Senate Fails to Pass DREAM Act

The Senate voted 55-41 against the DREAM Act on December 18, 2010. The unfavorable vote ended the hope of passing the bill this session. The bill fell five votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster on Saturday. Sixty votes were necessary for the bill to succeed.

Senator Richard Durbin, one of the main backers of the DREAM Act, has pledged to continue fighting for the bill. However, with the swearing in of a majority Republican senate in January 2011, the DREAM Act will face a steep uphill battle.

President Barack Obama estimated that the DREAM Act would have “cut the deficit by $2.2 billion over the next 10 years.” The bill offered as many as 11 million undocumented individuals a path to legal status through education or military service. An estimated 65,000 undocumented students will graduate from high school in the next year, who may have benefited from the DREAM Act.

Hundreds of undocumented students, who had risked exposure in support of the DREAM Act, held vigil in the Senate Gallery during the vote on Saturday. When the Senate failed to pass the bill, the students gathered in prayer with hope for a better future.

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