Representative Steve King (R., Iowa) says that if the DREAM Act or any similar legislation is brought to the floor, it will divide House Republicans.
In a town hall this week, Representative Aaron Schock (R., Ill.) remarked that, “I think, again, you’re going to get a bipartisan vote on a House version of the DREAM Act.”
“There’s a lot more opposition [to the DREAM Act] out there than they realize,” King says of whether such a bill would receive a Republican support. “If that’s brought to the floor, it will split the Republicans. If you do that, the Democrats will dance with glee at the prospect.”
King noted that in 2010, only eight Republicans had voted for the DREAM Act in the House.
“It pits us against each other,” he adds. “And Democrats will sit back [and say], ‘Oh, that’s great. It’s a nice show we’re watching here. Why did Republicans wait a whole year before they divided themselves against us each other?’”
King dismissed Republicans who “who believe that [since] the president refuses to enforce the law, now we have to write a law that conforms to the president’s lawless acts.” Obama issued an executive order last year that allowed young adults who had been brought here as children illegally to obtain legal status to stay in the United States.
House majority leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) is pushing a version of the DREAM Act called the Kids Act.