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By Karoun Demirjian (contact) 
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 | 6:55 p.m.
Harry Reid
Republicans may not like it, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday he’s going to go ahead with bills to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the military and provide undocumented college students and military recruits a chance to become American citizens.
In September, Reid attempted to use the annual defense authorization bill as a vehicle to pass both a repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military, and the DREAM Act, which puts qualifying young undocumented adults who were brought to the country as children on a pathway to citizenship.
The must-pass measure to fund the military will serve once again as the backbone piece of legislation for the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, while the DREAM Act will be presented on its own for an up-or-down vote.
Most Republicans are expected to resist the measures.
GOP leaders criticized Reid in September for weighing down the defense authorization bill with the measures, accusing him of bringing them up only to make a play to bring out his base for the 2010 midterms.
Led by a vocal John McCain, members of the GOP staged a successful procedural filibuster, blocking the measure from even coming to the floor.
It’s not clear how many Republicans might vote differently now that pre-election tensions have largely passed. Maine Republican Susan Collins, for instance, stated that she would support a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell but refused to give Reid her vote because she thought he was unfairly blocking out Republican input to make a political play.
Collins would have been the 60th vote necessary to begin work on the bill earlier this fall.
But passing measures like the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal and DREAM Act will be one vote harder after Thanksgiving than they would have been before. That’s when Mark Kirk is expected to take over Obama’s former Illinois Senate seat, which has been occupied by Democrat Roland Burris since 2009.
That means Reid will need at least two Republicans to cross over and that’s if his party stays in line.
While support for a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is widespread in the Democratic Party, and apparently the military as well — leaked results of an all-military survey showed more 70 percent of respondents thought gays serving openly would not affect them — that’s not the case with immigration matters.
For several years, the DREAM Act has been a critical part of comprehensive immigration overhaul. But with little energy left in Congress to tackle such a massive bill, immigration advocates had settled on the DREAM Act as their best bet for now.
Immigration doesn’t split neatly along party lines. While Democrats are more supportive than Republicans are of changes to the laws that favor immigrant inclusion, as opposed to just exclusionary enforcement, they aren’t of one mind about it. Many sitting Democrats voted against immigration reform the last time it came up for a true referendum in 2007.
The fact that Reid is letting the DREAM Act go ahead as a standalone bill has some supporters nervous that there may not be enough support in the Senate to clear the all-but-give 60-vote filibuster-proof hurdle such a bill will first have to clear before it can be brought up for debate on the floor.
On Tuesday, Congressional Hispanic Caucus leaders and staunch immigration advocates Nydia Velasquez and Luis Gutierrez met with President Obama about passing the DREAM Act, and said the president had offered to lend his support by calling lawmakers to press them to support the measure.
Obama had promised during his presidential campaign to address immigration reform in his first year, but that quickly took a backseat to more pressing crises in the areas of housing, unemployment and failing markets, and the administration’s focus on health care.
A comprehensive immigration overhaul — at least one generally resembling the mix of enforcement and legal-status granting activities that have comprised recent iterations of comprehensive bills — is likely to be all but impossible to get through Congress once Republicans take control of the House.
Harry: Don't enable the illegal imigrant movement!
I've voted for you over the years because of your integrity and sensibility. The dream act is a nightmare. For 10 years I worked with the clinics that provide medical care to the migrant workers in Calif. The illegals think of us as fools, despise us and should not be rewarded for braking US laws. US citizens are struggling to keep themselves from loosing their jobs and homes. We cannot afford to continue supporting the millions of illegals (arguements that they pay taxes are completely false). Please look closely at the trade offs. Burn this bill now!
That was the top of the priority of everybody in Nevada.
Yep.....gays in the military.
Yep.....illegals getting citizenship.
No....to jobs and the economy.
We are getting what we deserve. Union and big casinos won it for Reid and I guess that is what they want, too.
We need no stinking jobs.
Still out of work there in vegas,think about this and good ol uncle harry.next time you go into any business and the person helping you cant bearly speak english,and yet your still looking for a job you can thank uncle harry for that! Infact he wants to give more of the jobs that are left to more imigrants.And think about it,you voted him right back into office!
As for the post's so far,Hows it feel to be on the right because we are not trusted comments!Hey Sgt Rock good to see ya bud.We can only hope God bless's America again real soon?Maybe in 2012?
This idiot and his agenda is what you voted for...now live with it!
Yes to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell and NO to the Dream Act.
It's pay back time for Harry Reid. Harry has got to do his paybacks before the Republicans lock the doors to the Treasury...
Hey Francis and the rest of you: Where were all your complaints about illegals before "there were too many of them?" As long as there's "just enough," it's okay to reap the benefits of illegal labor, via cheaper foods and the like? And why are you blaming liberals? Republicans controlled all three branches of the federal government for SIX CONSECUTIVE YEARS. I don't recall any solutions coming from all of that.
I don't really care one way or the other about the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, but the 'DREAM' act is the stupidest piece of legislation I've ever seen. Illegals, and the children of illegals, shouldn't get any special treatment from the government. If they want to be citizens they should go through the process like everyone else. Everyone else being non-Hispanics.
Greedy republicans are the biggest hypocrits of
all time.
Republicans can never be trusted.
Let me ask you this teamster?Whens the last time you went out and looked for a job?You havent,because the union leaders say you cant!Its people like you is whats part of the problem.You and your union leaders are part of the problem:ie voted harry right back in office!Why dont you get a back bone and go look for your own job,and you'll be talking the same as the rest of america.Get the illeagals out!I'll bet you and your so called brothhood will be the first to get the healthcare waivers too!
This isn't about "cronies" or "illegals", unless one considers brave military soldiers who happen to be gay "cronies" and kids who had no say in where they'd end up "illegals". This is about HUMAN BEINGS. This is about kids being unfairly shut out of jobs and colleges because they can't "go through the process like everyone else", as well as soldiers getting the fair treatment they deserve for fighting so hard for our country.
Thank you, Senator Reid, for standing up for the DREAM Act and DADT repeal!
That is, under current policy, these kids can't go through any sort of process because they're undocumented. But because they grew up here in America, learning English and going to American K-12 schools, it makes no sense to tear them away from their families and deport them. All the DREAM Act would do is give them the chance to "go through the process like everyone else", and give them a chance to get a job and/or get college education precisely so that they can become independent adults with no need for any sort of "special treatment" or "welfare".
The DREAM Act is about children, who through NO FAULT OR INTENT of their own, have lived in the U.S. their entire lives. This isn't special treatment, it's what's fair, economical, and makes the most sense.
No, Harry's DREAM Act is not about children who lived in the U.S. their entire lives.
Children born in the U.S. are U.S. Citizens by birthright...
Harry's DREAM Act is just a payback to Hispanics for their votes. But it does not matter, because Harry knows that the DREAM Act will not go anywhere. If Harry really wanted to pass the DREAM Act, Harry would have made it a priority earlier in this Session.
Just more Democrat pandering to buy a few more votes...
Harry, who once had a MECHA connected woman on his staff, and the Hispanic House caucus, must stay up all night conniving on ways to short-circuit US immigration laws.
No one would believe Harry if he said, "we are a nation of laws"