Senate panel OKs watered-down DREAM

WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch won committee approval Thursday for a bill to allow some illegal aliens to receive federal aid for college and in-state tuition rates — but only after Hatch was forced to water it down by Republican critics.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Hatch, R-Utah, voted 16-3, with three Republicans in opposition, to endorse his Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. It now goes to the full Senate.

It is designed to allow illegal aliens who entered the country before age 16, and at least five years before the bill is enacted, to qualify for federal college aid. It also clarifies that states may give them in-state tuition (which Utah already offers). Hatch said it is not their fault their parents brought them into the country.

By registering for college, those illegal aliens would also immediately be given temporary legal residency and could win permanent legal residency if they earn a college degree.

To win enough support for passage, Hatch had to allow critics to remove a provision that would have allowed the illegal aliens also to qualify for federal grants. The watered-down version now allows them only to receive federal loans or work study.

Also, they removed provisions that would have allowed the illegals to possibly earn legal status through community service instead of attending college. They also removed a provision that would have immediately given them permanent legal status with a degree, instead of waiting a normally required six-year probationary period.

Hatch was able to kill one weakening amendment, however, that would have required any state that gives in-state tuition to illegal aliens to also give it to out-of-state residents who are U.S. citizens.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a supporter of the bill who had negotiated compromises with GOP critics, conceded that funding for federal grants is limited and, "I don't think we want to deny a legal person a Pell Grant and give it to someone who is here illegally."

But Hatch and his chief co-sponsor, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said that during upcoming full Senate debate, they may try to again allow the illegal aliens to obtain grants.

Durbin said they are the ones "likely to be coming to college in the worst possible economic situation. . . . They will need financial help if they are to finish college."

He added that it is "not enough just to dangle the opportunity before you, but it should give you a chance to grasp it."