Although Senator Richard Dubin is the DREAM Act’s most visible advocate, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch is its original sponsor. That was in 2001. These days, Senator Hatch’s position on the DREAM Act is very difficult to read. He claims to still support the bill but he remains non-committal to efforts at passing the bill during the lame duck session.
“My empathy is with that type of legislation, and I’ll just have to look at it,” he said. “They’re doing it for purely political reasons, and that’s not what I think ought to be done.”
So what exactly are those political reasons? Is it because Democratic senators are simply trying to pass a bill that has languished in the Senate since 2001 despite strong support – refuting the claim that the DREAM Act is an ill-conceived and hastily-crafted bill. What is political about that? Senators are trying to pass a common sense bill with limited applicability.
Even if we assume that Senator Hatch is correct that pursuing the DREAM Act in the lame duck session is only for political reasons, then what can he say about his own party’s political legislative moves? Senator Hatch seems to suggest that it is the only the Democratic Party that plays politics. Under that reasoning, Senator Hatch should only support apolitical bills, a legislative anomaly if there ever was one.
It seems to me that Senator Hatch is the one playing politics by attempting to stall action on a bill in fear of his own party. Senator Hatch should just do the right thing by voting yes on a bill that he originally championed.
