BRAINS Act

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the problem with the Senator's proposal is that this piece of legislation he has referred to has not passed out of committee in the Senate. It has not passed the House. This bill, the STEM Act, has passed the House. Theirs has a 2-year sunset provision; this is permanent legislation. Also, it has no family unification provision that will allow the immediate family members of the green card holder to wait the time when they will become eligible for a green card in the United States as opposed to back in their country of origin, and it does nothing to promote merit- based immigration reform. We ought to be looking at immigration reform from the standpoint of not just how it can help the immigrant but how it can help America create jobs and entrepreneurship.

For those reasons, I object.

Mr. President, at this time I yield to the distinguished Senator from North Dakota and then, following that, the distinguished Senator from Iowa for any comments he cares to make.

How much time remains?

Mr. President, I yield to the distinguished Senator from Iowa for any comments he cares to make.

Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks of the distinguished Senators from Iowa, North Dakota, and Kentucky.

I think what people find so maddening about Congress and Washington, DC, is even when we agree, we still cannot seem to get anything done. How is it that we can agree on the importance of additional STEM green cards and still not be able to get anything done? This is not about what is perfect, but this is about what is possible given what has happened in the House of Representatives.

We could do this today and send it to the President of the United States in the next couple of days so he can sign it. The question is, How many more years will pass while we have these highly qualified students who graduate from our own colleges and universities with master's degrees and Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math before we finally address the problem?

I realize there is other legislation people would like to have considered, but this has actually passed the House of Representatives.

I remember the hearing we had in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration of which I am the ranking member. The Senator from New York said at that time--and this would not be a surprise to him since these are his own words, and it is consistent with what he said on the Senate floor:

If we do not enact an immigration policy that continues to

attract the world's best minds, we will cease to be the

world's economic leader.

That is why I call this a self-inflicted wound. If we agree that American workers should get the right of first refusal, but there are not sufficient American workers with the qualifications in these important fields, why in the world would we not allow the creation of jobs and new enterprises that would come with the STEM Jobs Act that has passed the House?

I have a series of letters: one from the chancellor of the University of Texas System, Texas A&M University System, Texas Tech University System, the University of Houston System, the University of North Texas, and the Texas State University System in support of STEM legislation. I also have a letter from Rice University president David Leebron supporting this same type of legislation.

I have a letter dated June 25, 2012, addressed to President Obama, Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Speaker Boehner and then-Leader Pelosi from the Partnership for a New American Economy signed by the presidents or chancellors of 42 public and private universities. I have a letter to Congress from the Information Technology Industry Council, Partnership for a New American Economy, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supporting STEM immigration reform such as this bill.

I have another letter dated November 15, 2012, to Members of Congress from the American Council on International Personnel and the Society for Human Resource Management supporting this type of STEM legislation. I have another letter dated September 19, 2012, to Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor, Whip McCarthy, Minority Leader Pelosi, and Minority Whip Hoyer from CONNECT, a U.S. San Diego tech transfer commercialization enterprise.

I also have a letter from the president of Baylor University in support of STEM legislation.

I ask unanimous consent that the letters I just referenced be printed in the Record at this time.

Mr. President, I think the record should be clear that our side of the aisle believes we should act today and not wait and not delay further this important STEM Jobs Act for the very reason I said earlier, which is that it will help job creators and entrepreneurs.

The reason STEM visas are particularly powerful is because these individuals with special expertise in math, technology, engineering, and the like are uniquely qualified to be able to start up new enterprises and to attract and create jobs for other people. In other words, there is a multiplier effect. For every 1 of the 55,000 green cards that would be created by this act, there are hundreds of thousands of people who would enjoy jobs as a result of the economic activity in this country.

I hope we don't sacrifice another crop of science, technology, and engineering graduates in the hope that we can get the perfect immigration bill. In fact, we know this is a difficult area in which to legislate, and both sides of the aisle know we need to deal with all of the different facets of our broken immigration system. But this bill has passed the House. It is here and now. We could pass it today by unanimous consent but for the objection of our friends across the aisle and the objection, amazingly enough, of the President of the United States who himself has claimed for at least the last 4 years that he is in favor of immigration reform.

It is also an important confidence builder in terms of the acceptance of this legislation by the American people. The American people are justifiably skeptical of Congress passing another omnibus or comprehensive piece of legislation. We tried that before, and we found out that even if people have read bills going into the thousands of pages in length, many times there are unintended consequences.

So I believe it is very important that we start with this important STEM Jobs Act, that we demonstrate we are worthy of the confidence and trust of the American people when it comes to addressing our broken immigration system, in an area where we have consensus such as the STEM jobs field. I tell my colleagues they have my personal commitment that I will be there to work with them to deal with other parts of our broken immigration system as we go forward.

The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to start here. If we can't pass this legislation--and I am skeptical based upon the objection we have heard today--I wonder if we will ever be able to pass immigration reform. If we can't do this consensus bill, tell me one other piece of legislation we could pass in this field by agreement of the political parties and send it on to the President. Indeed, I think there is room to wonder whether some people in this Chamber would prefer to have this an issue they can wield in the next election rather than to join together on a bipartisan basis and to solve what is broken in our immigration system.

Let's start here. Let's build on this. We can do it today if we can just somehow avoid the objections and pass this legislation that has been passed by the House. It passes the STEM visa bill, it keeps families together, and it represents values I would think both sides of the aisle would applaud.

With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I thank the esteemed Senator from Texas and the Senator from Kentucky. I see the Senator from Iowa has joined us as well.

I rise to speak in support of the STEM Act but also to respond to the Senator from New York. I see the Senator has left, but I also want to respond to some of the points in support of the Senator from Texas.

The STEM Act passed the House; it was H. Res. 6429, sponsored by Congressman Lamar Smith. I argue that it accomplishes both of the things we are talking about today. It provides us with the opportunity to have a greater pool of employees with training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which is what we need in this country. It also accomplishes the diversity that was referred to by the Senator from New York.

So what the Senators from Texas, Kentucky, Iowa, and myself are proposing is to accomplish both goals. We are saying we can have the students who have graduated with either a doctorate degree or a master's degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which is what we very much need to get our economy growing. A growing economy creates more employment. It also creates the revenue without raising taxes that we need to address our deficit and debt. So this legislation accomplishes both those goals and still provides an increase in diversity which is what the Senator from New York was talking about.

The additional point is the point that the Senator from Texas very clearly made. This legislation passed the House. The last time I checked, legislation has to pass the Senate and the House. That is a pretty important distinction.

Referring back to the comments of the Senator from Kentucky, who said if we cannot do it all at once because of disagreements, let's start getting done what we can get done, here is a bill that provides us with people in the science and technology fields who can help our economy grow. These are people we need very much. It will increase diversity, just as the Senator from New York said, and it has passed the House. Common sense says let's go. Let's pass the bill.

So we want to join with the Senator from New York, the Senator from Delaware, and the other sponsors to whom he referred, but let's join on something we can actually get done, meaning a bill that passes the House as well as the Senate. I think that logic is compelling.

I look at my own State of North Dakota. We are doing amazing things in energy. As a matter of fact, we are hot on the trail of the State of Texas when it comes to oil development. I am telling you, we are after you.

So what is that going to take? It is going to take continued development of the technologies that not only helps us produce more energy, but helps us do it with good environmental stewardship. What we are talking about is when we have the engineers, scientists, technicians, and mathematicians who graduate from our great universities with doctorate and master's degrees, they can stay and help us here rather than help someone else in some other country that would then get ahead of the United States. This will help us solve the fundamental challenges we face today, which is getting this economy growing so we get people back to work and creating the revenue the right way with economic growth to help us address our deficit and debt.

With that, I yield the floor to the esteemed Senator from Texas.

Mr. President, today, I'm proud to speak in support of the STEM Jobs Act of 2012, a bill passed by the House of Representatives last week. This bill would make available up to 55,000 green cards each year for foreign students who have received doctorates or master's degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math, also known as STEM, from a U.S. university. The bill would not increase overall immigration levels, but rather, would move our immigration

system toward one in which we reward the best and brightest of the world with the chance to remain, live, and work in this country.

Without a doubt, our immigration system is flawed. I have long argued that we need to enhance and expand legal avenues for U.S. employers to hire foreign workers. While I am a champion for rooting out fraud and abuse from many of our visa programs, I'm also supportive of finding ways to allow people to enter this country through legal channels.

It makes sense to allow foreign students who have been trained and educated on U.S. soil to remain here. These students have advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math, and this bill will ensure that we keep those highly skilled and sought-after students here for employers in need.

Our economy cannot wait. We need to enact solutions today that create economic growth.

We also have no reason to wait for next year's likely debate on immigration. Attracting and retaining high-skilled workers should not be a partisan issue. The senior Senator from New York has a similar proposal to grant green cards to STEM students. I can only assume that many people on the other side of the aisle would support this bill if the majority leader gave it a chance. Nearly 30 Democrats in the House crossed the aisle to help this bill pass last week.

Finally, as we look ahead to immigration reform, it will be important to consider ways our policies benefit future generations, not just solve the problems of the day. Our immigration system should be structured in a way to recruit people with skills in STEM fields. This bill is a good first step to changing our system to a merit-based one. Enhancing our legal immigration channels should be a top priority, and I am committed to working on ways to do that for all sectors of the economy.

I hope the majority will reconsider, and allow the Senate to call up and pass the STEM Jobs Act and send it to the President. It would be a signal to the American people that we can work together to enact needed immigration reforms.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3553, the BRAINS Act, and the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the bill be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

I will be brief because I don't want to take away from my colleagues' time. What this bill does is provide more STEM visas than the previous bill. It provides an entrepreneurship visa which the other bill does not. It does not take away existing visas, which the Senator from Texas doesn't like, but many other people find popular, good, and necessary. The unemployment rate for those on the diversity visas coming in is much lower than that of the national average.

If we want to pass a pure STEM bill without extraneous provisions added by people who are anti-immigration because they don't want to see any net increase in immigration, I urge the support of our bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.