Dick Durbin: “I can still remember the day in June a few years ago, June 27, 2013--2\1/2\ years ago. The Senate gathered and voted on…”

“I can still remember the day in June a few years ago, June 27, 2013--2\1/2\ years ago. The Senate gathered and voted on comprehensive immigration reform. The vote was 68 to 22. The bill meant a lot to many of us. Eight of us--four Democrats and four Republicans--had literally worked for months trying to craft a bill to address the massive immigration system in America, a system that is terribly broken. I think it surprised a lot of people, but we did it. Democrats and Republicans agreeing on something--there is a headliner. Who sat across the table? Not an easy jury to decide any issue when it came to Senate business. On our side of the table were Chuck Schumer of New York, chair of the Senate immigration subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee at that point; myself; Bob Menendez, Hispanic American Senator from the State of New Jersey; and Michael Bennet of Colorado--four of us. On the opposite side of the table, John McCain led the effort on the Republican side, along with Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who had a background in law enforcement in the military and is currently running for President. Next to him, Marco Rubio from the State of Florida, Cuban American, came to this undertaking. He, too, is running for President of the United States; and Jeff Flake of Arizona, a conservative Republican. We worked for months. We went through every provision and came to a bipartisan agreement to move the bill forward. We passed it 68 to 22.…”