The Standing Rules of the Senate are drafted to encourage vigorous public debate on our nation’s most important issues. Indeed, the U.S. Senate is often referred to as “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” The Rules allow any Senator to seek recognition from the Chair at any time and, absent a temporary agreement to the contrary, to speak without interruption so long as he or she wishes. Debating important questions before the Senate is one way a Senator can highlight an issue, advocate for a change in policy, or voice his or her opinion on pending legislation.
Senate debate occurs in public, and is televised on CSPAN and transcribed in the Congressional Record. For your convenience, I post transcripts of my Senate floor speeches on this site for your review. I hope you find them informative and useful. My web site also makes available information on my voting record and legislation that I have sponsored in the Senate.
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Sessions Budget Amendment
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, the amendment offered by my colleague is an amendment that does not effectively replace the amendment I have offered.
My amendment that will be coming up next is a broad amendment. But this amendment contains immigration reform language that suggests once again that enforcement cannot be effectively done without a comprehensive amnesty approach. It fails to include any provision for State and local law enforcement, fails to include any provision for border fencing, fails to include any provision to advance specifically the effective operations streamline policy that is being done now in four border areas, that needs to be done in 20, and that has resulted in a 60-percent reduction in illegal entry in those four areas. The Menendez amendment does not particularly cover that area. I would ask that it not be passed and that my amendment coming up next would be the one more appropriately effective to carry out the will of this Congress.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
