WASHINGTON — Support for a bill setting defense policy in a time of war could erode if the Senate majority leader succeeds in pairing it with a long-sought immigration measure, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said Wednesday.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that he wants to offer an amendment to the defense policy bill to include the DREAM Act, which allows certain young people who attend college or join the military to become legal U.S. residents.
“It would depend on a lot of factors, but it certainly would make it that much more difficult to support something such as the defense authorization bill,” said Nelson, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Nelson then offered a simple warning to Democratic leaders: “Just don't do it.”
The defense bill, as intended, sets out a range of key defense policies, including authorization for military spending over the next fiscal year.
Nelson said Congress should consider the DREAM Act only as part of a comprehensive approach to immigration reform. And such an approach is politically impossible until the country fully secures its border with Mexico, he said.
The defense bill shouldn't be “used for political purposes,” he said.
Nelson met Wednesday with a group of Nebraskans in town to urge comprehensive reform of the immigration system. The Nebraskans also met with aides to other members of the state's congressional delegation, stressing the need for federal action.
Bryan Corkle, a public school teacher in O'Neill, Neb., specifically urged support for the DREAM Act. He said he's seen kids who want to serve their country but lack the documentation required by military recruiters.
“There's a very human face on this, and all you have to do is stand in my classroom to see it,” Corkle said.
Another member of the group, Michael Nolan of the League of Nebraska Municipalities, said federal representatives need to act soon.
Even if the visiting group didn't change minds immediately, Nolan said, the dialogue was useful in providing the delegation new information and perspective.
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., has said he's sympathetic to the plight of children in the United States illegally, but that offering them a path to citizenship would be unfair to those who wait years to legally enter the country.
Johanns would be unable to support the defense policy bill if it included the DREAM Act, spokesman Steve Wymer said Wednesday.
Iowa's two senators are split.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act and supports its inclusion in the defense policy bill.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the DREAM Act “partial amnesty” and said the government tried to solve a “three-million-person problem” by granting amnesty in 1986.
“We found out that you reward illegality and you get more of it, and now we have a 12-million-person problem,” Grassley said.
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