HBCU PARTNERS Act

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Protecting Employees Security Clearances Act of 2019 (PESCA). I am pleased to have Senators Leahy, Jones, Baldwin, Kaine, Feinstein, Hirono, Klobuchar, Durbin, Shaheen, Cortez Masto, Hassan, and Van Hollen as cosponsors. Our measure would protect federal employees and contractors from losing their security clearances due to financial reasons, such as poor credit scores, that are attributable to a lapse in federal appropriations. The bill directs the Security Executive Agent to ensure that a lapse in appropriations (including the one that ended last month) is considered as a mitigating factor for initial or continued security clearance eligibility during the adjudication process. More specifically, the bill states that ``No head of any agency may revoke the national security eligibility of a covered employee because of a reduction in the credit score or negative information in a consumer credit file of the covered employee that is attributable to disrupted income payments as a result of a lapse in appropriations.''

Nearly 80 percent of Americans live from one paycheck to the next. They cannot afford to miss even a single paycheck. Federal workers and contractors are no different. ``Excepted'' employees--those individuals who are compelled to work without pay during a shutdown--are guaranteed retroactive pay. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (Public Law 116-1), which I authored, now guarantees retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers. I have co-sponsored S. 162, Senator Smith's bill to provide retroactive pay for lower wage contractor employees. Currently, there is no guarantee that contractor employees will be paid after a shutdown ends.

Many federal workers and contractors are subject to high security standards that include rigorous and routine financial background checks. Missing payments on debts could create delays in securing or renewing security clearances. We shouldn't punish these hard-working, patriotic Americans because they are forced to go without pay during a shutdown they bear no responsibility for causing. Providing retroactive pay is the right and fair thing to do, but forcing these individuals to miss one or more paychecks causes real financial harm. At a minimum, their security clearances shouldn't be jeopardized as a result.

Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) published a report entitled, ``Voices From The Field: FBI Agent Accounts of the Real Consequences of the Government Shutdown.'' The report warned of the dire national security consequences of the shutdown. It also documented the financial hardships FBIAA members were facing. Two comments from the FBIAA's Central Region summed up the situation. One Agent wrote, ``My wife and I are both FBI employees who were recently transferred to a new city and finally bought our first home. Now we can't pay the mortgage for it. We contacted our lender, and they are refusing to work with us. They don't want our `Hardship Letter', they want money, period.'' Another wrote, ``There have been several employees who have gotten zero assistance from their mortgage lenders and banks regarding home and car loans and still have to make payments on time or get penalized. They are truly struggling to make ends meet.''

Last December, when President Trump met with Leader Schumer and soon- to-be Speaker Pelosi, he boasted about shutting the government down, saying, ``I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.'' While President Trump was proud ``to take the mantle,'' innocent victims were taking it on the chin. Here we are, less than five days away from another potential shutdown. I earnestly hope we can avoid another shutdown. But in the interim, we urgently need to mitigate the real harm federal workers and contractor employees suffer when they are forced to go without their pay. Passing PESCA is one way to do that. Just 13 days elapsed between the time I introduced the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act and President Trump signed it into law. I hope we can act with the same alacrity with respect to PESCA.

Mr. President, today I am reintroducing the Librarian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senators Whitehouse, Durbin, Klobuchar, Smith, Cardin, and Van Hollen.

In 1989, a seven-year civil war broke out in Liberia that claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, displaced over half of the Liberian population, halted food production, and destroyed the country's infrastructure and economy. A second civil war then followed from 1999 to 2003, further destabilizing the country and creating more turmoil and hardship for its people. Then from 2014 to 2016, Liberia faced an Ebola virus outbreak that devastated the country's fragile health system and killed nearly 5,000 people. As a result of these tragedies, thousands of Liberians sought refuge in the United States, living and working here under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) systems, extended under both Republican and Democratic administrations beginning in 1991.

The reality is that for more than a quarter of a century, the United States has been home to law-abiding and taxpaying Liberians. They fled violence, turmoil, and disease to come here. Many now have children who are American citizens, some of whom serve in the Armed Forces. They have worked hard, played by the rules, paid their dues, and submitted to rigorous vetting.

But now, as a result of President Trump's decision to terminate DED for Liberians, this population could face the risk of deportation on March 31st. Uprooting them now would be cruel and harmful to them, their families, employers, and communities.

And while things are improving on the ground in Liberia, following the first democratic transition of power in decades, there are still serious concerns about the country's stability and ability to maintain peace and deliver essential services to its population. So though few in number, the influx of Liberians from the United States could overburden the country's limited infrastructure and reverse the progress that the Liberian people and government have made.

Given these challenges, we believe that it is in the national security, foreign policy, and humanitarian interest of the United States for this population to remain here. I have introduced the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act in every Congress since 1999 because this community deserves a long-term solution after decades of uncertainty. This bill provides legal status and a pathway to citizenship for qualifying Liberians. I have worked with several of my colleagues over the years to include this pathway in comprehensive immigration reform bills that passed this body only to die in the House of Representatives.

The Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act would end the perpetual limbo for Liberians here in the United States and ensure our security interests in fostering Liberia's continuing postwar and post-Ebola recovery. This legislation offers much-needed certainty for the Liberian community, and it should be part of any bipartisan and comprehensive solution for our broken immigration system. I thank Senators Whitehouse, Durbin, Klobuchar, Smith, Cardin, and Van Hollen for cosponsoring this bill and urge our colleagues to join us to finally provide a pathway to citizenship for eligible Liberians who contribute so much to our American community.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 461.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Without objection, it is so ordered.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.