The US Senate again failed to reach cloture on a vote for the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is a bill that would allow students who came to this country as children but who do not have a valid immigration status to gain a conditional legal status if they achieve in high school and get accepted to college or the US military.
It is now clear that Maine Senators Snowe (R) and Collins (R) would rather stifle the future of thousands of young people who were brought to this country as children and raised here - than cross their party leadership. Another heroic failure to stand up for those who cannot vote. So another graduating class will fail to reach its potential through no fault of their own -- and we as a country will stubbornly fall farther behind our EU, Chinese and Indian competitors in the race to educate our people and prepare for the economic reality of the new century.
There were a handful of DINOs who also voted against the DREAM Act (enough to pass the bill if they had the will) but only two Republicans voted for the measure. It appears after all that this was a fait acompli and simply a show vote by both sides to try to drum up support from the various interest groups for the next election. The Democrats could have passed the measure if they voted in unison - but they would rather try to rally the Latino vote next time around. The Republicans could have taken the issue out of play by allowing a few more "moderates" to break ranks but they would rather rally and raise money from the T-Party and others with Nativist tendencies.
What a cynical waste of young people's aspirations to do well for themselves and the only country they call home -- all for petty political pandering. Nicely done Senators!
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