On the recordJune 11, 2013
I want to first thank the Senator from South Dakota for his indulgence for 5 minutes or so to do this, and the Senator from Indiana for yielding his time to me. We got a little out of order on the floor, but I wanted to speak before the night was out about this incredible chance we have with respect to fixing our broken immigration system. Over the next few weeks, the Senate has a golden opportunity to do something great, to do something that is important, to do something that shows that Washington can actually work; that we are aligned with the priorities of the American people; and that we can take on hard challenges and solve them. That is the opportunity before us. I have to say thank you to all of my colleagues who served on this so-called Gang of 8 and worked not even in a bipartisan way but in a nonpartisan way to fix problems that afflict our economy and our democracy throughout the country in different ways. I particularly want to thank Senator John McCain and Senator Schumer for their leadership during good times, but particularly during the tough times during this negotiation. A lot of people I represent sometimes wonder whether Washington is just irretrievably broken, whether we can actually do something in the regular order instead of just in the middle of the night. To them I can come to the floor tonight and say: Finally, we have a process of which we can be proud. We have a bipartisan bill.…
