Hot Air reported yesterday that Harry Reid is planning to bring the DREAM Act to the floor of the Senate for a standalone vote during the lame-duck session. This is a very interesting move. The DREAM Act is the legilation that will give legal residency to immigrants who arrived in the United States before age 16 and resided here for at least five years, graduated from high school and completed two years of college or military service. They would be subject to background checks, could not have a criminal record, and even if successful would still not be eligible for benefits like Pell grant scholarships. There is no current age limit on these immigrants--they could presently be in their fifties and still meet the requirements.
Allahpundit at Hot Air comments:
"What I can't figure out is whether Reid is moving on this knowing that vulnerable centrists like McCaskill and Tester who are up in 2012 will be inclined to filibuster, or whether he actually thinks he has the votes either via reluctant Blue Dog types signing on or moderate Republicans breaking with the GOP. I assume it's the former and that he's only pushing this in the lame duck session so that he can tell amnesty shills he gave it his very best shot when it fails. But if he can keep his caucus together, he only needs one Republican to push it through. Gulp.
"They're also pressing ahead with DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) in the lame duck. And to think, I thought December would be a slow news month."
I'm really not quite sure why the Democrats are bringing these things up in the lame-duck session. It may be that they believe that this is their last best chance to get extreme legislation through. It will be interesting to see how the more conservative Democrats who have just been voted out of office react to these bills. After January, there will be very few (if any) conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives. The conservative Democrats who were voted into office on the promise that they would maintain their conservative positions were overpowered by Nancy Pelosi, voted to pass liberal bills, and have been voted out of office. The Democrats remaining in the House of Representatives are a much more liberal-leaning group than during the past four years.
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