HIRONO URGES HOUSE TO ACT ON IMMIGRATION REFORM, SUPPORTS DISCHARGE PETITION

Senator Mazie K. Hirono commended House Democrats for introducing a discharge petition to demand a vote on the bipartisan immigration bill passed by the Senate.

“It’s been nearly a year since the Senate came together to pass a bipartisan immigration reform bill, a true compromise that will strengthen our economy and reduce the deficit. Each day that the House doesn’t act, millions remain trapped in the shadows of a broken system and families are being kept apart. I urge my former House colleagues to sign the discharge petition and take a significant step toward producing real immigration reform.”

The U.S. Senate’s only immigrant, Hirono worked closely with colleagues to shape the bill in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor, attaching 11 amendments to the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate in June. Since the bill’s passage, Hirono has worked to support immigration reform by introducing legislation such as the Investing IN States To Achieve Tuition Equity (IN-STATE) for DREAMers Act, which would make the University of Hawaii system eligible for federal funding as part of a new $750 million initiative to reward states like Hawaii that offer in-state tuition and need-based financial aid to qualified students regardless of immigration status.