Senate cancels DREAM vote

[sabra]

Source: CNN

(CNN) - Senate Democrats canceled a scheduled vote on the DREAM Act on Thursday, a move that means the measure is likely dead for this year.

The hotly debated measure that offers a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children narrowly won approval Wednesday from the U.S. House.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act - or DREAM - would create a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children under the age of 16 and have lived in America for at least five years, obtained a high school or General Education Development diploma and demonstrated "good moral character," according to a White House fact sheet.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/09/senate-cancels-dream-vote/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Why did they do this?

Damn it.

[Recursion]

4. Because the GOP has the votes to block any legislation...

...and they've said they will continue to do that until the tax resolution is passed and signed.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Ah, thanks.

What a bunch of sick fucks.

They are holding the nation hostage...

[Recursion]

8. Hostage-taking works

This is why people take hostages all over the world: it gets people to do what you want.

There are some analysts who say they would have caved on unemployment benefits being extended but I'm doubtful.

[John Q. Citizen]

21. They did the last 5 times, so why was this time different?

[No Elephants]

28. Republicans cooperated in extending unemployment benefits 4 or 5 times before.

They need voters, too.

No one I've heard thinks they would have voted against the extension, especially this close to Christmas, because of tax cuts for people earning over a million PER YEAR. Some things are patently political suicide no matter which Party you belong to.

[Mz Pip]

18. The dems should make the GOP

actaully vote instead of just pulling the bill and not giving the GOp the opportunity to actually show America what twits they are.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. You know I agree!

Oh, but that would take courage!

And I don't know if the Congress has any of that.

[AlinPA]

12. They still won't pass Dream Act, DADT Repeal, 9/11 Health Bill, New START. Never.

They are out to destroy the President and no legislation will pass.

[Recursion]

15. DADT has a shot if the tax compromise passes

Brown has said he's for it, and Collins could possibly be mollified. START depends on how much Lugar is able to press his caucus; he needs to peel off I think 2 by last count. But, as a caucus they have said they are willing to have no progress in the lame duck until the tax cuts are extended.

[AlinPA]

17. The only republican that we could trust on this is Voinovich. Brown and Collins are faking it.

[karynnj]

27. Collins is a sponsor of DADT with Lieberman

As to START, Lugar needs 9 Republicans in addition to himself.

[saigon68]

23. And then the Pukes will still block it

[SharonAnn]

2. Oh, I'm so sorry. That's just not right to cancel it. How can the GOP do that?

Especially when they're supported by Batista era Cubans who came here to escape paying for their crimes in post-Batista Cuba. These Cubans got preferential treatment and did absolutely nothing to prove their worth.

But they'd deny others the opportunities they had, even though these immigrants who were brought as children have proven themselves to be worthy.

The hypocrisy, bigotry, and selfishness of the GOP seem to know no bounds.

[egoclothes]

3. Another sad decision.

[Derechos]

6. Dream Act Still Alive

The vote on the House version is expected to reach the Senate next week. See below releases from the National Immigration Forum and Congressman Gutierrez.

National Immigration Forum]<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=C%2F2%2F0J92hs3VYs0aaV%2Br%2B6vN5hyRMmvU>

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.






Rep. Gutierrez Praises Sen. Reid for Plan To Put House-Passed DREAM Act Bill on Senate Floor Next Week

Rep. Gutierrez Praises Sen. Reid for Plan To Put House-Passed DREAM Act Bill on Senate Floor Next Week
Rally in Chicago Tonight To Launch National Mobilization for Senate Passage

December 9, 2010
Media Contact: Douglas Rivlin [phone]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Washington, DC) – Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) today celebrated the House DREAM Act victory while making plans to get the DREAM Act passed by the Senate and signed into law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced this morning that he will file the House-passed bill for debate on the Senate floor next week.
"Senator Reid is a champion of sensible immigration policy and is working very hard to get the DREAM Act signed into law," Rep. Gutierrez said. "The announcement that the Senate will consider the House-passed bill is great news because it gives us the opportunity to get the DREAM Act to the President's desk before we adjourn. We now have the weekend and into next week to launch a national mobilization to get the votes to enact this important bill that could literally change the course of hundreds of thousands of young lives and make our country and our military stronger."
The Congressman will attend a rally and celebration in Chicago this evening to stand with DREAM Act-eligible students, their families, and other supporters to immediately launch the Senate vote-gathering effort.
"We saw last night in the House that there is genuine support for the DREAM Act that crosses party lines," Rep. Gutierrez said of the 216-198 vote to pass the bill as an amendment to H.R. 5281. "We forged a coalition of Democrats and a handful of clear-thinking Republicans to put the DREAM Act over the finish line in the House. We can do the same in the Senate if we work hard over the next several days."
"In the House, we were inspired by DREAM Act students who have persevered and succeeded against all odds," Rep. Gutierrez continued. "We are trying to follow the example of these young leaders and keep moving forward. When we had been counted out, we stuck with it. The House, the White House, and the broad movement for immigration reform will make it clear to every Senator in both parties that they stand at an historic crossroads. This is not about politics but about the aspirations of families and whole communities across the 50 states. We will not let this opportunity pass without doing everything we can to get a bill to President Obama for his signature."




Rally in Chicago Tonight To Launch National Mobilization for Senate Passage



December 9, 2010

Media Contact: Douglas Rivlin [phone]

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Gutierrez is my rep...OP is fucking erroneous on "dead for the year"

[SaveAmerica]

10. Thank you Derecho for this info! Still hopefull,,,,

[AlinPA]

13. Why would republicans go along with the Dream Act? or DADT Repeal, New START, 9/11 Health Bill?

These are Obama-Democratic bills and they sure as hell won't let them get through the Senate. They are totally in control.

[getthefacts]

24. Teh Dream Act is actually a Republican bill originally

I think Orin Hatch was the original sponsor

[No Elephants]

29. First introduced in 2001, according to wiki.

[Derechos]

9. DREAM Act Not Quite Dead Yet; Hits Senate Snag

The DREAM Act which was passed late Wednesday evening by the House in the waning days of Democrat control there moved to the Senate Thursday where it immediately got bogged down.

Democrats had hoped to get an outright vote Thursday on the legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

But they didn't have the votes to get past a threatened Republican filibuster which would have required 60 votes. So by a 59-40 vote, Democrats essentially punted until next week

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/12/09/131931604/dream-act-not-quite-dead-yet

[AlinPA]

14. It's dead and has been all along. Why would the republicans allow the President to have

any bills pass?

[lobodons]

11. The Senate and our Government is broken

Our government is filled with selfish individuals who have wrecked/ruined our Democracy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Damn

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Derechos]

22. An example of the nonsense

invented by those who oppose the Dream Act.

Source: Media Matters (Link to full article and video)

Last night, the House approved the DREAM Act by a vote of 216-198, with eight Republicans supporting the bill. Conservatives have invented a variety of excuses for opposing the legislation, which would provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children if they join the military or go to college. But during the debate on the House floor, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) made the reason for his opposition plain: the DREAM Act, which he called the "Affirmative Action Amnesty Act," would be unfair to "non-minority" Americans:

REP. ROHRABACHER: I rise in opposition to the Affirmative Action Amnesty Act, or otherwise known as the DREAM Act, which we are now debating. Uh, Mr. Speaker, uh, if an illegal immigrant, if this act passes, if an illegal immigrant happens to be of a racial or ethnic minority, which the vast majority of illegal immigrants are, that individual, as soon as legal status is granted, will be entitled to all the education, employment, job training, government contract, and other minority preferences that are written into our federal and state laws. As a result, the DREAM Act would not only put illegal immigrants on par with American citizens, but would in many cases put them ahead of most American citizens and legal immigrants. So those voting for this so-called DREAM Act are voting to relegate the position of non-minority American citizens to behind those who are now in this country illegally.

http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201012090001

[pampango]

25. HuffPo: The DREAM Act and the Future of the Democratic Party

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jw-stickings/the-dream-act-and-the-fut_b_794446.html

As you may have heard, the DREAM Act (in full, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), which would give undocumented young people a path to citizenship if they go to college or serve in the military, passed the House yesterday. The vote was 216 to 198. Needless to say, it was the Democrats who voted for it.

It is highly unlikely that the legislation will pass the Senate, where anti-immigrant Republicans (and most of them take a hard line on undocumented immigration) will do all they can to block it and where Democrats will need 60 votes to override an expected filibuster -- if it even gets that far. Even if the Senate gets the tax deal done, Republicans have committed themselves to obstruction of all Democratic legislation, and they aren't about to give Obama a victory, particularly on immigration. In the GOP, after all, nativism rules, and in this case the marriage of nativism and partisan absolutism is a match made in right-wing heaven.

It isn't just that the legislation is broadly popular, or that the military supports it, it's that Latinos (or Hispanics, as the two terms are generally used interchangeably), perhaps the key emerging demographic in the U.S., see it as essential. As Murguía notes, this vote is "defining," meaning that it will be remembered. And what will be remembered is that Democrats supported the legislation and Republicans opposed it.

Of course, we already knew where the two parties stood on the issue of undocumented immigration, but this bill (and especially the divided vote in the House and a likely non-vote in the Senate as a result of Republican opposition) essentially crystallizes the issue in clear and media-friendly terms:

- Democrats want to give undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, Republicans do not.

- Democrats want to give the children of undocumented immigrants a chance to make it in America, Republicans do not.

[howaboutme]

26. The WALL STREET rich got their tax cuts and that's what counts

This is the USA where other issues are regularly used to stir up and deflect from the real agenda which is ensuring the continuity of an elite USA caste system that runs Wall Street, the corporations, media, and the government. If you don't have the sense to examine the players you deserve to lose your rights to your nation. The other stuff like DADT and DREAM is intended as a deflection from the real mission.

Carlin had it right all along. Only a naive fool doesn't see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q (1,062,317 views) going to 2 million.

[No Elephants]

30. I reluctantly think you may be correct.

Look at the results and work back.

[robcon]

31. This lame duck Congress will only feed the notion that the tea partiers have strength

Tax increase for wealthy: dropped.

Omnibus spending bill: shelved

DREAM Act: shelved