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Category: Immigration

Murray Introduces Bill to Provide In-State Tuition for DREAMer Students

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Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the Investing IN States To Achieve Tuition Equity (IN-STATE) for Dreamers Act of 2014. The IN-STATE for Dreamers Act establishes the American Dream Grant program, which encourages states to increase access to higher education for low-income students, regardless of immigration status. This program would provide $750 million in need-based student financial aid to states that set equitable in-state tuition rates or offer state financial aid to the thousands of undocumented students who graduate from American high schools each year.

American Dream Grants would supplement state financial aid funding, in order to increase higher education affordability for all students. States would qualify for grants by allowing in-state tuition for undocumented students or by expanding access to state financial aid for these students. This legislation is not a state mandate and is fully paid for. Already 19 states, including Washington, currently offer in-state tuition for undocumented students.

At the state level, the Washington State legislature is currently considering a similar measure called the Washington State DREAM Act which would offer need-based aid to undocumented students. Several other states, including California, Texas, Illinois, and New Mexico, already offer need-based grants to undocumented students.

Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) have also signed on as original co-sponsors of this legislation.

The University of Washington, Washington State University, Colorado State University and the University of Hawaii have voiced their support of the bill.

Additional information on the legislation is here.

House Democrats Introduce Comprehensive Immigration Reform

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A group of House Democrats yesterday – led by Washington’s 1st District Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, released a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The legislation, called the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act largely reflects the bipartisan Senate bill. Among other things, the plan:

  • Contains much of the same language from the Senate bill that reforms visa programs and interior enforcement
  • Includes a bipartisan border-security bill which already passed the House Homeland Security Committee
  • Focuses on securing borders, protecting citizens, uniting families, and offering a pathway to citizenship based on certain qualifications.

While this is a significant step in the immigration reform world, it is not likely that this bill will advance anytime soon. With all of the action surrounding the budget and debt ceiling, the latest consensus is that larger immigration reform will get pushed to 2014 – although House Republicans may still move their piece-meal bills.

Click HERE to read DelBene’s Press Release

Click HERE for a section-by-section summary of the House Democrats’ legislation

July Federal Update

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FY14 APPROPRIATIONS

The path to enacting FY14 appropriations measures is paved with legislative friction as Congress is showing no signs of undoing the sequester and the House and Senate chambers are working on vastly different overall budget numbers. At this point, there are three budgets — House, Senate, and White House — all of which assume no sequestration, but include different ways to account for the cuts in later years.

The House is advancing its FY14 appropriations bills at a $967 billion overall spending cap, while the Senate is working with a $1.058 trillion cap, which does not take into account the sequester. Ironically, both the House and Senate plans would trigger a new round of across-the-board spending reductions under sequestration because they violate the caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (PL 111-25). But the House GOP plan busts the caps in defense and other security measures while the Senate is expected to bust the caps in both defense and non-defense (domestic) bills. All of this is leading to a big fight on spending, which will certainly culminate in a continuing resolution (CR) before the federal fiscal year ends September 30th. Continue reading “July Federal Update”

Senate Passes Immigration Reform

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A short time ago, the US Senate approved sweeping immigration legislation. By a vote of 68 to 32, the Senate approved and concluded a month-long debate of a measure which was nearly 1,200 pages. To note the historic significance of the vote, Vice President Biden presided over the vote and Senators voted from their desks, which is a rare procedural move to mark historic votes and special occasions. The Senate used the same formal procedure of voting from their desks to pass ObamaCare three years ago.

Continue reading “Senate Passes Immigration Reform”

Senate may Vote on Immigration Bill Today

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Although the vote is officially scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, some reports are claiming that Senators may try to move the legislation for a vote around 4pm today. Senator Reid announced that Senators will make the vote from their desks – a method usually reserved for votes on historic legislation.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have already indicated that they will not take up the Senate bill.