John Cornyn: “last week I previewed an amendment I will be offering, hopefully, as early as this afternoon, on the underlying…”

“last week I previewed an amendment I will be offering, hopefully, as early as this afternoon, on the underlying immigration bill. This is an amendment which the Democratic majority leader and at least one or two other Members of the Senate have called a poison pill. I find that somewhat bizarre, especially in light of what others have said about this amendment, which I will talk about briefly. It strikes me as unusual that anytime anyone offers a different idea by way of an amendment that people do not like they call it a poison pill, as if that was the only option. You either take it without the amendment or you accept the amendment and it kills the legislation. We know the truth is far different. In fact, several members of the so-called Gang of 8 who have been very much involved in negotiating the underlying bill have different opinions, which actually I find somewhat refreshing but not all that surprising. Senator Flake, for example, from Arizona, said, ``I don't think it is a poison pill,'' on June 12. Senator Rubio said of my results amendment, ``It's an excellent place to start.'' I am grateful for their comments. Senator Bennet, a Senator from Colorado, on the other side of the aisle and Senator Flake argued that ``they are not afraid of adding a requirement to nab 90 percent of would-be border crossers.'' That was at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast on June 12.…”