Yesterday, in a 216-198 vote, the House passed the DREAM Act, a measure that lays out a path to citizenship for young adults who were brought to the United States illegally as children, and who graduate from high school with the commitment to attend college or join the military. Today, the Senate took a procedural vote that temporarily delayed action on the measure in order to build more support for its consideration in the coming week.
Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way, issued the following statement:
Until the DREAM Act becomes law, tens of thousands of young Americans will continue to be treated as criminals in the only homes they know. The Senate must follow the House’s example and work quickly to eliminate what is a fundamental injustice in American law. We support Senator Reid’s efforts to gather enough votes to pass DREAM, and urge fair-minded senators to throw aside divisive anti-immigrant politics and act with common sense and compassion.
Calls are still needed to the Senate: 866-996-5161. Here are some talking points from the National Immigration Forum.
Why should your Senators support the DREAM Act?
• Because the public supports it—70%, according to a recent poll by First Focus.
• Because the military wants it. Secretary of Defense Bill Gates recently wrote a letter to the DREAM Act’s sponsor in the Senate in support of the DREAM Act. Retired Gen. Colin Powell has also spoken publicly in favor of the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act will help the military meet recruitment goals, because one of the ways students will qualify is to serve in the military.
• Because taxpayers deserve a return on their investment. Allowing immigrant students to continue their education and achieve their potential will translate into better jobs and higher tax revenue when these promising young people enter the workforce. A single-minded focus on enforcement, as proposed by anti-immigrant Members of Congress would deny taxpayers this return on investment, and result in higher deficits, cuts in other programs, or higher taxes to pay to deport these immigrant youth.
Also from the National Immigration Forum, the story behind today’s Senate action.
The Senate vote on a motion to table the DREAM cloture vote, which took place moments ago, reflected a strategic decision to buy time to build more support for the DREAM Act.
If you were watching the vote or saw a headline about it, you may have been puzzled as to why Senate Leader Reid made a motion to table his own cloture motion, and why so many Democrats voted for it. Why did this happen?
It’s complicated. Republicans have vowed to block every bill in the Senate until the issues of tax cuts and funding of the government for the current fiscal year are resolved. Democratic leadership decided they would push back the DREAM vote until these other issues are resolved. Once the tax cuts and government funding are dealt with, Republicans will not be able to use them as excuses to oppose the DREAM Act.
However: Senator Reid needed “Unanimous Consent” to withdraw his cloture motion and push back the vote. He did not get it, forcing him to offer a motion to table the cloture vote.
Procedural trick: By tabling the cloture vote, Democrats will be able to bring the DREAM Act up again in the coming days when the other issues have been resolved.
Bottom line: Our allies in the Senate know that DREAM supporters have momentum coming out of the House victory yesterday. They want to take the additional time, remove excuses now being made by Republicans, and cultivate more support for DREAM in the Senate.
A real vote on DREAM in the Senate will be scheduled later. Please continue to contact your Senators and tell them to support the Dream Act.
Here again is the phone number you can call to be patched through to your Senators offices: 866-996-5161.
We will keep you posted as more information becomes available on the schedule for a Senate vote on the DREAM Act.