Harry Reid filed for cloture today on the DREAM Act, setting up a floor vote on Thursday, HuffPost Hill reports:
The bill to create a pathway to citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants who either attend college or enlist in the military will get a vote Thursday. One fence sitter, Democrat Mark Pryor, will courageously oppose the the bill because it ain't popular in Arkansas. "I will probably be against the DREAM Act, probably on both [cloture and final passage]," Pryor told reporters in the Capitol today. "For one thing, it's not very popular in my state, but I have concerns on it on policy grounds. I'm more concerned about the education side of it than the military side." DREAM backers are confident they have Richard Lugar and Bob Bennett's vote, and are still going after Republicans George LeMieux, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, John Ensign, John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison. Democrats leaning no include Max Baucus, Jon Tester, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad and Joe Manchin.
HuffPo's Amanda Terkel reports on the Senate caucus meeting discussion about the bill:
In the caucus meeting, Reid discussed DREAM Act, and according to a Democratic source, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) was "very very vocal" in telling the other lawmakers that they need to make the vote a priority....
"I've been in the Senate since 2001, and I just remember Republicans being passionate about it and sponsoring the bill. One of the most passionate speeches I heard was Orrin Hatch in the Judiciary Committee," said Cantwell in an interview with The Huffington Post Thursday afternoon. "And the fact that we've been working on it for so long and Republicans were so supportive of it and then somehow took a right turn or something and now won't pass the bill -- to me, it's important to get it done...."
Multiple sources also confirmed to HuffPost that Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Cali.) also spoke up, saying they would not be in the room today if not for the support of Latino voters. Both senators are strong supporters and co-sponsors of the DREAM Act.
Good for Cantwell, Bennet and Boxer. Their weaker-kneed cohorts among the Dems--Max Baucus, Jon Tester, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad and Joe Manchin--need to understand the long-term consequences for the Democratic party, supposedly their party, if they fail on this most humane and basic of immigration reforms.