After meeting with President Obama, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) told reporters that she urged him to work with the Senate to pass the DREAM Act on immigration.
“The president committed to talk to senators,” she said. “We will encourage the community at large to help us, because next week is going to be a crucial week.” Echoing Obama, she called for an “up or down vote.”
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) added that Obama made it clear that he would “leave no stone unturned.” He said they asked Obama to use the “full weight, the full might of the White House.”
“Let’s have a victory next week,” Gutierrez said.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) advocated for the defense authorization bill, in which the DREAM Act is contained. “I trust that Republicans will join us,” he said, noting that the issue has been bipartisan in the past. “A clean vote without amendments to it.”
