we want to see you do the enforcement before you go and give this legal status, this amnesty. that's common sense. there's nothing wrong with that. the american people aren't mean spirited when they say that. they've seen this game before. they've scene how it's played, been played before. they don't, they don't -- they don't have confidence in us. and i can cite example after example after example after example of laws, rules, promises made never

the agreement which was hammered out by republicans bob corker and john hoeven calls for 40,000 agents and 700 miles of fence along the southern border. only then will the undocumented workers begin to go down the pathway to citizenship. >> some people have described this as a border surge. and the fact is that we are investing resources in securing our border that have never been invested before. >> you'll have a border patrol agent every 1,000 feet on the border 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. >> we need to fix this, and this is our chance to fix it. >> by some estimates, the bill could gain as many as 70 supporters in the senate, but don't count ted cruz among them. >> what we saw in 1986 was the amnesty occurred, and yet, the border never got secured. and here we are three decades later, and instead of 3 million people here illegally, there's some 11 million people here illegally. and this gang of eight bill repeats the exact same pattern of 1986. and the amendment that has been proposed today does the same thing. >>> let's turn to news overseas now. brazil's president will hold an

and so senator hoeven and i came up with an amendment that everybody could understand. 20,000 border patrol agents, a doubling on the southern border, 20,000 agents. every american can know whether that's happened. $4.5 billion worth of technology. we listed the inventory. every american can see whether that's happened. fully implemented everify. i mean, we don't want employers paying people under the table. we don't want people hiring folks that are here illegally. fully implemented, fully implemented before green card. an entry-exit visa program. i think many people know that the reason we had the terrorist attack on 9/11, we had people who overstayed their visas. americans don't want to see that happen, so a tangible trigger, a tangible trigger of making sure that we had an entry-exit visa program, and another 350 miles of fencing. a lot of people said that that's not required. it is absolutely required. and anybody who would say that hasn't attempted to read the legislation. so these are five tangible triggers. not a cheeto bag trigger, not a cheeto bag trigger. five tangible tri

but who is this john hoeven guy other than looking like he could have been in a '70's band both americans have never heard of him before. he is dartmouth grad who followed his father to banking. he played on the ivy school golf team. he was elected to the senate in 2010, and was governor for ten years. and as a soon of how small the world of pal ticks is he defeated heidi heitkamp back in 2007. our politicians aren't early adopters of much but when it comes to social media, brett found that the saying better late than never does not apply to them. maybe the saying should be never calm down. brett brett is talking now. >> handful of congress people have put on their blinkers and attempted to merge on to the information superhighway. let's see how they are doing. representative jeff duncan weighed in on kim and kanye's baby. tweeting . . . pretty funny, both the nsa and the empire have put him on a watch list. a handful of politicians have tweeted six-second videos on twitter's vine app. representative swawell became the first to post an actual vote. wow. but my favorite web politician is d

current immigration bill for not adequately addressing america's porous borders, and bob corker and john hoeven campered out a board surge agreement. here are the details. the amendment would add an

reid: i ask unanimous consent the hoeven substitute amendment an grady, to the resolution as amended be agreed to, the hoeven amendment to be preamble be agreed, the tight amendment be agreed to -- title amendment be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made an made and laie table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to s. res. 171. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 171, designating june 15, 2013, as world elder abuse awareness day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i apologize to everyone for having to wait. we were trying to get some things cleared and it didn't work. so... i ask unanimous consent tha that wh

current immigration bill for not adequately addressing america's porous borders, and bob corker and john hoeven campered out a board surge agreement. here are the details. the amendment would add an additional $30 billion to the existing bill, double the number of agents on the u.s./mexico border, bringing the total to more than 40,000, e-verify fully implemented as would the entry/exit visa tracking system in addition, funding for 700 mile border fence and aerial drone system would also be included. the deal was discussed, believing it added tremendous momentum to the bill. >> if anybody on either side of the aisle had any concerns whatsoever about the border being secure, if you look at the provisions in the amendment, you can see if that has been their issue, certainly securing the border should not be an issue if this amendment passes. i don't think based on the conversation we've had with many of our colleagues, that if this amendment can pass, it will add tremendous momentum to the bill. >> some senators and members of the media are hailing the agreement as major break threw on immigratio

current immigration bill for not adequately addressing america's porous borders, and bob corker and john hoeven campered out a board surge agreement. here are the details. the amendment would add an ad

so with regard to this new amendment, i'd like to ask a couple of things to the -- senators hoeven and corker. does your amendment put enforcement before the legality? does it put enforcement before amnesty? before the first legalization is allowed to occur? or is the amnesty still first? they told us initially that they were going to have enforcement first. by a 4-1 margin, the american people have said they are prepared to treat compassionately people who've entered the country illegally, who've been here a long time and done otherwise right things, and we're prepared to be compassionate and deal with th them. but we don't trust washington, we want to see you do the enforcement before you go and give this legal status, this amnesty. that's common sense. there's nothing wrong with that. the american people aren't mean spirited when they say that. they've seen this game before. they've scene how it's played, been played before. they don't, they don't -- they don't have confidence in us. and i can cite example after example after example after example of laws, rules, promises made never

but to bob corker and john hoeven, your efforts to come up with a new amendment along with senator hatch and senator ayotte really made the difference. so i just want the to recognize these people that they came along at a time when america needed them and this bill is the result of hard work of many people at the staff level but key senators who were not in the original bipartisan group came to the aid. i will yield. thank you very much for allowing tow say these words. mr. hatch: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i want to thank my colleague from south carolina for his kind remarks. he is right on a the love these folks who came to the forefront on this bill. thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: let me also congratulate the -- our friend senator graham for his extraordinarily leadership on this. let me ask unanimous consent that i be able to speak for another five or six minutes before i conclude my remarks and let me also ask unanimous consent that the interruption that we just sustained be removed to th

with a statement, far from tough interior enforcement measures this bill now combined with the corker-hoeven into a single 1,200 page bill caters to special interest groups and in doing doing so. in this immigration bill senator harry reid secured an extension of the $100 million in the travel promotion act which they are calling the casino kick back. so how does urging people visiting vegas have anything to do with immigration reform? that's not all. according to analysis for immigration studies because of this bill one in seven u.s. residents would be immigrants by 2020. that surpasses a record that was set, by the way, back in 1890. joining me now with reaction is texas senator ted cruz who voted against this amendment. welcome aboard. the first question i sadly have to ask, did you have time to read it before you even voted today? >> well i've read much of it. we've been going through it. it's not by accident that they dumped a 1,200 page bill on us friday afternoon before a weekend, most of the senators were already on airplanes, had gone home by then and then we voted on it monday afte

hoeven: that's what this amendment does. it secures the border with five tough provisions that must be met before green cards are allowed. those five triggers are a comprehensive southern border strategy, must be deployed and operational, 20,000 additional border patrol agents, a total of 700 miles of fence, a national mandatory everify system must be in place and electronic entry-exit identification system must be in place at all airports and seaports. simply put, this is about making sure we secure the border and we do it in an objective and verifiable way. i want to thank all of my cosponsors on this legislation and turn to the good senator from tennessee and thank him for his work. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: this grand compromise makes false promises to the american people. it throws money at the border but there's no accountability to get the job done. we need to see results, but the only result we're b

democratic idea -- >> you said the amendment was written by chuck schumer when it was written by john hoeven and bob corker in tennessee. >> i said it was -- >> one at a time. >> i said it was schumer's idea -- >> correct p.. i'm glad you put it out there. >> he wants this done to give republicans what they are asking for, and, in fact, republicans are getting almost everything that they want here, and john bain ser in a huge box because he either has to show leadership and do what is right for the country, a majority of americans believe this is -- >> majority wants border security. you just called it militarization. >> exactly. and border security is actually in there now in a way it's neve been there before. republicans have no excuse. if they don't do this, they can say good-bye to the white house for the next 50 years. >> thank you some for your time, maria and amy. >> thank you so much. >>> there was an unusual spectator at the james bulger trial. robert duvall. he was sitting in the back of the room watching the trial and soaking up the atmosphere. why? well, duvall is in the boston a