Dream Act, the fight continues

A coalition of labor and immigrant advocacy groups announced Tuesday they’re launching a radio and print advertising campaign to pressure Republican senators to support the measure. Targets include Florida Sen. George LeMieux, Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

On November 30, 2010, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed a new version of the DREAM Act (S.3992) with the aim of attracting broader support for DREAM to get the requisite 60 votes to pass the Senate during the current “lame duck” session of Congress.

The earliest Reid could file a cloture motion on the new bill would be this coming Thursday, December 2nd. After waiting out the requisite 30 hours post-cloture, it could “ripen” over the weekend, and effectively come up for a vote on Monday, December 6th at the earliest.

Senator Durbin (D-IL) has also recently introduced two paired down versions of the DREAM Act (S.3962) and (S.3963) in the hopes of getting the bill passed during the lame duck session.

However, in order for the DREAM Act to pass we must keep the pressure on Members of Congress. It’s more important than ever that you take action TODAY by writing and calling your member of Congress and urging them to support this common-sense and urgently needed immigration measure.