Via Rachel Labruyere at Reform Immigration For America:
Last night, in an effort to garner bipartisan support – and get this thing passed – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a new version of the DREAM Act bill. The new version makes compromises in response to the complaints many (mostly Republican) Senators had about the original bill. I’ll be frank: the compromises make me wince. But, from what I’m hearing from those fighting to get this passed, they aren’t deal-breakers. And this is our best shot to get the much-needed Republican votes in order to make the DREAM Act a reality. Here’s a quick summary of the most notable changes:
The old bill created a 6 year waiting period where people would have “non-immigrant” status. The new bill’s waiting period is 10 years, followed by 3 years of Legal Permanent Residence status before applying to be naturalized.
The new bill bars DREAMers from healthcare subsidies under the new exchange from our recent healthcare reform. This bar will last during all of the 10 years of conditional “non-immigrant” status.
The old bill’s age cap was 35 and the new bill’s age cap is 30.
AILA has more on the specific changes here.