{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/pelosi-floor-remarks-calling-for-an-immediate-house-vote-on-the-bipartisan-dream", "Pelosi Floor Remarks Calling for an Immediate House Vote on the Bipartisan DREAM Act", "2017-12-21", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "CA", "Nancy Pelosi", "P000197", "pelosi.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616\nWashington, D.C.  Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks on the Floor of U.S. House of Representatives calling for an immediate vote on the bipartisan DREAM Act. Below are the Leaders remarks: \nLeader Pelosi. Thank you, Mr.Speaker. I thank the gentleman foryieldingand I thank all of the Membersof the Rules Committee for theexceptional service theyprovide to the House inreviewing legislation that willcome to the floor. I particularly want to thank mycolleagues on the Democraticside for honoring the values ofour country by advocating foran amendment to include theDREAM Act as we go forward.I hope most of our Memberswould vote no on this rule andallow for the previous questionto come forward that will allowfor the DREAM Act to beconsidered.\nI want to thank the Chairman ofthe Committee and theDistinguished Members on theRepublican side as well as theDemocratic side for thehospitality extended to deputy, Democratic Whip, Mr. Hoyer,Chair of the Hispanic Caucus,Congresswoman Michelle LujanGrisham, and to me. At that meeting, Mr. Speaker, Itold the colleagues that we arein a tradition of having greatDemocratic and Republicanpresidents who had beensupportive of newcomers toour country and who recognizethat immigration is theconstant reinvigoration ofAmerica.\nWhen people come to our countrywith their hopes and dreams andaspirations to make the futurebetter for their families, theyare identifying with anAmerican ideal. All of us having theresponsibility to make thefuture better for the nextgenerationand their commitment, theircourage, their optimism, theirdetermination for a betterfuture makes America moreAmerican. Every newcomer who comes here,with that determination makesAmerica more American,and among those people are ourDREAMers.\nThis is a very discreet groupthat we were hoping to protectin the DREAM Act. Certainly, as our colleaguesacknowledged this morning, wehave important work to do incomprehensive immigrationreform. We have a responsibility toprotect our borders, north andsouth, and anything that liesin, east coast, west coast, andthrough the gulf. \nBut the fact is that, as waspointed out by Ms. LujanGrisham, Chair of the HispanicCaucus, think of the DREAMersas a discreet piece that needsprotection now and not wait forthe entire comprehensiveimmigration reform to beresolved before we deal withthis emergency. Just as we  CHIP  nine million children aredepending on CHIP,but we are not waiting until werevise the whole health caresystem to revise CHIP nor didwhen we  when we passed CHIP, it wasbefore the Affordable Care Acthad passed, but let me tell you why it'sreally important for this tohappen now.\nUnfortunately, and really I waspleased that our Speakerregistered his disappointment  disagreement with PresidentTrump when he  when he tookthe action he did in regard toDACA in September. When he did that and said, Illgive Congress until March topass a law, what he didn'tunderstand is he was puttingthese DREAMers at a distinctdisadvantage. Every day nearly, over 100,120-some DACA recipients, DACAeligible, lose their status. That means if they're workingor if they're  whateverthey're doing, they lose theirstatus to do that in ourcountry.\nOver 10,000 have lost statussince the President'sannouncement,well over 10,000. So we can't wait till March todo this, because it hadconsequences known to us butunforeseen by the White Houseand by the President. I don't think in his heart thatthe President intended to hurtthese people in the very cruelway that they are being hurt bythe actions that are beingtaken. So we can't wait until March. We need action. We need it soon, and we need itto be bipartisan, and that'swhat we have been working on. Not me, Members, Member-drivenbipartisan cooperation intrying to find a path thataddresses the concerns thatsome have about the border  we all do  and also addresses the DREAM Act.\nAs the President said, let'scall it DACA. Well call it DACA. Here we are, and I said atthe beginning of our remarksthat we have been blessed inour country by presidents whohave recognized the value ofimmigration, that our countrywould be in stagnation if wedidn't have this constantreinvigoration of those to ourcountry.\nAnd so when President Obamaacted because Congress had notacted to protect the DREAMersand their parents, that wasreally important for him to dobecause Congress had not acted. However, it's important to notethat President Reagan, when hewas president, and President[George] Herbert Walker Bush was, at thattime, Vice President, Congressdid act, the Immigration Act of1986. They did act and PresidentReagan's observation is theydidn't go far enough. So he took further executive action called Family Fairnessto protect people in ourcountry. Immigrants in our country.\nActually, President Reagan andPresident George Herbert WalkerBush protected a higherpercentage of newcomers to ourcountry than President Obamadid with his DACA action. Higher percentage, because theyunderstood the value to ourcountry of newcomers. President Clinton continued allthat, and President George W.Bush was a champion andcontinues to be a champion onrecognizing the value ofimmigration. He has spoken about itintellectually and with respectfrom the heart for peoplecoming to our country and hasurged us to do so. He couldn't get the cooperationof his own party when he waspresident to cooperate forimmigration, comprehensiveimmigration reform, even thoughwhen we had the power asDemocrats we supported it buthe could not get the 60 votesin the Senate.\nBut nonetheless, [George W. Bush] continues tobe a champion, really, forimmigration reform. And so here we have a newpresident who campaigned on thebacks of newcomers to ourcountry, made immigrantsvillains. Its a complete change from theRepublican Party, commitment to valuing newcomers and diversity in ourcountry. A complete departure fromPresident Reagan, President [George]Herbert Walker Bush, PresidentGeorge W. Bush, just to namethe Republican Presidents, and so we find ourselves inthis situation, but thatdoesn't change the fact that wehave a responsibility to all ofGod's children to treat themwith respect and when we can dosomething to be helpful, weshould.\nSo there is, there is harmthat is coming to the DREAMersevery day because they arelosing status. Regardless of what some maysay, some are being deported. This may be unknown to thePresident, but it's not unknownto us in this Congress. \nSo I want to thankCongresswoman, Madam Chair ofthe Hispanic Caucus  Congressional Hispanic Caucus[Michelle Lujan Grisham] and her Members. I want to thank [Congresswoman] Judy Chu, thechair of the CongressionalAsian Pacific American Caucus; Congresswoman Yvette Clarkewho, working with theCongressional Black Caucus, hasbeen a champion in that Caucus,and all other Members on bothsides of the aisle who arestriving to find a path and one path that we have open to us is to allow to defeat this rule, to allow the DREAM Act to come up, and to put that in the mix as we go  as we go forward.\nAgain this isn't an issue, this isn't a bill, it's a value. It's a value. Thats the conversation we had with President Trump, this isn't an issue. This is a value. This is about who we are as a nation and how we respect who we are as a nation, and that's why I believe that President Trump will be receptive to signing a bill. He does want concerns for border security and we'll work with him on that. But let's start by putting on the record the support of this House for recognition that we are by and large, unless some of you are Native Americans and how proud we are of our Native American community in our country and how blessed we are, but most of us come from immigrant families.\nIt was interesting to me in doing some reading on some of this, very proud of my own Italian-American heritage, my grandmother was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Her friends were from Venice and Genoa. My father's family also from Italy. But what was interesting to me in recent days, I remember, I didn't suffer this, but I know my father and others did, they were called WOPs, Italians. Do you know what that means? Without papers. Thats what we were called, without papers, people are without papers. But in every way they are American. Every way they are American.\nI just want to tell you a couple of stories: one is Fernando. Fernando is in my district, his family came to the U.S., he came to the U.S. when he was 9-years-old. In high school, he was an AP scholar, received the international baccalaureate diploma and achievement award in foreign language for French. He continued to excel academically at Santa Clara University where he graduated cum laude, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in French. He now works at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center where he's working hard to provide new insights into diseases and disorders.\nI want to tell you one other: Lisette. She was just 6-years-old when her family brought her to the U.S. from Chile. She excelled in school and was involved in her community. She went on to attend Harvard where she received numerous awards and participated in a variety of extracurricular activities. She recently graduated Harvard with honors. She and other DREAMers have so much to contribute to our country.\nDonald Trump and other Republicans have made their agenda clear: they want to shut down DACA and DAPA and deport hundreds of thousands of DREAMers and parents of Americans, that's what DREAMers think. We don't want them to think that. We want them to think they are valued. The President understands the value of our DREAMers and the challenges that they face. If we don't do something soon, Lisette will be deported back to Chile, a country where she hasn't lived since she was 6-years-old.\nThousands and thousands of stories of success of those serving in our military, attending our schools, teaching our children teaching our children  working in high-level positions because they all have that immigrant attitude of hard work, hard work ethic, work ethic, a faith ethic, a family ethic, a sense of community.\nLets, in the sense and spirit of community, defeat this rule and allow the DREAM Act to come forward. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/pelosi-floor-remarks-calling-for-an-immediate-house-vote-on-the-bipartisan-dream"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0866939555853605, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}