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.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Senate May Reconsider DREAM Act Next Week

The Senate may reconsider the DREAM Act again as early as next week. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced in his blog posted September 14, 2010, that he intends to add the DREAM Act to the Defense Authorization bill which the Senate will vote on next week. The DREAM Act would not be alone as an added amendment to this upcoming defense bill; also included as an amendment to the defense bill, the equally controversial repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which would allow gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military.

The DREAM Act would allow students who came to the United States under the age of 16, and who have been present in the United States for more than five years, to obtain their permanent residence if they complete college or join the military. In many cases these children have been in the United States since they were too young to remember their home country and have been raised as Americans. Most often they were brought to the United States by their parents and did not have a choice in or even knowledge of their immigration. If the children were removed from the United States, we would be sending them home to a “foreign country.” The DREAM Act gives these children an opportunity to become involved and productive members of the American society.

The Senate last considered the DREAM Act as a stand-alone bill in 2007. In 2007, it was narrowly defeated by 8 votes. If passed by the Senate, the Act would still undergo scrutiny in the conference committee reconciliation and would then be up for a vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Presently the House of Representative’s defense bill does not include the DREAM Act amendment.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•