Dec 9, 2010

What a DREAM

DREAM Act PASSES in the House of Representatives 216 Y- 198 N

After a lengthy debate this evening on the DREAM Act, it finally went to vote at 7:35 pm CMT Wednesday. After allowing several minutes for the vote to be taken, the final result was 216 Y -198 N. The Motion Passed.

A Bill needs support of a simple majority to move to the Senate. That means that 208 of the 414 Representatives voting must support the bill to pass the bill and move it to the Senate.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said it makes no sense to punish children whose parents illegally brought them into this country.

“If you’re pulled over for a speeding ticket and you have a child in a car seat next to you,” he said, “that 2-year-old doesn’t get a speeding ticket. If there’s a bank robber who robs it with a toddler on their back, that toddler doesn’t spend a life in prison.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who heads the House Immigration subcommittee, spoke on the House floor. She described the beneficiaries of the Dream Act as kids who grew up in the United States, and who often speak no other language but English, yet face dead ends once they graduate from high school.

“Their immigration status prevented them from working, paying taxes, serving in the military,” she said. “They could never get right with the law, even though they had done nothing wrong. The only thing they did was to obey their parents.”

It is expected that the Senate will take up the measure tomorrow.

Eh, tax payers were already giving these kids a meal, an education and medical care. What's the big deal? Discuss.

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