The White House, which pushed heavily for the earlier comprehensive measure as one of President Bush’s top domestic priorities, hasn’t assumed an active role in the DREAM Act debate, although Durbin said that high-ranking administration officials have assured him privately that they support it.
Durbin said that the military also has embraced the bill as an “excellent opportunity” to broaden the pool of potential recruits and overcome the challenges of maintaining needed troop levels for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Military leaders have struggled to find qualified recruits and have been forced to offer handsome bonuses and other incentives to meet recruiting quotas.
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