Momentum Builds as DREAM Act Heads to Senate
Advocates for the DREAM Act ramped up their work last week, making history by passing the bill for the first time in the House of Representatives. Before last Thursday’s vote-which gained the support of eight Republicans-it had been five years since a piece of major immigration reform legislation had reached the floor of the lower chamber.
In addition to Thursday’s vote in the House, the Senate last week rescheduled a DREAM Act vote for this week-building momentum by giving supporters more time to pass the bill before Congress adjourns this year.
The Hill laid out how last week’s developments put the DREAM Act in a stronger place for passage in the coming days :
When House Democrats last week passed the DREAM Act before the Senate had staged its vote, the timing was no accident.
Instead, the chronology was part of a carefully designed strategy…to grant the proposal its greatest shot at success. The fast-evolving process required behind-the-scenes scheduling changes; an eleventh-hour hearing; constant lobbying from supporters; and a risky-but-successful show of procedural gymnastics in the Senate – all aimed at lending momentum to the hot-button bill in hopes of enacting it by month’s end.
In short, supporters say, the process has infused life into the policy.
“It actually gives us a chance to win,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, an advocacy group lobbying for the bill.
Throughout these past few weeks, supporters have been calling key legislators and making their voices heard in support of the DREAM Act. Add your name here and help get the DREAM Act through the Senate this week.
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