Reid and Durbin Vow To Move Forward On DREAM Highlight 11 Key Differences Between House and Senate Versions

Submitted by Kristian Ramos on 12/9/10

As noted earlier, the House has passed a substantially different version of the DREAM Act then the Senate version that was unveiled last week.

This has created some procedural hiccups, but by tabling the vote to wait for the House version, Democrats in the Senate have bought time to work on breaking the proposed Republican filibuster on DREAM.

The Senate Majority Leader and The Assistant Majority Leader just released a statement confirming that they intend to hold a vote on the House passed version of DREAM. That release can be seen HERE.

In that release, they also outlined key differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation, below is a synopsis:

Does not grant lawful permanent resident (LPR) status to anyone for at least 10 years; instead, an individual who meets the bill’s requirements becomes a “conditional nonimmigrant.”
Under the new House bill, conditional non immigrants must meet the bill’s college or military service requirement after 5 years, at which point they must file a new application to extend their status for 5 additional years.
Only after 10 years as a conditional nonimmigrant may a DREAM Act beneficiary apply for LPR status. Earlier versions of the DREAM Act provided “conditional permanent resident status” for 6 years, at which time those eligible could apply for LPR status.

Below is a PDF outlining all eleven key differences: