[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15118]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IT IS TIME TO VOTE ON THE DREAM ACT

  (Ms. BARRAGAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to sign 
the discharge petition to force a vote on the Dream Act. I believe this 
legislation would pass today if the Speaker would put it to a vote.
  Survey after survey confirms that a vast majority of Americans 
support DREAMers and believe they should be allowed to stay in the 
United States, the only country they have known since childhood.
  Let's be clear: DREAMers' lives are not bargaining chips, DREAMers' 
future is not a real estate deal. DREAMers have started businesses, 
they have bought homes, they have mentored high school students, they 
have found work in nonprofits.
  They give back to their community every day. They are teachers, they 
are nurses and doctors, they are our neighbors, our friends, and, for 
some of us like me, they are family.
  Failing to extend legal protections for DREAMers would be a historic 
betrayal, a permanent stain on our country. If you have yet to sign the 
discharge petition, I urge my colleagues to do so now.

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