Dream Act Stalled -- For Now

As previously reported, the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed the DREAM Act. The Senate was scheduled to vote on their version of the measure today, but the Senate tabled the Senate version of the Act in order to preserve the opportunity for a successful vote on the House version later this session.

The following is a statement from Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum and Chair of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign:

“This morning the Senate began debate on the DREAM Act. But faced with the prospect of obstruction, Senator Reid preserved the path to victory by tabling the Senate’s version of the DREAM Act. This keeps the opportunity to bring it up again later in the lame duck session. Senate Republicans have offered a variety of process excuses for why we shouldn’t pass this historic bill. A postponed vote on DREAM will allow every single possible objection to be addressed. Then we will have arrived at a moment of truth for Republicans. What will they do when all of their excuses fall away? Several have promised to vote on DREAM if it appears as a stand-alone bill. They will get their wish. The fastest growing segment of the electorate is staring them in the eye, wondering what they will do. With our partners, we will make sure everyone remembers what happened when there is an actual vote in the next two weeks. This legislation has been debated for a decade. We don’t need even more partisan gridlock; we need strong leadership and Senators who will stand up and allow a vote before Congress adjourns for the year, on the future of America. For more than a year, the Reform Immigration FOR America has been urging, calling, emailing, faxing and pushing Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and yesterday alone we generated more than 40,000 calls to Congress. The DREAM Act is an integral part of comprehensive immigration reform and it has a real chance to become law. We urge every Senator to take a hard look at this bipartisan legislation and vote to approve it. “

For the CNN story on the latest developments, click here.

KJ