Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin Introduces Fifth version of the DREAM Act

This is an update to one of the on Elmhurst Patch.

Congress has its hands full with many important issues to tackle during this lame duck session. Many of these bills will affect many Americans one way or the other. One bill, which evokes anger, hope and a plethora of other emotions for many, is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. This is the controversial immigration bill that would grant illegal immigrants access to the federal student financial aid and work study programs.

During his recent election campaign, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised to bring the bill up for debate, and open-borders advocates had been pressuring him to keep his promise. This week he did just that.

On Tuesday evening, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., surprised everyone with the introduction of Senate Bill 3992, the fifth version of the DREAM Act this year. This is the fourth version of the bill since Sept. 29. However, the bill still faces many obstacles for passage.

For starters, Republicans have stated that they want to first focus on passing a budget and deciding whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts before taking on any other issues. Furthermore, Senate Republicans still overwhelmingly oppose the bill, which would allow, among other things, illegal aliens to compete with the neediest U.S. citizens and legal residents for jobs under the federal work study program.

President Barack Obama sent the following tweet Wednesday: "If you agree that passing the DREAM Act is the right thing to do, call your senators and urge them to pass this bill."

Advocates and opponents agree that the act has little chance of passing during the upcoming congress, when the Republicans will control the House of Representatives. Therefore, it's only hope of passage is during this lame duck session, which ends in three weeks.