Thread: NumbersUSA: DREAM act is 5 votes short.

From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: Tuesday 21SEP2010 Noon EDT




KEEP THE PHONES RINGING

OPPOSITION IS GROWING
TO DEFENSE/AMNESTY VOTE THIS AFTERNOON

Please refer to the Action Alert I emailed you this morning and continue to make the suggested calls. We cannot let up until the final vote is finished.

Call, phone, call, phone! 202-224-3121

PRO-AMNESTY LOBBYISTS SAY THEY ARE 5 VOTES SHORT

The Hill newspaper has just reported that pro-amnesty lobbyists are saying that they have only 55 Senators pledged to support the DREAM Act amnesty in the Defense Authorization bill this afternoon.

It will take 60 votes for the Senate to pass it.

The 55 is up slightly from the 52 they were reporting in support of amnesty yesterday.

Frankly, we question whether all 55 are fully committed to support the amnesty. But after a gigantic lobbying effort FOR the amnesty over the last week, it is a hopeful sign to us that the open-borders forces are still 5 votes short just hours before a Senate floor vote is expected.

I think your phone calls to Democratic offices have been particularly effective.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is getting pushback from Democratic colleagues balking at the legislative agenda he set for the weeks before Election Day. Several Democratic senators have questioned the wisdom of voting on . . . a scaled-down version of immigration reform, known as the DREAM Act.

They expressed their concerns at a Democratic policy meeting on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

-- from The Hill news service

It is good to see Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb publicly criticizing Reid. Webb is a prominent member of the Armed Services Committee.

Webb has also questioned attaching the DREAM Act . . . I dont think thats germane to the defense bill, he said. Its just going to make people mad.

Webb said it really surprises him that Reid decided to attach it to the defense legislation.

While he thinks the proposal is a good idea in concept, Webb said, we have to deal with the border first.

-- from The Hill news service

At the moment, Sen. Reid does not have a single Republican willing to vote to let him bring the Defense bill to the floor, primarily because of extraneous controversial aspects such as the DREAM amnesty which he is attaching.

Way to go, all of you with GOP Senators! Last week, it looked like we could lose a half-dozen Republicans on this vote. So you are doing well.

Friends, your phone calls and faxes are incredibly important in creating a mood among Senators that it just isn't worth taking up an amnesty right now, just before the elections.

Keep up the good work.

Check your Action Board to make sure you have taken all actions.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has just reported that Sen. Voinovich (R-Ohio) is going to vote NO on the bill. He had been the Republican thought most likely to support the bill. But get a load of this:

"I'm disappointed that Majority Leader (Harry) Reid and Senate Democrats have chosen to turn the Defense authorization bill - crucial legislation for our troops in a time of war - into a messaging bill," Voinovich said in a prepared statement this morning. "Just as I said with my decision to support the small business bill, this is not a time for messaging from either side of the aisle."

He strongly opposed including the amnesty in the Defense bill.

Thanks to all of you in the Ohio, Michigan and Indiana who have been phoning Voinovich.

-- ROY

Thank you for the update.

Psalm 91

Im holding my breath!

Sen. Mark Pryor has also expressed some concerns. Please call him too:

202- 224-2353.

Are you saying that it is 5 votes short of bringing it to the floor for a vote or 5 votes short of it passing when it is voted on today?

I heard the bill itself will be voted on at 2:30 eastern time today.