Hoyer: House Will Vote On DREAM With Or Without Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently brought a new version of the DREAM Act to the Senate floor to be voted on sometime next week. This new version of the DREAM Act was meant to put moderate Senate Democrats and Republican's at ease in what is expected to be a close vote on a motion to proceed to a stand alone vote on this legislation.

There was some question as to whether the House would vote on DREAM before or after the Senate, and whether the House would vote on the new recently announced Senate version of the legislation or if they would move forward with their own version and then reconcile the two versions in conference later.

Theo Emory of Congressional Quarterly reports that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has announced that regardless of what happens in the Senate the House may would move forward to a vote on DREAM, even if the legislation does not make it out of the Senate.

Hoyer was referencing Senate Republican's pledge to not pass any legislation that is not related to extending tax cuts for those that make more than $250,000:

“That is the Senate’s position, and that will not freeze us in place in doing things that we can do in the House of Representatives that we think are important to do,” he said. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, did not outline a strategy or timeline, saying only, “I think we would have the votes when we bring it to the floor.” Late Wednesday, he said a floor vote was possible next week.

Hoyer, made these comments after Reid brought the new version of the DREAM Act to the floor:

Hoyer made the promise after Reid filed a fourth version of the legislation (S 3992) Tuesday, aimed at undocumented adult children of illegal immigrants who go to college or join the armed forces for two years. The latest version contains several changes intended to make the legislation more palatable to possible supporters. As with earlier versions, it lowers the age cutoff to 30 and leaves in place a federal ban on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

Reid has repeatedly reiterated his stance that the DREAM Act will get a stand alone vote in the Senate, making this now a question of when. As negotiations continue feverishly on both sides of the Capitol, a stand alone vote on DREAM Act seems  closer to reality than ever before.