Floor Statements

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, my home State of Florida is once again experiencing an environmental and economic catastrophe--a real crisis. It is a crisis that was caused extending back decades--decades of bad decisions, decisions made on things people didn't think about, neglect, and myopic water management. Nowhere is that crisis more acute and more apparent than at Lake Okeechobee, the liquid heart of the Everglades, and our surrounding communities, including the city of Stuart, which is on the verge of seeing conditions very similar to what they experienced in the year 2016.

That is what this picture here is about. What we see on this photo is algae--thick, toxic algae--that was gathering underneath that bridge back in 2016.

This really goes back decades. The historic Florida Everglades--the head waters began in Lake Okeechobee. This massive lake, this reservoir, is right in the center of our State. What would happen is when rainfall would come in and when water would overflow, it would just continue to flow south into the Everglades and down into the Florida Bay. But then people began to move in and develop Florida, and therefore there was a need for the Army Corps to step in and carefully script the flow of water in the southern half of Florida.

This all began since the construction of something called the Herbert Hoover Dike and then, subsequently, the development beginning in 1948 of the Central and South Florida projects to manage flood risks. Unfortunately, this flood control system that was designed to keep the water from coming out of Lake Okeechobee and flooding communities to the south of it has significant limitations and neglects to use the Everglades' natural flow wave. That is why Everglades restoration is something that, apart from ecosystem and wildlife benefits, is so critically important for our Nation and for my State of Florida. Everglades restoration is not simply about restoring a national treasure, it is also about allowing much more flexibility for water management at greatly reduced costs and at reduced harm to coastal communities.

The best way to understand it for those who are new to this issue is that we have this massive lake. The lake used to overflow, and when it did, the water would flow down. Communities and agriculture moved into the southern part of the State, just south of that lake; therefore, there was a need to construct a dam to hold back the water and prevent the flooding and loss of life, which is natural, and then a canal system to allow the waters to flow east and west.

The problem that has developed over the years is what we are dealing with now, and that is that as of today, when water levels in Lake Okeechobee rise too high, that water must be released in massive quantities. Today, the water levels are over 4\1/2\ feet deep--a full 2 feet higher than the Corps would prefer at this time of year as the rainy season kicks in. So they look at the dike and they look at its capacity and they worry that, knowing it is going to continue to rain throughout the summer, if the water levels get too high, we could have the dike compromised, and we could have flooding and loss of life. Therefore, they are forced to release water.

Last year, as an example, we saw large amounts of water and rainwater. Among other causes, of course, was Hurricane Irma, which caused Lake Okeechobee to rise to record-high levels. Again this year, Florida has experienced large amounts of rain. This rainfall carries nutrients into the lake from upstream.

The lake is in the center part of the State. Just north of it are areas such as Kissimmee and Orlando and population. People move in and fertilize their lawns, and all kinds of nutrients get into the groundwater. It rains, and it flows into Lake Okeechobee. The more it rains, the more it flows out. So the water level of the lake gets higher, and the nutrient flow into the lake also gets higher.

As we can see from these time-lapse images, when that nutrient-rich water flows in on top of the nutrient-rich water that is already there--and heat comes into play--the result is algae blooms. That is where it was on the 12th of June. This is where it was on the 20th. All of that red represents algae. This is where it was on the 21st and then on the 24th. If you looked at an image of this today, almost the entire lake is covered by thick, toxic algae.

To make sure there is no damage or threat to the dike, which itself is being worked on in order to strengthen it, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases water from the lake to the east to the St. Lucie River and to the west to the Caloosahatchee River. We remember it used to flow south, and now it has been diverted into these canal systems to the east and to the west. So if you are living to the west or if you are living to the east, what you know is that when these releases happen, all of that algae you see here and all of that green algae I just showed you in that picture, which is toxic and kills life, not to mention--it is harmful to people who come into contact with it, potentially even breathe it in, and all of that stuff is headed your way when those releases happen.

Unfortunately, those discharges have a catastrophic impact on the environment and on the Floridians living along our coastal ecosystems. They are especially destructive when these releases export, as I said, nutrient-rich waters with toxic blue-green algae blooms from the lake to the waterways and the estuaries that are downstream because there, those blooms--that algae, which kills fish, fouls the water, and shutters all sorts of small businesses along the coast, has a tremendous negative impact on property values, the real estate market. It creates respiratory irritation for people as well as contact dermatitis for residents who get too close to it.

Imagine you live in this area. Maybe you are a small business that depends on visitors. Maybe you invested a lot of money to retire near the water. Maybe you grew up there or lived your entire life there or spent summers there, or maybe your greatest memories are of times your family spent on the water, and this is headed your way. I assure you that this does not increase your property values; it collapses them. I assure you that it does not encourage

visitors to come to your area. It not only discourages them from coming now, but the reputation gets out, and all of these small businesses that depend on access to the water are now being threatened by that as well.

We see this picture here, this green. That is all toxic algae--all of that--on one of the waterways. That is not Chicago on St. Patrick's Day. That is not food coloring. That is toxic algae in the Caloosahatchee River. Images like this are becoming all too common for the residents in this area.

The picture does not do it justice. This is not just the color of the water; this is thick algae of a kind that is inches deep. You can imagine that everything underneath that is not just being cut off from sunlight and oxygen, but it is toxic. It is killing everything underneath it as well. You can't go underneath that water, you can't touch it, and everything that is in it is going to struggle to survive.

Over the weekend, particularly on Sunday morning, I began to raise concerns and the concerns of our coastal communities that were on the receiving end of this. Imagine if you live in one of these communities. You see the pictures of the lake that is basically all green, and you know that on Monday morning, they are going to open it up, and all of this stuff is going to come pouring down in your area. They are frightened. It is like impending doom.

We reached out to the President. We reached out to the administration. Thankfully, they acted quickly. They called the Army Corps, and the Army Corps paused the discharges that were scheduled for Monday. So on Monday--Sunday night, early Monday morning--people woke to the positive news that these releases were not going to start on Monday.

By the way, if you go over to the release points where the water is let out, it is all backed up with this algae. All you have to do is stand there and see it, and you know that as soon as they open it, all of this stuff is coming out and come at you.

They gave us this 3- or 4-day reprieve--however long it takes to allow water managers to conduct a full assessment of system conditions and to look for other available options for moving water.

While this was a positive response, it is not a long-term answer to this problem. At some point over the next few days, this is going to have to be released. It is going to happen. It is just a matter of time. And the result is that 2018 is shaping up to be another lost summer along the Caloosahatchee and Indian River Lagoon estuaries, just as it was in 2013 and just as it was in 2016.

I want to be frank. Over the last 20, 30, 10, and 5 years, the Federal Government has not done enough for anyone to expect that anything will change in the next 5 years.

Here is full candor. There are really no good, viable, short-term options that will fix this overnight. That is a fact. We know that. Ultimately, no matter how much we push the Army Corps to hold back releases, at some point they will have to because we are in rainy season, and there comes a point where the risk of flood and loss of life compels them to release some of it. You hope they pulse it. You hope they spread it out. You hope they don't release more than they need to. You hope they stretch it as much as possible. But in the end, you know it is going to happen, and so do the residents in this region. What is frustrating is that not only is the release coming, but nothing seems to be happening to prevent this from continuing on forever.

That is why it is so important for us that while we work to try to spread out these releases to minimize to the extent possible the impact they have, we have to begin to work on the things that ultimately will solve this. What ultimately will solve this are the issues that we are committed to continuing to work on. It is multipronged, and it will take a number of years to get it done.

The Senate will soon take up the water infrastructure bill. That bill is going to allow us to move forward with the Everglades agriculture area reservoir. This project, by the way, is connected to the broader project called the Central Everglades Planning Project, which the Congress authorized in 2016's water resources bill. That reservoir is vital to ensuring that more water is sent south through the Everglades as nature intended.

This reservoir will basically be at pace for some of that water-- instead of having to go east and west, it can go into this reservoir south of the lake; it can be cleansed of many of those nutrients; and then, instead of being released east and west, that cleaner water could be released south into the Everglades, the way some of it once was back in the historic Everglades.

That project, that piece of it--the agriculture area reservoir--was at the Office of Management and Budget. That is why we worked with them and really spoke to them a number of times to get them to quickly approve the Army Corps' review of the storage reservoir project. I am happy for the residents of Florida and particularly these impacted areas that these efforts succeeded.

Yesterday, the administration and the Office of Management and Budget approved the Corps' review of the project so that its design and construction can now be authorized by Congress. We also must continue to move with expediency to finish the rehabilitation of the dike. We fought hard to include appropriations in the most recent disaster supplemental that would provide enough funding to, once and for all, ensure this is made a priority for completion. So I appreciate the administration's heeding this request.

Just last week, the Army Corps allocated more than $514 million for the dike. That means that with all the money needed to complete the project now allocated, the money is now available, and the dike can be finished by 2022. What we hope that means is that now that the dike is repaired and stronger, they will be able to hold back more water for longer periods of time.

But that alone isn't going to solve the problem. It will have some impact and it certainly is important, and we certainly need to do it. We never want to see the dike compromised, but, ultimately, that alone will not be enough. We have to continue to do all the other things, including the reservoir I spoke about a moment ago.

We also have to remain focused on bottlenecks at the southern end of the flow management system to allow for increased flow of water. This includes ensuring our partnership with the State of Florida, the Army Corps, and the Department of the Interior--that we all continue to work together to meet the important timelines and project funding targets.

I have spoken to President Trump about this. I recall at some point in the summer of last year, as we flew to Miami for an event, we had a chance in our flight path to fly over part of the Everglades. The President is a part-time resident of Florida; he knows the area well. Palm Beach in particular is one of the areas impacted by all this. We talked about the opportunity the President had to be the infrastructure President and, when it comes to Florida, to be the President who actually gets this done for the Florida Everglades.

I have asked him and talked to him about doubling Federal investment in Everglades restoration infrastructure, like the Central Everglades Planning Project, to clean and store and move water into South Florida's natural flood plain and away from where people live along the coasts.

In 2000, Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. It was a complete framework for everything that needs to happen, and we have to continue to move forward on finally getting it done. There were too many delays. It took too long. There wasn't enough of a Federal commitment.

Hopefully now--just in the last couple of years--we have begun to make headway on it because these infrastructure projects aren't just about restoring the Everglades. This is not just an environmental project. If it were just an environmental project, that alone would justify it, but it is not just an environmental project. It is about economic development. It is about water quality and about water supply. It is about the value of property. It is about quality of life. It impacts millions of our residents and visitors.

We have to finish the projects. We have to stay focused. If we take our eye off the ball, if we divert attention somewhere else, if we interrupt the work of these projects--every one of these delays just makes more and more

of these events. If Congress in 2000 had moved at the speed we are moving now, some of this would have been avoided, and with every year that we delay--not acting--these are the real world consequences; it only gets worse, not better.

That is why I remain committed, and among my highest priorities for the State of Florida is to get this done in a timely fashion, with the Federal support and the Federal commitment necessary to match what the State has already done with great urgency. I hope we can continue to make progress on all of this. Otherwise, we are going to have more loss, and the lives of millions of people will continue to be impacted in catastrophic ways.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, in this farm bill, when it was considered in committee, there was an amendment added that allows for American agricultural interests to promote American agriculture on the enslaved island of Cuba.

In an effort to be accommodating, I have said: Well, that is fine. It is not a very large market, and, frankly, as long as we are not lending them money--because they are never going to pay us back--I am not going to object to the ability of American farmers to market our products to a market. In the end, it is food.

What I do think we should not allow, however, is the ability to spend American taxpayer money in properties and in other places on the island that are owned and controlled by the Cuban

military. Last year, President Trump issued an Executive order that prohibited American citizens who traveled to Cuba from staying at hotels or frequenting businesses or anything of this nature that is controlled by GAESA, which is a holding company controlled by the Cuban military.

So what I have proposed as a way forward on this is to basically say: That is fine. You can promote American agriculture in Cuba. But while you are there and doing your activities, you can promote it, but you just can't spend any of these taxpayer dollars at any of the facilities or businesses controlled or owned by the Cuban military. The list is detailed and provided by the State Department via Executive order.

That is the amendment I offered. To date, we have not been able to get it considered as part of any of these vehicles that are moving. Therefore, procedurally, I am wanting to protect my right to ensure this gets included in something that is incredibly important from my perspective, so I object.

Madam President, few issues have bedeviled our country and our political process more than immigration. It is well known by now how difficult it is to get anything done on the topic. Later today, the House will have a vote. I don't know how that will turn out, but we have seen how difficult it is to even get to that point.

The reason it is a difficult issue is multifaceted. The first is, it involves people. It is easy to throw around numbers--100,000, 1.1 million a year, 2,000, but these are human beings who, by and large, want to come to America because it is the best country in the world. That is one of the things that makes it difficult; we are talking about human beings. It is not trade. It is not dollars. It is people. The other reason it is difficult is because we are a nation in which few, if any of us, are but a few generations removed at most from someone who came here from somewhere else. The closer you are to that reality, the more you identify with those who want to come here. I was blessed to be born in the United States, but I didn't do anything to earn that. I happen to have benefited from the fact that my parents lived 90 miles away from the greatest Nation on Earth. They could have been born somewhere else. They could have made a different decision in their lives. I am not sure what would have happened, quite frankly, since my parents had me in their forties, and I am not even sure I would have been born. I am a beneficiary of that incredible blessing.

The flip side of it is, I am also a lawmaker, and I understand that every Nation on this planet has immigration laws. Mexico has immigration laws. Canada has immigration laws. Canada, earlier this week, sent out a statement to TPS recipients in America that if your TPS expires, don't come to Canada because we are not going to let you in.

I have personally witnessed the immigration laws in places like Honduras--one of the source countries of some of our migration. I was there 2 years ago, and I visited a migration place. Basically, Honduras's policy is this: We detain you, we feed you, and we give you 48 hours to get out of the country.

Every country in the world has immigration laws, and anytime those laws are challenged by large numbers of people who want to enter outside of those laws, it creates friction and problems. It has throughout the history of this country, and it is doing it all over the world right now. The governing coalition in Germany could collapse over the issue. Multiple elections in Europe have been decided. In fact, the very future of the EU itself is under duress over the issue of migration and a common border.

So this is not just a difficult issue in America. It is a difficult issue around the world. One of the reasons that it is so difficult here is that we have long prided ourselves on being a nation of immigrants, and we remain that. One of the things that isn't repeated enough--and you will never get this if you listen to some of the ways this issue is covered on either side of this debate--is that every single year, over 1 million human beings enter the United States legally, and many of them, within 3 to 5 years, swear an oath to become American citizens. I believe, with all of my heart, that that strengthens our country. With all of this noise that you are hearing, just remember the baseline, which is that every single year over 1 million people come to this country legally. That has happened, and it will happen again this year. I will tell you that no other nation on Earth even comes close to extending that level of generosity.

The problem we have is that in our region there are countries of incredible instability. This ebbs and flows. I live in South Florida, a majority minority community that is deeply influenced by migration waves of Cubans who have come in multiple waves to flee communism; of Haitians who have come through during different periods of instability; of people who fled instability in Nicaragua, for example, in the 1980s and called this home; of Colombians who fled in the 1990s because of violence there; or of Venezuelans who seek asylum now because of the situation there. Every time there is a hemispheric problem, people in these countries seek to go to the greatest Nation on Earth, which is the closest to them, by the way. That is the United States.

So this is not new for us. Our challenge is how we can accommodate that and accommodate our legacy as a nation of immigrants but also do it through a system of law. There is nothing wrong with having ordered compassion. We have safety net programs in America that provide people who come upon tough times with healthcare and housing and money for food, but there is a process by which to get it. There are qualifications that you have to meet, there is an application that you have to fill out, and there is a limit as to how long you can use it. That is true with most charities as well. So you can be generous, and you can be ordered. Yet every time there is any sort of instability in a region, it places migratory pressure on the United States.

One of the ones that has arisen lately over the last few years is the instability in Honduras, in Guatemala, and in El Salvador. You can watch the documentaries. You can read the books and the articles. You can interview the people.

I can tell you that I know people personally. I don't know them like I met them at an event. I know them. I know their families, and I know their stories because they live in South Florida. I know.

I know people who have left because some local gang, thug, or organized crime group went to them and said: Unless you pay us 10 percent of what you make this month, we are going to kill your daughter; we are going to kill your wife; and we are going to burn your store. When people are told that, they leave. I know people who have left because they can't feed their families. So they come because they are going to work and send back money so that their kids can eat.

I ask everyone: If you are a parent and your children are hungry and if you are fearful that your children or your wife or your family could be

killed by a gang, would you not do almost anything to help them?

We understand that part. Yet that has to be balanced with the reality that America is a country that is proud of its heritage of being a nation of immigrants that continues to be generous in welcoming them but that it also has to have a system. It can't be disordered because, otherwise, it strains our capacity. It also overlooks another obligation we have, and that is the obligation to our own people.

No nation on Earth, not even one as wealthy and as great as America, can welcome every single human being on the planet who wants to come here. That is not harsh. That is true. What other country does? Canada doesn't do that. Mexico doesn't do that. No other nation on Earth, including the ones that are criticizing us, has a policy like that, and many are much more restrictive than the United States. In most of the nations in Europe, you can go there, but they don't ever let you become a citizen. Every country has its own set of rules, and our rules have fluctuated. There have been times in our history when we have been much more restrictive than now in terms of immigration.

So we have this situation. We have this incredible instability in places like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. One of the responses to it, which I strongly support--we will fund it again this year--is something called the Alliance for Prosperity. In the long term, it is probably the best thing we can do to deal with the problem we have right now. What that does is to build the capacities of the governments in those countries to deal with those gangs that are threatening people. It creates economic opportunities so people don't have to leave.

By the way, this migration isn't good for those countries. If you are the country of Honduras and your youngest, hardest working people are leaving, how are you going to build your economy in the future? It doesn't like it either. We need to help Honduras. We are trying to, and we are doing that, but it takes time for it to work.

If you don't think that will work, then, I ask you: Why don't we have migratory crises from Peru or Chile or Uruguay or Colombia or Brazil or Argentina or Costa Rica or Panama? We don't have migratory crises from those countries because, while they don't have America's wealth, you can find a job and you are not being threatened every day by a gang. The more we can do to help countries reach that point, the less migratory pressure we will have. That is, by far, the most effective border security measure we could take, if it works. We have to make sure that it works.

So now we have this situation, and it is a difficult one. I hear these people on television, and I have to tell you that I don't know where some people get their information or even care about how they get their information, but they just say things that aren't true, and they make it sound like it is so simple.

Here is the bottom line. Imagine, for a moment, that a family arrives unlawfully at the U.S. border, meaning that the family doesn't have a permit to enter and it doesn't have a visa. The family just unlawfully crosses the border. You are now apprehended. You have children with you, and you are an adult.

The law says--something called the Flores settlement, which is binding, which the White House is challenging with this Executive order--that you can hold the children for 20 days. You can detain the adults. They violated the law. It could be a misdemeanor. If it is a repeated offense, it is a felony. It could even be a civil offense, potentially. You can detain the adults if you need to, but you can't detain the children.

This is the dilemma because, if you don't detain people, we know that a substantial percentage--and I mean a very high percentage of people-- once apprehended and released, never shows up for the hearing. People are scheduled for hearings before immigration judges, but it could take a couple of years. When the hearings come, we don't even know where they are to even notify them of the hearings. They just don't show up. They don't show up at all. If you let them go, you will never see them again. You are basically passing them through.

Yet you can't detain the kids they came with. So you are left with this choice: I can't detain the kids; therefore, I can't detain the family together. So either I let them all go and never hear from them again or I detain the adults and separate them from their children. That is the decision the administration made along with saying: We are going to enforce every single one of these cases. Yet I already told you that if you let them go, your chances of ever having them show up again are virtually nil in many cases. That has led to the problem because, even though we are a nation of laws, we are also a nation with deep Judeo-Christian principles.

You are watching it on television, and you are seeing kids who are crying. Forget about being a Senator now. You are a parent, and you are thinking to yourself: This is horrifying that this is happening in America. It has to end.

So the administration says: We are going to end it, and we are going to detain them together, and someone is going to sue us under the Flores settlement, which is why Congress must act.

I watched some of the speeches on the floor last night by some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and the best way I can describe the argument is that I understood it, and, if I am wrong, then somebody should tell me. I listened to the arguments carefully because I was thinking that there has to be a way to deal with this because it is a tough issue.

This was their argument: No. 1, do not detain the children at all. Keep the Flores settlement in place, and don't detain the children.

No. 2, don't separate the families. That means, not only can you not detain the children, but don't detain the parents. Let them go.

No. 3, if they don't show up for their hearings and you eventually run into them, don't deport them either.

If we are not going to detain children and if we are not going to detain parents and if they don't show up for the hearings and we are not going to deport them unless they are violent criminals, then, the de facto policy is this: If you come to the United States alone, you will be detained and returned, but if you come to the United States with children, you will be released and, potentially, never be deported.

Now, this is not conjecture. I already told you that I know people. I want to tell you the perception that that creates. People can argue about whether dividing families is a deterrent or not. I don't even want to make that argument because I don't think that is a deterrent that we should use as a nation. It is not who we are. We should never say that we are going to punish your kids in order to keep you from doing something. Yet I can tell you that, whether or not it is a deterrent, it is most definitely an incentive to have a policy that says: If you come alone, you will be apprehended, detained, and returned, but if you come with kids, we are going to let you in.

It is true that I find it cruel to separate these kids from their parents. I want to tell you what else is cruel, and that is the journey that people have to undertake in the hands of some of the most horrible human beings on this planet who traffic human beings through Mexico and across our border. Let me tell you how horrible it is. It is so horrible that many of the young women who actually make that journey ensure that they get on birth control before they go on the journey because they expect to be sexually assaulted. That is how cruel it is. It is cruel because children disappear on that journey. We don't know what happens, but they vanish. It is cruel because families are often robbed and beaten on that journey. It is one of the nastiest, most cruel journeys anyone could imagine.

I will never forget being in Honduras a couple of years ago when we were at a migrant center. Our U.S. Customs and Border Protection people, who were embedded there alongside our Honduran partners, were talking to this young man who happened to be from Cuba and who was on his way to the United States. They warned him. They showed him. They talked him through it. They said: Once you cross this border, you are about to be in the hands of some of the worst human beings on the planet, who make a habit of killing people, assaulting people,

trafficking people. This young man was determined.

To be honest with you, I don't know what happened to him. I gave him my number. I told him that if he were to make it to the States, we could be helpful, whatever it might be. We never heard from him again. I imagine he made it or something else happened. I, personally, tried to discourage him from making the journey.

So, yes, it is cruel to divide families. It is also cruel to have an incentive for people to bring children on this journey, and that is what this is.

To go back to the point, unless I am wrong, as I understand it, the policy that we are being asked to support by some is this: Don't detain the kids. Don't detain the parents in order not to separate the families. When they don't show up for the hearings, don't deport them.

Well then, basically, your de facto law is that if you come to the United States alone, you will be detained and returned. Yet if you come with kids, you will get to stay. That is irresponsible. If that is, in fact, the policy, then you should admit that this is our policy and that this is what we think the law should be. You can't go around saying you are for border security but then never say what you are for. You can't go around saying that we should only enforce our immigration laws on dangerous criminals. Everyone agrees with that one.

The bottom line is, if we want to continue to be a nation of immigrants and of immigration, then we have to have an ordered system of immigration. Otherwise, you have what we have now. You have what we have now in America, and you have what we have now all over the world, which is many people--a nation of immigrants--turning on immigration, not because they don't believe in it but because they think what we have now is unsustainable and wrong.

You will never hear me say that these people are animals or terrible people. They are not. Look, any time you take thousands of people and put them together, and, of course, there are going to be bad people among them, but it is my experience and my deep belief that the overwhelming majority of people are just looking for a better life. People are looking to send money back to their families, to live in safer places, and to reunite with loved ones who are already here. Their motives are not wrong, but there has to be a process by which to do it, and our laws put us in this position every single day.

I will never forget this. A handful of years ago, the home across the street from ours was occupied by a family. I don't know what happened-- well, I know what happened, obviously. At some point, they didn't pay their rent long enough, and the landlord evicted them, which requires you to go to the courthouse and get a court ruling. The sheriff's office comes and opens the door and takes out all your furniture and puts it on the curb.

We drove by and saw that family sitting there on their couch. There were three kids. The mom was on the cell phone calling somebody. All their possessions were sitting in plastic bags on the curb because they didn't pay their rent. They were evicted, and it was painful to watch. We did what we could. We tried to talk and see whether there was anything we could provide to make sure they had a place to stay that evening. But no one suggested that what we should do is just not allow landlords to evict people for not paying the rent. No one suggested that because we realize that if we ever have a law like that, no one will ever rent their property to people again. If we stopped enforcing the right of a landlord to evict people from their homes, if we were to stop enforcing that, then there would be no more landlords. Nobody would ever put anything up for rent. We would have a housing crisis. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't break our hearts to see the images of what that means when we see that applied.

I know people who lost their homes in foreclosure. Their homes are their dream. They came across difficult times and couldn't pay the mortgage, and they were out of their homes. It breaks your heart, but I haven't heard anyone suggest that we should make mortgages unenforceable.

It is not the same thing, but my point is that our laws always put us in this situation, but the answer can't be to not enforce the law. Every single day, even as I speak to you now, somewhere in this country, some adult is going to be arrested, and this adult is going to go to jail--perhaps for many years--and their children are not going to be able to see them.

I am not claiming that someone who commits a horrible crime in America is the same as someone who crosses our border. My point is that it happens every day, and no one should diminish it, but no one suggests that we should no longer arrest anyone or apply the law to people if it divides them from their families, because jails are full of people who have been divided from their families.

I make these points not as comparison. I am not saying that being evicted from your home and crossing the border are the same thing. I am not saying that being convicted of a serious crime and spending years in jail and crossing the border are the same thing. What I am saying is that oftentimes the application of our law leads to results that trouble our hearts, but we recognize that if we don't apply the law, the alternative is as bad, if not worse. That is where we are.

The reason why a nation of immigrants has a significant percentage of Americans who frankly want to see immigration significantly slashed is not because they have forgotten where they came from but because they think this thing is out of control. They are OK with 1 million people or 800,000 people a year coming into the country legally; what they are not OK with is anyone who wants to come, coming anytime they want, from anywhere they want, and they react against it.

It is easy to hear these people on television say: Well, that is something horrible that is going on in America. It is the President's fault. It is this one's or that one's fault.

It is happening all over the world. It is happening in every country in Europe. It is increasingly now putting pressure on Canada. It is happening in Mexico, which a few years ago began to crack down on their southern border.

So the best way forward is a bill that Senator Tillis and others filed yesterday, and that is one that would allow us to house families together while their hearing is pending. Some will qualify for asylum and get to stay. Others will have to return together. Is it perfect? No. The U.S. Government is not in the business of housing families. We do have an obligation to ensure that we can expedite their hearings so they are not there for a long time. We do have an obligation to say: If you legitimately qualify for asylum, you should be given the opportunity to apply for it. We do have an obligation to say that while we retain families, we are going to provide them safe, sanitary conditions, because that is who we are as a people, and that is who we should be. We do have an obligation to do all of that, and that is why this bill adds 200 new judges to help expedite and why it calls for expediting cases that involve families with children.

I know this is a tough issue, but our law cannot be that if you come here unlawfully with children, you get to stay and we are not going to enforce it, because that creates a cruel incentive for more people to do that. If we are basically saying: We have laws, but we refuse to enforce them, then we don't have an immigration system, and people will turn on immigration, and then we can't solve the problem.

I say to you in closing, as someone who is by no means an immigration restrictionist--by no means--in fact, I support doing something reasonable with the people who have been here for a long time and are not dangerous criminals and are now part of our country. I support extending TPS for the Haitian community, many of whom are now business owners in Miami-Dade County, where I live. I support extending TPS for the Honduran community who are here legally. TPS makes you legal. Some of them own businesses, and some have graduated and are going to medical school. I support all of that. I support doing something responsible with people who were brought here as children through no fault of their own and who have grown up here. Some of them don't speak any language but English. I support their finding some permanency in this country and a path to citizenship. I support all of that stuff.

I also support enforcing our immigration laws so that we can welcome more

people in the future. But there has to be a process. Every sovereign country in the world has laws and a process, and most of them enforce their laws in ways that are much more stringent--in many cases, much more barbaric--than anything that you will ever be accused of having done in the United States. That is not what I am advocating, and I don't know anyone who is.

So it has been a tough week on a tough issue. I hope we will act. I know how appealing this is as a political issue. I know how much cable news time people get on both sides talking about it. I hope we can make progress at least on this one little piece and then move forward and do the rest of it. But this one little piece--I hope we will deal with it. I think we have a proposal before the Senate that doesn't make the situation perfect, but it sure makes it a lot better than it is right now; it sure is preferable to dividing families; and it sure is preferable to a law that tells people: Bring your children on this very dangerous journey because if you do, you will get to stay. It is my hope that we will act and get something done.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Jacob's letter and my response letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today I commemorate the life of Andrew Ramotnik, a retired veteran from Jacksonville, FL, who recently passed away.

Andy Ramotnik grew up in Pennsylvania coal country. Two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. In 1943, after basic and radio operator training, he was assigned to a B-25 medium bomber squadron based in the north African desert.

On his 43rd bombing mission, Andy's bomber was shot down over Italy, and he was captured. Andy was a prisoner of war in Stalag 17B for 19 months in Austria. In April 1945, he escaped, was recaptured, and escaped a second time. For 13 days, Andy and a fellow POW evaded capture. He was evading the enemy when the war ended in May 1945 and had to find his way to friendly troops. Andy met up with American troops and was granted leave and returned to service. After his return, Andy received a letter from the War Department and a check compensating him $1 for every day he was a POW. The check was for $554.

It was the rest of the letter that led to my knowing Andy and his incredible story. While the check he received was for $554, Andy had actually been a POW for 567 days. However, for 13 of those days, Andy was evading capture while hiding from the Germans in the Austrian countryside. The Army does not pay soldiers when they are evading capture, so the Army docked Andy $13 for the days he had escaped.

Now, Andy did not need the $13. It was not the money but rather the principle. He had done what was expected of him and what was prescribed in the Armed Services Code of Conduct. He had escaped, and the Army was docking him for it. So when I met Andy more than 60 years later, he still had that $13 on his mind. He told me his story of the bombing missions, of his plane being shot down, and the struggle to get the door open so he and another soldier could parachute out. He told me about the POW camp, hiding in a cave during his first escape, and hiding at an Austrian farm during his second. He also told me how foolish he thought it was that the Army docked his pay for doing what he was supposed to do.

My office looked into it. Unfortunately, it is a longstanding policy not to pay soldiers evading capture and an issue not easily remedied. Unfortunately, we could not get Andy his $13.

So, with his passing, I would like to recognize the life of Andy Ramotnik and thank him for his service. On principle, I think we still owe him $13. It is a small cost to pay for an 18-year-old boy standing up to help stop the spread of tyranny and preserving the free world.

Mr. President, today I recognize Jaha Dukureh for her Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

A recent graduate of the University of Central Florida, Jaha was named one of TIME magazine's ``100 Most Influential People in the World'' in 2016 and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for her work to end female genital mutilation, FMG. She was born in The Gambia, a small west African country, and was subjected to female genital mutilation when she was just one week old.

A documentary produced by the Guardian called ``The Girl Who Said No to FGM'' was made about her story. It details how her identity was stripped again when she was forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 15 in New York City and was cut for a second time.

Since beginning her activism, Jaha helped usher in the ban of female genital mutilation in The Gambia. It is estimated that, by the age of 14, nearly 56 percent of girls in The Gambia were subjected to FMG. She is also the first person to have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize from The Gambia.

Jaha earned her bachelor's degree in business administration management at Georgia Southwestern State University in 2013. She graduated with her master's degree in nonprofit management from the University of Central Florida in 2018.

I am honored to express my sincere gratitude to Jaha for her extraordinary leadership to end this horror and look forward to hearing of her continued work in the years to come.

Mr. President, today I honor Donald Eslinger, the former Seminole County sheriff, for his induction into the Law Enforcement Officers' Hall of Fame.

Sheriff Eslinger's law enforcement career began in 1978 as a radio dispatcher for the department. He subsequently rose through the ranks, leading in various roles at the department

until his appointment as sheriff in 1991 and election to the position the next year. He served the community as sheriff for 25 years, retiring in 2017. Throughout his tenure, Sheriff Eslinger focused on mental health advocacy, crime reduction, and is responsible for the Kids House, Shop with the Sheriff, and Christmas Village programs.

Sheriff Eslinger was nominated by law enforcement leaders to be inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Officer' Hall of Fame. His induction was approved by Governor Rick Scott and the State cabinet. At his induction ceremony, Sheriff Eslinger noted protecting the most vulnerable in the community was at the core of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office under his leadership.

Sheriff Eslinger earned his bachelor's degree from National Louis University and graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in Virginia. He and his wife, Elise, have four children.

I express my sincere gratitude to Sheriff Eslinger for his dedication to serving the community with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, and I wish him the very best in his retirement.

Mr. President, I recognize Judge Thomas Patterson Maney, who has served his Nation honorably and is retiring.

Judge Maney served our Nation in the Army Reserve for almost 37 years, including 8 years of Active Duty, serving in Panama, Haiti, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. As a major and lieutenant colonel, he worked with the military group at the U.S. Embassy in Panama, training the Guardia Nacional/Panama Defense Force in civil affairs and civic action. He commanded a reserve civil affairs brigade in Maryland, as well as the 350th Civil Affairs Command in Pensacola, and later served as the deputy commander of the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command and deputy commandant of the John F. Kennedy Special Operations School at Fort Bragg. He is the recipient of the Purple Heart and retired as an Army brigadier general in 2007.

Judge Maney was appointed Okaloosa County court judge by Governor Bob Martinez and assumed the bench on June 5, 1989. He was elected to the position in 1990 and was subsequently reelected each time he was on the ballot. During his time as a circuit court judge, he served as a juvenile dependency judge, child support judge, and served as the Baker Act/Marchman Act judge for nearly a decade. Judge Maney shares his passion and expertise of the law with colleagues across the district and the State of Florida, delivering educational presentations for the Conference of County Court Judges and the Advanced Judicial College. He also started the Okaloosa Mental Health Court and the Okaloosa Veterans Treatment Court. The act establishing the Okaloosa Veterans Treatment Court was named the T. Patt Maney Veterans Treatment Court Act in his honor.

Judge Maney was born in Lexington, KY, and is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville College of Law, Troy State University, and the Army War College. He has been married to his wife, Caroline, for almost 47 years, and they have two daughters and six grandchildren. He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

I thank Judge Maney for a lifetime of devotion to serving our Nation both overseas and on the bench. I extend my best wishes to him and his family on his well-earned retirement.

Mr. President, today I recognize Mr. James Weir with respect for his service and accomplishments as he turns 93 years old this month. Jim, as his friends refer to him, or Pap-pap, as he is known by his family, grew up in Mount Pleasant, PA, not far from Pittsburgh. Inducted into the U.S. Navy on August of 1943, Jim went to war on behalf of this Nation, fighting in Europe and Asia. On June 6, 1944, Coxswain Weir crossed the English Channel aboard a LCT(A) to deliver tanks and troops onto the beaches of Normandy. After the battle was won in Europe, Jim fought in the liberation of the Philippines and was stationed in Japan as part of the occupational forces after the war.

In between those pivotal moments, Jim received a 20-day leave after D-Day. He rushed back to the States to marry his sweetheart, Laverne Myers. They had been sweethearts since he had sat behind her in sixth grade, but Laverne was only 17 and Jim's leave was short. He loved Laverne, and she loved him. They quickly left Pennsylvania for Alabama, where they tied the knot before he had to return to the war. They remained in love for 73 years of marriage.

After the war, he worked as a master electrician and was a renowned Corvette racer, leading the national Corvette club as its president. Jim now lives in Miami, FL, where he has two granddaughters and six great-grandchildren who love him dearly.

In honor of his 93rd birthday, for his service to our great Nation and his love for his family and community, I would like to recognize my friend Jim Weir and look forward to seeing him on his 94th birthday this time next year.

Mr. President, I want to start by thanking the Senator from Colorado, who has shown real leadership on the subcommittee that involves all of these matters regarding the Indo-Pacific region, and he is here on the floor to talk about a series of other measures that are in place.

None of us here will be in Taipei tomorrow to attend the ceremony, but we all want to take this opportunity to applaud the opening of the American Institute in Taiwan and its new compound. This building will be so much more than just new office space. It will serve as a tangible symbol of the strong and enduring friendship between the United States and Taiwan, which is a democracy and is a strong ally of this country.

Taiwan is not just an important economic and security partner. As I have said already, it is a very vibrant democracy. It has a prosperous free enterprise economy. Frankly, it is a shining example of what we hope the rest of the Indo-Pacific region will become and continue to be.

The opening of this new office comes at a critical time when both the United States and Taiwan face major challenges that are posed by the Communist Party of China, which governs that country. Under the Communist Party, Beijing has increased its efforts to undermine and erode U.S. interests, even as it moves to isolate Taiwan on the international stage. For example, the Chinese Government has successfully blocked Taiwan's meaningful participation in many international organizations, such as the World Health Organization.

Unfortunately, here in our own hemisphere, they have been successful in pressuring certain nations to cut their diplomatic ties with Taiwan and, instead, create new ones with Beijing.

By the way, that is not Taiwan's position, but it is Beijing that makes you choose. You can either have relations with them or Taiwan-- but not with both.

The latest, by the way, is the Dominican Republic, not far from our coast, where, in exchange for billions of dollars of assurances, they made that change. They will deny it, but you will see the billions coming in. These billions of dollars sound like a really good deal until you realize they bring their workers from China, and it is all a one-way street. It is all there to benefit China. Look around the world at all of the countries that have taken all of this money, 5 years, 3 years later; they are terrible deals with terrible terms that are good for China but bad for the country that took the money. But in this particular case, they were successful, and they are going to continue to chip away at those countries. About a year before, Panama had cut their ties with Taiwan.

What China has made very clear is that their intention is to continue to both pressure and entice--I say ``entice,'' but probably the right word is ``bribe''--additional countries to do the exact same thing. And they do it, as I said, with the promise of investments and loans.

I encourage these countries and everyone who is listening and cares about these issues to go and look at the history of these loans, these enticements, and these investments. You will see how bad they ultimately are for the country that helps them. They all come with troubling strings attached.

The Chinese Government, by the way, has even been successful in bullying American companies when it comes to Taiwan--or other topics, for that matter, that they deem too sensitive for the Communist Party. Perhaps the most recent, outrageous example is an American, working in America--not in China, in America--for an American company, Marriott Hotels, was fired from his job because he accidentally liked a tweet that said something about Taiwan and Tibet being independent of China.

Imagine that you work for a company, and you go online. You accidentally retweet something--or like it--and you get fired because China goes to Marriott and says: We will cut you off from doing business if you don't get rid of this guy. They fired an American, in the United States. If you think the things China is doing are things that are happening halfway around the world with Taiwan--they are happening to Americans right here.

A few weeks ago, one of the clothing stores put out a T-shirt, and on this T-shirt it had a map of China, but it didn't include Taiwan. They had to apologize for that and call back all of the T-shirts or they were going to get kicked out.

An American airline, United Airlines, was told that unless they changed their website so that it no longer referred to Taiwan as an independent country, they would be punished.

They are intimidating American businesses in the United States because of Taiwan and other issues the Communist Party finds unacceptable.

For far too long this aggression has gone unchecked. China must not be allowed to continue to interfere any further in Taiwan's relations or standing with the rest of the world.

Earlier this year, I, along with numerous colleagues, passed a law that the President has signed. It is called the Taiwan Travel Act. It encourages high-level visits between American officials and their Taiwanese counterparts. I hope the administration will move quickly to begin implementing this and send high-level officials, including Cabinet-level officials, to Taipei to meet with their counterparts there.

Our friendship with Taiwan is based on our shared ideals and the common vision of an Asia that is prosperous, peaceful, and free. The United States must, should, and, I hope, will continue to stand by Taiwan, irrespective of any pressure that others, including the Communist Party of China, may bring to bear on this relationship.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I am pleased to recognize Stephanie Bellino, the Duval County Teacher of the Year from Garden City Elementary School in Jacksonville, FL.

Stephanie was named Teacher of the Year for successfully pushing a growing number of disadvantaged students to achieve grade-level performance or better in reading and language arts. She helps students by taking scripted lesson plans and adapting them to fit each of their individual needs. Stephanie is credited with helping Garden City improve from a D to a B school.

While teachers typically stay at one grade level, Stephanie loops with her

students. Many of her current fifth grade students were also in her third grade class. About 16 of these students were a year or two behind their grade level but have now caught up, with Stephanie being credited for this accomplishment.

Stephanie has worked at Garden City Elementary School for 3 years and was a Teach for America recruit. She taught reading and writing to the entire fourth grade and pushed students to a 48 percent passing rate, a 15 percentage point increase in 1 year.

I extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Stephanie for her work and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. President, today I honor Shannon Ellison, the Dixie County Teacher of the Year from Dixie County High School in Cross City, FL.

Shannon's colleagues attest that of the many excellent teachers in her district, she stands above the rest due to her commitment to excellence and passion for helping every student develop a love for learning. She designed a rigorous curriculum to equip her students with the necessary skills for success in college and the workplace.

She is passionate about helping her students reach their academic potential by maintaining relationships with her students, their parents, and her community by inspiring trust and confidence in both her instructional skills and leadership abilities.

Shannon's teaching skills as an advanced placement teacher helped her school earn national recognition from the College Board. She has attended the advanced placement summer institutions for the past 5 years, qualifying her ability to teach AP world history, AP psychology, and AP art history.

Shannon earned her bachelors of arts degree in history from the University of Florida in 1993 and her master of arts/education in arts and academic interdisciplinary education from Southeastern University in 2011. She has been a teacher at Dixie County High School since 1994, having served as social studies department chair, Beta Club State sponsor, and grade level department chair.

I am pleased to learn of the hard work and dedication Shannon has for her students. I express my best wishes to her on her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. President, I honor Tracy Hall, the Taylor County Teacher of the Year from Taylor County Elementary School in Perry, FL.

Tracy's inspiration for her students and enthusiasm for teaching led to this important recognition. Her students recognize that she goes above and beyond her required duties to be the best teacher for them. She focuses on putting her students first and believes their emotions are as important as their schoolwork. She teaches them to believe in themselves and their ability to achieve. She is especially proud that two former students were inducted into the National Honor Society after they previously had difficulty learning and adapting while in third grade. They are now extraordinary students.

Tracy has been a teacher for 21 years. She graduated from Florida State University with honors in 1997 and currently teaches third grade reading at Taylor County Elementary School. She has also taught at the primary and elementary levels with the Florida Virtual Academy.

I express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to Tracy for her hard work and extend my best wishes for her continued success in the years to come.