Update on the DREAM Act from Michelle Malkin

I told you this morning that the Dems were cooking up a new version of the DREAM Act to lure squishy Republicans and fence-sitting Democrats.

Here it is in full. Note: There are now four versions of the bill on the legislative calendar. None have been reviewed in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Once again, the Dems are rushing to cram ill-conceived entitlements down Americans’ throats and subverting the deliberative process.

In this version, they’ve extended the conditional residency period from six to ten years to make the amnesty look more palatable (see Section 5). They also have added an obligatory health exclusion (which will no doubt be abandoned as soon as the DHS Secretary starts issuing “public-interest” waivers built into the legislation). The waiver authority has also been expanded in this version of the bill. This bill also expands what qualifies as an “educational institution.” Bottom line: They can tweak all they want, but this warped-priority political pay-off is still a reckless, tone-deaf down payment on a broader illegal alien amnesty at a time of near-double-digit unemployment and border chaos.

Keep up your calls.

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GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions responded to the latest Dem maneuvering this morning at the Senate Judiciary Committee mark-up: “I was disappointed that, apparently as a result of the Majority Leader’s promises, we now may have a fourth version of the DREAM Act, produced last night at 8:45, that he seeks to bring on the floor. We haven’t had a hearing on that in seven years. The American people did not vote for amnesty in this past election. I think it’s clear, as Senator McCain said, the national consensus is and he’s accepted this, that we have to have lawfulness in the immigration system before we start giving millions amnesty—as this bill will do. And it will be resisted with every strength and every ability that I have to do so. Because this is a lame-duck Congress, it will not pass next year, and it’s not going to pass this year if I have anything to do about it, I just tell you. This is not a good idea, it’s not well written, it does far more than its supporters say, and it will create litigation in massive amounts that will disrupt the entire ability of immigration officials to do their jobs.”

FYI: So far, all 42 GOP Senators are holding steady on a pledge to block any legislation until the Senate deals with the “Bush tax cut extensions”/Obama tax increases.