This Saturday, the controversial DREAM Act effectively died in the Senate after failing to get enough support to overcome a Republican led filibuster. The formal title of the bill is the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The act originally was introduced about a decade ago in 2001. The bill would have given illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children a path toward eventual citizenship. It also would have covered those immigrant who went to college or joined the military. The bill had support from liberal Democrats and immigration activists, who staged rallies, sit-ins and even hunger strikes to raise support for the bill. The legislation was fiercely opposed by conservative Republicans, who argued that the bill would be, in effect, amnesty for illegal immigrants in the country. The Act had been passed through the House of Representatives last month with a vote of 216-198.
The final vote in the Senate was 55-41, which meant that supporters of the bill lacked one crucial vote to break a Republican-led filibuster. Only a cloture vote, which requires 60 votes, would have broken the filibuster. Such a cloture was supported by three Republicans, but a majority was not reached when five Democrats voted against it. Passage of the bill would have been a key victory for Democrats and President Obama, who are seeking to pass through as much legislation as possible through the "lame duck" session of Congress before Republicans take control of the House next year. In a statement after the vote, Obama called the defeat of the bill "incredibly disappointing" and also pledged not to give up on the cause of immigration reform. More disappointed, however, were activists who were in the Senate chamber to witness the vote. Reportedly, as the crowd was leaving the chamber, some were seen to be crying over the blow.
Sources include:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46573.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/18/dadt.dream.act/index.html?hpt=T1
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-pn-senate-dream-20101219,0,4190962.story
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