DREAM Act Passes the House; Reid calling for Cloture Vote in the Senate

The House passed the DREAM Act this evening with a 216-198 vote. Harry Reid is now expected to immediately call for a Cloture Vote in the Senate on the DREAM Act.  Passage in the Senate may not be as easy, as some early DREAM Act supporters are now having second thoughts on supporting the bill.

From The Salt Lake Tribune --

....supporters of the DREAM Act remain pessimistic of its chances, in large part because of Republicans such as Sen. Orrin Hatch, who have promised to vote against the bill even though they have co-sponsored the legislation in years past.

“It’s a huge disappointment when someone who has been a huge champion on an issue walks away from it,” said Karen Crompton, the executive director of Voices for Utah Children. “I can’t explain it.”

Hatch says he is not walking away from the issue, even if he opposes the latest version of a bill he first sponsored in 2001.

“I just personally feel that it is brought up at this time for pure political purposes and I resent that,” said Hatch, who added that if Democrats were serious about solving the problem they wouldn’t have waited until the waning days of a post-election session to bring the issue to a vote.

Hatch is not the only Utah elected official to previously support a version of the DREAM Act only to turn against it now. More....

The DREAM Act, at an estimated cost of over $6.2 Billion, will be a fiscal and legal nightmare. And, regardless of what the liberal pundits and supporters of  DREAM Act say creates a free and clear path equal to amnesty for illegal immigrants.  

Support for the DREAM Act, as you can see above, in the Senate is wavering.  We must continue hammering away at the Senate with our phone calls, faxes and emails. Please contact the below list of targeted Senators and urge them to vote no for Cloture on the DREAM Act

Targeted Senators

Sen. Sherrod Brown

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-2315 / DC Fax: (202) 228-6321

Cleveland Office Phone: (216) 522-7272 / Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-2239

Email: http://brown.senate.gov/contact/

 

Sen. George Voinovich

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-3353 / no fax provided

Cleveland Office: (216) 522-7095/ Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-7097

E-mail: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

 

Sen. George LeMieux (FL)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-3041 / Local Office Phone: 904-398-8586

(Recently, LeMieux stated he is voting "No." We must continue to call him and reinforce his decision.)

 

Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-5344 / Local Office Phone: 207-874-0883

 

Sen. Susan Collins (ME)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2523 / Local Office Phone: 207-945-0417

 

Sen. Scott Brown (MA)

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-4543 / Local Office Phone: (617) 565-3170

 

Sen. John Ensign (NV)

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-6244 / Local Office Phone: (702) 388-6605

 

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-5922 / Local Office Phone: 214-361-3500

(According to staff, Hutchison will vote against the DREAM Act in its present form.)

 

Sen. John McCain (AZ)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2235 / Local Office Phone: 480-897-6289

 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-6665 / Local Office Phone: 907-271-3735

 

Sen. Sam Brownback

DC Office Phone: 202-224-6521 / Local Office Phone: 785-233-2503

 

Rep. Michele Bachmann Calls for AG Eric Holder to Resign

Citing continued failures, blunders, missteps and a threat to our National Security, Rep. Michele Bachman has called for the inept AG Eric Holder to step down from his position.  In light of the terrible job and injection of partisan incompetence, it would be hard to imagine anyone in Congress would feel Holder should hold on....

From Rep. Michele Bachmann --

The Wikileaks debacle is the latest proof that Eric Holder has no understanding of the dangerous times we live in. His ineptness, as head of the Department of Justice, is putting our nation in a vulnerable position.

Earlier this week, the Wikileaks website jeopardized our nation’s security and diplomacy by releasing hundreds of thousands of U.S. State Department documents. The same site put our troops at risk when it released thousands of classified U.S. military documents in July. As far back as March, the Pentagon declared Wikileaks to be a threat to national security. Meanwhile, the Attorney General, our nation’s chief law enforcement officer, has been busy cracking down on dozens of websites that sold things like counterfeit purses. Eric Holder simply has the wrong priorities.

During his tenure as Attorney General, Holder short-circuited the interrogation of the underwear bomber by ordering that the terror suspect be given Miranda rights within the first hour of questioning. Holder’s use of civilian trials for terror suspects proved to be a failure last month when a civilian jury acquitted a man on 284 of 285 counts. This was after a judge refused to allow the testimony of a key prosecution witness, even though our military had captured the suspect after a gunfight in Pakistan and linked him to deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Eric Holder has also had a slew of lesser problems, like his outspoken criticism of Arizona’s immigration law before he had even read the law, his dropping of charges in the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case, and his failure to investigate fraud allegations and the misuse of taxpayer dollars in the recent Pigford claims settlement.

The time has come for Eric Holder to step down as Attorney General of the United States. As a member of Congress and a mother of five children, I am concerned about the very real threats facing our country. We need a chief law enforcement officer who understands those dangers and knows how to respond.

Case Western Reserve University Tramples on Free Speech

Each month, FIRE features a college or university with a particularly egregious speech code as its Speech Code of the Month. The Speech Code of the Month feature serves both to educate the public about the broader problem of speech codes on campus and to use public pressure to encourage particular institutions to abandon repressive policies. This month the winner is Case Western Univeristy!

From Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) --

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for December 2010: Case Western Reserve University.

Case Western's "Use of University Facilities" policy provides that

University facilities and services may not be used for political fund-raising or to advocate a partisan position .... This restriction also applies to the use of campus mail services, university mailing lists and labels, duplicating and printing equipment, and telephones belonging to the university.

By its plain language, this policy prohibits any of Case Western's recognized student organizations—which include Case Democrats, College Republicans of Case, Case Right to Life, Spectrum Gay-Straight Alliance, and Students for Justice in Palestine, to name just a few—from holding any on-campus event at which they express an opinion on a wide variety of political issues. According to this policy, a student cannot even make a call from the phone in his or her dorm room to discuss such issues!

Case Western is private, but it promises "the right to hold and express opinions different from our own." If, as the Use of University Facilities policy states, Case Western students are not free to express their opinions on the most important issues affecting Americans, this right is wholly meaningless. Like many universities that censor political speech, administrators at Case Western may erroneously believe that such a policy is necessary to preserve the university's status as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. However, as we have explained before in our Policy Statement on Political Activity on Campus, "students, student groups, and faculty members do not endanger the 501(c)(3) status of private colleges and universities by engaging in partisan political speech when such speech is clearly separate and distinct from the institution's views or opinions. The presumption is that such speech does not represent the views of the university as an institution."

In addition to suppressing core political expression on campus, this policy is written so broadly that it cannot conceivably be enforced consistently, opening the door for arbitrary enforcement and double standards. A respect for substantive due process requires that a law must be capable of being enforced without arbitrariness. Taken literally, the Use of University Facilities policy prohibits most, if not all, political expression that takes place on Case Western's campus. Therefore, unless Case Western plans to discipline every student and faculty member who expresses a position on a political issue anywhere on campus or using campus telephones, its policy will necessarily be applied arbitrarily and at the sole discretion of administrators-a recipe for severe injustice. And as if that isn't bad enough, the policy also states that "[t]he university reserves the right to withhold from any individual or group the use of university facilities or service when, in the opinion of the university's officers, such use is not in the best interest of the institution"—allowing Case Western administrators to suppress non-political speech as well, such as criticism of Case Western's policies.

For these reasons, Case Western Reserve University is our December 2010 Speech Code of the Month. If you believe that your college's or university's policy should be a Speech Code of the Month, please e-mail speechcodes@thefire.org with a link to the policy and a brief description of why you think attention should be drawn to this code.

If you are a current college student or faculty member interested in free speech, consider joining FIRE's Campus Freedom Network, which consists of college faculty members and students dedicated to advancing individual liberties on their campuses.

GOP House Steering Committee Nominates Two Liberal Candidates for Chairs of Appropriations Committee & Energy and Commerce Committee

From TPP Facebook Page ---

Speaker Elect Boehner and the GOP House Steering Committee nominated the two most liberal candidates to serve as Chairmen of Appropriations (Harold Rogers (R-KY) and Energy and Commerce - Fred Upton (R-MI) Check out their voting records at the links below.

Harold Rogers (R-KY) Chairman of Appropriations Committee
Fred Upton (R-MI) Chairman of Energy and Commerce Committee

Speaker Elect Boehner can be contacted at: (202)225-6205

On November 29, Tea Party Patriots hosted a town hall discussing primarily the Energy and Commerce Committee and Appropriations Committee Chairs. On December 1st there was a follow-up call, which included the canidates for Republican Study Committee chairman who were unable to join the earlier call. If you missed either of these calls, click here to listen in or download the audio.

 

Action Alert: Help Stop the Lorain County Tax Increase

From the North Ridgeville TPP --

If you live in Lorain County, our lame duck county commissioners have a scheduled board meeting this Wednesday at 9:30am and a public hearing immediately following at 10:00am to discuss a tax rate increase of one-quarter (1/4%) of one percent totaling 4.75%.

Please try to attend and show these politicians we are not going to stand for any more taxes and are willing to make what ever sacrifices needed. If you're unable to attend the 10:00 am hearing there will be another one at 6:00pm. (Click here for Meeting Agenda)

Date: Wed. December 8, 2010

What: Lorain County Comissioners Board Meeting
Time: 9:30AM
Location: CountyAdministration Building (Meeting Room B)
Address: 226 Middle Avenue, Fourth Floor Elyria, OH

What: Public Hearing for Unvoted Tax Increase ProposalTime: 10:00AM & 6:00PM
Location: CountyAdministration Building (Meeting Room B)
Address: 226 Middle Avenue, Fourth Floor Elyria, OH

Please contact the Lorain County Commissioners and share your thoughts on them considering imposing a tax without a vote of the people;

Commissioner Betty Blair
PH: (440)329-5112
FX: (440)323-3357
Email: bblair@loraincounty.us

Commissioner Ted Kalo
PH: (440)329-5301
FX: (440)323-3357
Email: tkalo@loraincounty.us

Commissioner Lori Kokoski
PH: (440)329-5101
FX: (440)323-3357
Email: lkokoski@loraincounty.us

Coming this week; The DREAM Act

Nancy Pelosi DID NOT have the votes for to pass The DREAM Act last week and is expected to reschedule the vote for some time this week -- possibly Wednesday.  It is rumored the Senator Harry Reid will move for a Cloture Vote on the DREAM Act as soon as today.  Recent studies show the DREAM Act will have an estimated cost of $6.2 Billion!

Patriots, your calls, emails and faxes are working!  Continuing your calls, emails & faxes, can and will stop the fiscal nightmare backdoor amnesty for illegal immigrants will cause our country  Contact info for House & Senate members is below.

The dangers of The DREAM Act --

To help remind you of the dangers of this bill, we are reposting Sen. Jeff Sessions' "Ten things you need to know about S.3827, the DREAM Act," which was featured on Michelle Malkin's website on Nov. 18th. (To read the entire memo, visit: http://michellemalkin.com/2010/11/18/dream-act-scorecard-the-gop-senate-fence-sitters/)

1.       The DREAM Act is NOT limited to children, and it will be funded on the backs of hard working, law-abiding Americans.

2.       The DREAM Act PROVIDES safe harbor for any alien, including criminals, from being removed or deported if they simply submit an application.

3.       Certain criminal aliens will be eligible for amnesty under the DREAM Act.

4.       Estimates suggest that at least 2.1 million illegal aliens will be eligible for the DREAM Act amnesty.

5.       Illegal aliens will get in-state tuition benefits.

6.       The DREAM Act does not require that an illegal alien finish any type of degree (vocational, two-year, or bachelor's degree) as a condition of amnesty.

7.       The DREAM Act does not require that an illegal alien serve in the military as a condition for amnesty, and there is ALREADY a legal process in place for illegal aliens to obtain U.S. citizenship through military service.

8.       Despite their current illegal status, DREAM Act aliens will be given all the rights that legal immigrants receive, including the legal right to sponsor their parents and extended family members for immigration.

9.       Current illegal aliens will get federal student loans, federal work study programs, and other forms of federal financial aid.

10.   DHS is prohibited from using the information provided by illegal aliens whose DREAM Act amnesty applications are denied to initiate their removal proceedings or investigate or prosecute fraud in the application process.

Let's melt the lines

The Washington Post article also reported that "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 Senator George LeMieux, Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, Nevada Senator John Ensign and Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison."

Patriots, it is imperative that we counteract the efforts of these pro-amnesty groups. The Senate needs to know that "We the People" want our government to uphold the current federal immigration laws and to act in a fiscally responsible manner by not passing this spending-nightmare bill.

We urge you to contact our Ohio senators as well as the list of targeted senators and tell them to vote NO on the DREAM Act.

List of Ohio / targeted senators

Sen. Sherrod Brown

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-2315 / DC Fax: (202) 228-6321

Cleveland Office Phone: (216) 522-7272 / Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-2239

Email: http://brown.senate.gov/contact/

Sen. George Voinovich

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-3353 / no fax provided

Cleveland Office: (216) 522-7095/ Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-7097

E-mail: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

Sen. George LeMieux (FL)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-3041 / Local Office Phone: 904-398-8586

(Recently, LeMieux stated he is voting "No." We must continue to call him and reinforce his decision.)

Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-5344 / Local Office Phone: 207-874-0883

Sen. Susan Collins (ME)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2523 / Local Office Phone: 207-945-0417

Sen. Scott Brown (MA)

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-4543 / Local Office Phone: (617) 565-3170

Sen. John Ensign (NV)

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-6244 / Local Office Phone: (702) 388-6605

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-5922 / Local Office Phone: 214-361-3500

(According to staff, Hutchison will vote against the DREAM Act in its present form.)

Sen. John McCain (AZ)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2235 / Local Office Phone: 480-897-6289

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-6665 / Local Office Phone: 907-271-3735

Sen. Sam Brownback

DC Office Phone: 202-224-6521 / Local Office Phone: 785-233-2503

DREAM Act will cost an estimated $6.2 Billion

Not only will the DREAM Act be a fiscal nightmare by creating unfunded mandates on the States, it will greatly diminish opportunies of higher education for many U.S. students, and further strain the resources of the already strained finances of public institutions -- all on the backs and out of the pockets of legal U.S. citizens.

From PR Newswire --

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies examines the costs and likely impact of the DREAM Act currently being considered by Congress.  The act offers permanent legal status to illegal immigrants up to age 35, who arrived in the United States before age 16, provided they complete two years of college. Under the act, beneficiaries would receive in-state tuition.  

Given the low income of illegal immigrants, most can be expected to attend state schools, with a cost to taxpayers in the billions of dollars.  As both funds and slots are limited at state universities and community colleges, the act may reduce the educational opportunities available to U.S. citizens.  

The Memorandum is available online at http://cis.org/dream-act-costs. Among the findings:

• Assuming no fraud, we conservatively estimate that 1.03 million illegal immigrants will eventually enroll in public institutions (state universities or community colleges) as a result of the DREAM Act.  That is, they met the residence and age requirements of the act, have graduated high school, or will do so, and will come forward.
• On average each illegal immigrant who attends a public institution will receive a tuition subsidy from taxpayers of nearly $6,000 for each year he or she attends for total cost of $6.2 billion a year, not including other forms of financial assistance that they may also receive.
• The above estimate is for the number who will enroll in public institutions.  A large share of those who attend college may not complete the two full years necessary to receive permanent residence.  
• The cost estimate assumes that the overwhelming majority will enroll in community colleges, which are much cheaper for students and taxpayers than state universities.
• The estimate is only for new students not yet enrolled.   It does not include illegal immigrants currently enrolled at public institutions or those who have already completed two years of college.  Moreover, it does not include the modest number of illegal immigrants who are expected to attend private institutions.
• The DREAM Act does not provide funding to states and counties to cover the costs it imposes.  Since enrollment and funding are limited at public institutions, the act's passage will require some combination of tuition increases, tax increases to expand enrollment or a reduction in spaces available for American citizens at these schools.  
• Tuition hikes will be particular difficult for students, as many Americans already find it difficult to pay for college.  Research indicates that one out of three college students drop out before receiving a degree.  Costs are a major reason for the high dropout rate.  
• In 2009 there were 10.2 million U.S. citizens under age 35 who have dropped out of college without receiving a degree.  There was an additional 15.2 million citizens under age 35 who have completed high school, but have never attended college.  
• Lawmakers need to consider the strains the DREAM Act will create and the impact of adding one roughly million students to state universities and community colleges on the educational opportunities available to American citizens.  
• Providing state schools with added financial support to offset the costs of the DREAM Act would avoid the fiscal costs at the state and local level, but it would shift the costs to federal taxpayer.  
• Advocates of the DREAM Act argue that it will significantly increase tax revenue, because with a college education, recipients will earn more and pay more in taxes over their lifetime.  However, several factors need to be considered when evaluating this argument:  

• • Any hoped-for tax benefit is in the long-term, and will not help public institutions deal with the large influx of new students the act creates in the short-term.
  
  
  • Given limited spaces at public institutions, there will almost certainly be some crowding out of U.S. citizens - reducing their lifetime earnings and tax payments.  
  
  
  • The DREAM Act only requires two years of college, no degree is necessary.   The income gains for having some college, but no degree, are modest.  
  
  
  • Because college dropout rates are high, many illegal immigrants who enroll at public institutions will not complete the two years the act requires, so taxpayers will bear the expense without a long term benefit.  

Data Source:  The analysis in this report is based on one developed by the Migration Policy Institute, which is based on the 2006 to 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS) collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.  We have updated their analysis using the 2009 and 2010 CPS.   The above estimates focus on the number of illegal immigrants likely to enroll in state universities or community college.  It must be emphasized that it is not an estimate of the number of individuals who are eligible for the DREAM Act amnesty or the number that will ultimately meet all the requirements for permanent residence.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent non-partisan research institution that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.