Michael Bennet: “I come to the floor today to talk about the bill that has been before us for the last week and a half or so to fix our…”

“I come to the floor today to talk about the bill that has been before us for the last week and a half or so to fix our broken immigration system. As the Presiding Officer knows, this bill has been the product of bipartisan work both in the so-called Gang of 8, which I have the privilege to be a part of, as well as in the Judiciary Committee where they ran a process that set a standard for the way this place ought to operate. We considered over 300 amendments in the Judiciary Committee, accepting 141 amendments, many of them from Republicans and Democrats alike. Now we are on the floor. Those who want to delay immigration reform, who want to defeat immigration reform, are using every tactic they can find to try to stop this bill. But, fortunately, there are other people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle who are trying to come to an agreement. We focused a lot in the last week, as we should, talking about the border. I spoke about the progress we have already made in securing our southern border. There is more to do. There is progress that is reflected in the underlying bill, and if that can be improved in a way that does not make the pathway to citizenship contingent or unreal, I think there are those of us who are willing to hear what that looks like.…”