blueblue
09-27-2007, 01:55 AM
Make DREAM Real - Call your Senators
DREAM may become reality soon. After the CIR debacle, no one
thought serious immigration benefits legislation had any chance
in 2007. It appears that we might be in for a very pleasant
surprise. Sen. Durbin, the Majority Whip and the moving force
behind DREAM is reportedly going to get a vote on it as an
amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that the Senate has
been debating for many days now. The rabidly anti-immigration
website NumbersUSA (the main vehicle for the antis to influence
Congress) has gone on a war against DREAM, and despite its best
efforts for a week now, has managed to get only 22 Senators to
publicly commit to voting against DREAM (they would need 41 votes
to prevail). Mr. Durbin, in response to NumbersUSA's ferocious
campaign has made two minor modifications to his original
language, showing that most of the votes for DREAM appear to be
there. It is our estimate that DREAM would garner about 70 votes
on the floor if a showdown came at this time.
So much for the good news. Now for the rest. Senators who are
eager to enact DREAM say that they are getting calls against it
by lopsided ratios of 50 against to 1 for. Even a small number of
calls and faxes by those in favor would help them better justify
a vote against the concerted effort by the antis to bully
Congress into a position where voting for benefits becomes
impossible. Here's why everyone who wants immigration benefits,
of whatever kind, should care about DREAM. If DREAM succeeds on
the Senate floor, there is a whole slew of benefit bills lined up
right behind it - SKIL, AgJOBS, you name it. We believe that once
the benefits dam breaks in Congress, a flood of benefits will
follow. Our best read of the House at this time is that the House
Democratic leadership will permit a vote on any immigration
benefits to come from the Senate, and we believe that there are
plenty of votes on the House floor for targeted benefits like
DREAM, SKIL and AgJOBS, etc. That is why DREAM is worth pushing
for, even apart from its intrinsic merit, since a veritable
cornucopia of benefits may well result in the wake of its
success. We urge our readers to support (and get others to
support) DREAM through faxes and calls to the Senate. A couple of
places to get started are here
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2119/t/3250/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=13039
and here
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
DREAM may become reality soon. After the CIR debacle, no one
thought serious immigration benefits legislation had any chance
in 2007. It appears that we might be in for a very pleasant
surprise. Sen. Durbin, the Majority Whip and the moving force
behind DREAM is reportedly going to get a vote on it as an
amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that the Senate has
been debating for many days now. The rabidly anti-immigration
website NumbersUSA (the main vehicle for the antis to influence
Congress) has gone on a war against DREAM, and despite its best
efforts for a week now, has managed to get only 22 Senators to
publicly commit to voting against DREAM (they would need 41 votes
to prevail). Mr. Durbin, in response to NumbersUSA's ferocious
campaign has made two minor modifications to his original
language, showing that most of the votes for DREAM appear to be
there. It is our estimate that DREAM would garner about 70 votes
on the floor if a showdown came at this time.
So much for the good news. Now for the rest. Senators who are
eager to enact DREAM say that they are getting calls against it
by lopsided ratios of 50 against to 1 for. Even a small number of
calls and faxes by those in favor would help them better justify
a vote against the concerted effort by the antis to bully
Congress into a position where voting for benefits becomes
impossible. Here's why everyone who wants immigration benefits,
of whatever kind, should care about DREAM. If DREAM succeeds on
the Senate floor, there is a whole slew of benefit bills lined up
right behind it - SKIL, AgJOBS, you name it. We believe that once
the benefits dam breaks in Congress, a flood of benefits will
follow. Our best read of the House at this time is that the House
Democratic leadership will permit a vote on any immigration
benefits to come from the Senate, and we believe that there are
plenty of votes on the House floor for targeted benefits like
DREAM, SKIL and AgJOBS, etc. That is why DREAM is worth pushing
for, even apart from its intrinsic merit, since a veritable
cornucopia of benefits may well result in the wake of its
success. We urge our readers to support (and get others to
support) DREAM through faxes and calls to the Senate. A couple of
places to get started are here
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2119/t/3250/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=13039
and here
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm