The New York Senate rejected a bill Monday that would open up state tuition assistance to students in the country illegally, dashing long-held hopes of immigration advocates and prompting finger-pointing among rival Democrats, according to the New York Daily News.
The 30-29 vote was short of the 32 votes needed to pass, a rare defeat for a bill on the floor of the Senate, the Daily News reported. There are 63 seats, two are vacant, and two senators did not vote.
The Senate's ruling coalition of Republicans and breakaway Democrats brought the closely watched bill to the floor late in the day with little notice, according to the Daily News. Supporters of the measure said that was intentional.
"It certainly seems that it was brought up to fail, given the outcome," said Senator Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, the Daily News reported. He said the vote "made a mockery of a very important issue."
No Republicans voted for the measure, though all five of their coalition partners in the Independent Democratic Conference voted for it, according to the Daily News. All but one of the mainline Democrats in the minority voted for the measure.
The proposal includes a budget appropriation of $25 million to open up Tuition Assistance Program money for students who are in the country illegally but attend public or private colleges, paying up to $5,000 a year for undergraduates at four-year institutions, the Daily News reported.
Exactly how many would be eligible for the need-based assistance is unclear, but according to a report issued by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, 8,300 such students in the CUNY and SUNY systems would qualify, according to the Daily News.
Since it was first introduced three years ago, opponents have argued that using taxpayer money to fund tuition assistance for people in the country illegally takes opportunity and funds away from students who are citizens, the Daily News reported.
New York is among 16 states that already allow those students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges, according to the Daily News.
The Assembly passed the Dream Act last month and after the vote, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has indicated support for the bill, released a statement saying he was disappointed that the Senate had failed to pass the measure, the Daily News reported.
Opponents said the bill amounted to an improper use of taxpayer funds, according to the Daily News.
"I simply cannot justify spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to pay for tuition for illegal immigrants when so many law-abiding families are struggling to meet the ever-increasing costs of higher education for their own children," said Senator Mark Grisanti, a Republican from the Buffalo area, the Daily News reported.
