Dream Act Does Not Pass Senate

The Senate voted 55-41 in favor of the Dream Act today, which means it did not get the 60 votes needed to avoid filibuster. The bill is effectively killed for this year. 

Most immediately, the measure would have helped grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students and recent graduates whose lives are severely restricted though many have lived in the United States for nearly their entire lives.

Young Hispanic men and women filled the spectator galleries of the Senate, many of them wearing graduation caps and tassels in a symbol of their support for the bill. They held hands in a prayerful gesture as the clerk called the roll and many looked stricken as its defeat was announced.

President Obama had personally lobbied lawmakers in support the bill. But Democrats were not able to hold ranks.

Despite the votes being mainly partisan, five Democrats, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jon Tester of Montana, Max Baucus of Montana, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina, opposed the Dream Act. On the other hand, three Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Robert Bennett of Utah, and Richard Lugar of Indiana voted for the bill.