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Washington • Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch joined fellow Republicans to block debate Tuesday on a defense bill that includes an immigration proposal both Utah senators generally support.
Bennett and Hatch, who backed a similar vote three years ago, said their action was not because they have changed their position on the Dream Act. Rather, they said their vote was a reaction to other parts of the bill they found objectionable and their distaste for the political tactics of the Democratic majority.
The Dream Act would offer a path to citizenship for children who entered the country illegally prior to turning 16 and they must have been in the country five years prior to passage of the bill.
Qualification for it also requires they have a high school diploma or GED or have been accepted to a college or university. The bill also says they must be between the ages of 12 and 35 at the time of the application and they must be of "good moral character."
"It's not exactly the same circumstances. In other words, the defense bill a couple years ago is not the same defense bill as this one," Bennett said before casting a no vote.
He cited language in the measure that allows abortions at military hospitals and the end of the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays serving in the armed forces.
"If I could offer an amendment that says 'Let's strip the Dream Act out and then vote on the Dream Act as a free standing bill,' I would do that and I would vote for the Dream Act."
Hatch, too, said Democrats were playing a "cynical game" of attaching the Dream Act to the military legislation and balked at how the opposition party limited amendments to the bill.
"They don't go through committee like they should in the Senate, they don't give the minority any chance at all to bring up even legitimate amendments and this stuff has to stop," Hatch said just off the Senate floor. The Utah Republican added he is "a little uptight" about what Democrats have done with the Dream Act, which he previously sponsored, but that he would have looked at supporting it had the Democrats allowed the act to come up separately. Hatch had reiterated his supported for the measure as recently as July.
Octavio Villalpando, associate vice president for equity and diversity at the University of Utah, said he was hoping for a different outcome with Tuesday's vote but that he encourages Bennett and Hatch to help the Dream Act resurface and pass before November's election.
"Our hope is that they will again not only lead out on the Dream Act but help garner additional support from both sides of the aisle," Villalpando said.
"There's so much at stake for so many students across the country."