Before the end of September, the Senate will consider the DREAM Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., that currently has significant congressional support with 40 co-sponsors in the Senate and 126 in the House. The DREAM Act has also received overwhelming support from the higher education community, religious leaders, teachers and school counselors, civil rights groups, and child advocates. Sen. Orrin Hatch was the original sponsor of the DREAM Act in 2001 which has been introduced in various forms since then and nearly passed in 2007.