Saturday, October 27, 2007

The DREAM Act and Immigration

Last week, the U.S. Senate tried to bring a bill called the DREAM Act to cloture.

Cloture is a procedure that takes a bill proposed by a senator and ends the discussion of the bill. The cloture vote must get 60 "yes" votes to end the discussion of the bill, and if it gets the 60 "yes" votes, the Senate is then allowed to vote later on whether to pass the bill or not.


The DREAM Act was a bill that would grant amnesty to illegal aliens and provide them with with benefits (like education) that only legal citizens of this country enjoy.

Conservatives bombarded their senators with faxes, emails, and phone calls asking them to vote "no" on cloture and it was a success.

The good news is that only 52 senators voted "yes" for cloture, ending the chances of it passing; the bad news is that several liberal Republicans voted "yes" also.

How did your senator vote:

Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Murkowski (R-AK), Nay Stevens (R-AK), Nay
Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California: Boxer (D-CA), Not Voting Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Allard (R-CO), Nay Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Not Voting Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Delaware: Biden (D-DE), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Martinez (R-FL), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Craig (R-ID), Yea Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea
Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Nay Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA),Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota: Coleman (R-MN), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay Lott (R-MS), Yea
Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Nay Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Hagel (R-NE), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Nay Sununu (R-NH), Nay
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Domenici (R-NM), Nay
New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Nay Dole (R-NC), Nay
North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Nay Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Smith (R-OR), Nay Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: DeMint (R-SC), Nay Graham (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia: Warner (R-VA), Nay Webb (D-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Nay Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

CLINTON AND OBAMA VOTE FOR AMNESTY (ONCE AGAIN)

WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the Senate’s failure to move forward to consider the DREAM Act (S.2205), which would provide undocumented children the opportunity to pursue higher education or serve in our military, and eventually become legalized citizens:
“We need comprehensive immigration reform in this country, reform that promotes our national and economic security and creates a pathway to earned citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country"....."I will continue to work with Senators Durbin, Hagel, Lugar and Kennedy on this issue, and will fight to bring this legislation back for another vote as soon as possible.”

Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act

"The DREAM Act, which I have proudly cosponsored for several years, would help expand opportunities for our nation’s immigrant children. For those students who have grown up in the United States, have demonstrated good moral character, and are pursuing a college education or have enlisted in the military, the DREAM Act will provide an opportunity to earn legal status in this country." “I am disappointed that the Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act. The enactment of this legislation is long overdue, and I will continue to fight for its passage, for all of our children and our nation.”

With NO REGARD TO AMERICAN CHILDREN or the fact that the CHAIN MIGRATION created by these amnestied "children" will over run our country with illegal invaders!
Clinton + Obama= Amnesty!
=========
Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign Support Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/ronpaul1/petition.html

Vote RON PAUL - TOM TANCREDO IN '08!
*Physically secure our borders and coastlines.
*Track visa holders and deport anyone who overstays.
*End birthright citizenship.
*No Amnesty.
*End "Catch & Release"
*No welfare for illegal aliens.
and......BUILD THE FENCE!

Get off your butts and VOTE!

Ron Paul Grass-roots Amazes CNN - October 13, 2007
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/016089.html

"It's Your Country. Take It Back." Tom Tancredo

Burt Noyes said...

Ron Paul has some good credentials, and his determination to stick to strict Constitutionalism is something we need more of from every political leader, including Mike Huckabee.

However, Paul's foreign relations policy is a disaster and he doesn't understand that we face a determined radical Islamic enemy that must be stopped where they are, not after they are in this country.

Tom Tancredo is a bona fide conservative leader, and I would gladly support him if he received the Republican nomination.

Anonymous said...

Justin says...

Hey Burt, what is your view on Ann Coulter?

Burt Noyes said...

I read Ann's book How to Talk to a Liberal- If You Must last year and read her column every week.

Overall, she has some excellent political commentary, and her acidic and judgmental overtones are a deliberate attempt to push people's buttons and get a reaction, whether they are liberal or conservative.

I probably agree with Ann 90% of the time, and on occasion she has changed my mind on a subject because of the information she presented.

Although her "take-no-prisoners" style is occasionally over the top, we sometimes have to have someone like Ann say that the emperor has no clothes to awaken us from our stupor.

Anonymous said...

Justin says...

Thanks! I just purchased her most recent book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans." It's the first I have read from her.

So now my next question is, what is it exactly that you disagree with her 10% of the time?

But I think like you: Some of her statements are rather cutting, but sometimes we need to use the scalpal in order to remove the tumor.

Burt Noyes said...

Hey Justin,
I have Ann's latest book on order also and look forward to reading it.

An example of something that falls into the 10% range is her recent criticism of Thompson and Huckabee.
She blasted them as not being conservative because they don't hold to everything she wants them too.

There is a range of conservatism, and I doubt there is any candidate that is running who has 100% conservative pedigree, including Huckabee.

But I believe Huckabee and Thompson both fit into the "conservative" paradigm along with Duncan Hunter, which means that leadership experience becomes the biggest factor in this election.

Personally, I think that Huckabee is the only conservative with genuine leadership. Congressmen and Senators are conditioned to compromise too much to be of any use in the White House.

Anonymous said...

Hey Burt,

If you disagree with Ron Paul's Non interventionist foreign policy and think that we need to stay in the middle east, why are you here? If this really is the fight of our lives do you have a uniform on?

Burt Noyes said...

hey Anonymous!

Interesting take you have on how involved we have to be.

Apparently you believe that only if a person has a uniform on are they entitled to an opinion on foreign policy.

If I was younger and didn't have the responsibility of raising a family, I would enlist in a heartbeat.

Since I am in this position, the next best thing to enlisting is giving the troops the full support they deserve.

That means doing everything here at home that we can to help them win the war and finish the mission.

The lip service the liberals and Ron Paul followers give about "supporting the troops" but asking them to give up and retreat is nothing but hog-wash.

Abogado David said...

Kansas passed a great law a few years ago that would allow students who came over without documentation with their parents as children to get in-state tuition at a Kansas Regents university or community college if (1) they attended a KS high school for at least 3 years and (2) they maintained a B grade average. Now, this doesn't actually give them any scholarship or grant money, they just have to pay in-state tuition like anybody else would who meets those criteria. (Actually, you only have to live in KS a year before enrolling to become eligible for in-state tuition, so this law actually creates a higher bar for undocumented students to become eligible.)

The anti-immigrant types have been after this law for years. Kris Kobach, while running for Congress on an anti-immigrant platform against Dennis Moore, was hired by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (an anti-immigrant group with the not-just-a-little-ironic acronym "FAIR") to sue the state on behalf of US Citizen out-of-state students. Of course, first they had to find some students willing to be named in the lawsuit, since there really weren't any complaining to begin with. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed due to "lack of standing," which essentially means that a plaintiff can't maintain a lawsuit if they are not personally being harmed. For example, I can't sue Donald Rumsfeld for the war in Iraq just because I'm a taxpayer annoyed at having my tax dollars being spent overseas, etc.

Moore beat Kobach handily, winning Johnson County outright for the first time in his congressional career. Despite this obvious rebuke on both the legal and political levels, the anti-immigrant types still flock to Kobach and about a year ago that part of the conservative wing of the KS GOP got him elected as State party chair.

Of course, as I Democrat, I'm just tickled. Such Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot, and they will be limping from it for more than a generation to come. Latinos are the fastest growing electoral demographic in the nation, and whatever gains Bush made among them in his two elections have completely evaporated as looney anti-immigrant types like Kobach and Tom Tancredo continue to blast away against them. What these foolish anti-immigrant Republicans don't realize is that there are thousands of mixed-status families in Kansas and America. Along with citizen classmates and friends, we have a generation of new voters who will only remember that it was Republicans who were trying to hurt and destroy their fathers, mothers, friends, and cousins, etc.

As a Kansan and an American, however, such policies are really sad and frightening. I know a lot of young clients who graduate from high school who have spent their whole lives here in Kansas City but can't get a drivers license. Without the promise of something better for their future, what motive does a young undocumented high school student have to learn English, stay in school, work hard and achieve to the best of their ability? Those who do believe that there is a possible benefit for buying into the system and playing by the rules end up being positive and productive members of society, and many find a way to legalize eventually. Those who don't believe they can benefit by buying into the system usually give up on following the rules. Sadly, without any hope of a better tomorrow, that's when I get to meet them as a criminal defense attorney. If young people become a problem for our society, that hurts all of us.

Of course, if you base your policies on the idea that all these new immigrants are lawbreakers and evildoers, then then it comes as no surprise that your prophesy becomes self-fulfilling. However, those of us who actually know some Latinos and recent immigrants know that if given the opportunity, our young people are capable of doing amazing and positive things for our community and our nation. Since they were not adults when they crossed with their parents, they should not be punished for their parents' decisions. Nor should the rest of society be punished by polcies which thwart and squander their potential.

The Kansas In-State Tuition law, and the comparable DREAM Act that was proposed at the federal level, hurts nobody and benefits all of us--unless, of course, you see a new generation of young Latino voters as a threat. I do not, nor should our politicians, nor the American people.