MALDEF

MALDEF'S PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL RESPONDS TO SENATE VOTE ON DREAM ACT

STATEMENT BY THOMAS A. SAENZ, MALDEF PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, IN RESPONSE TO SENATE VOTE ON DREAM ACT

LOS ANGELES, CA - Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, issued the following statement in response to today’s Senate vote on the defense authorization bill (S. 3454), which contained an amendment for the “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2009” (S. 729), more commonly known as the DREAM Act:

"Today, a substantial majority of the United States Senate supported a procedural measure that would have permitted Majority Leader Harry Reid to move forward in adding the DREAM Act to the defense authorization bill; this would have paved the way for enactment this year of this critically important piece of legislation. Unfortunately, because Senate rules currently require a super-majority to proceed with conducting the nation's important business, the procedural vote failed."

"MALDEF views today's vote as a temporary setback for a bill that has had bipartisan support for many years, that would address in part our critical national need for more skilled and educated workers, and that would vindicate our foundational national value to evaluate young people on their own merits rather than on the acts or decisions of their parents. We hope that in the very near future the Senate will put partisan politics aside and have the courage to support the DREAM Act as an appropriate recognition of our country's right to benefit from the efforts of American-raised and educated scholars and patriots."

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