Nancy Pelosi made history of delivering longest eight hour speech in American Senate

Nancy Pelosi, Democrate Minority Leader, delivered her speech for more than eight hours in American Senate on 07 February 2018. The House Historian’s Office confirmed the lawmaker’s record of longest speech to the media.

The previous record of longest speech dates back to 1909 when a Missouri representative, Champ Clark, spoke for 5 hours and 15 minutes against a tariff overhaul. Nancy Pelosi's speech was ended in 8 hours and 5 minutes.

Nancy Pelosi's speech

In her marathon speech Pelosi called on lawmakers to pass the DREAM Act. She informed that it is a bill that would grant legal status to undocumented young people who came to the US as children often called Dreamers. In support of DREAM Act she said,''The young people are our future and these dreamers are part of that. They've been enriched by the greatness of our country.''

Background

In September 2017, President Donald Trump cancelled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows Dreamers to obtain renewable two-year work permits. He set a six-month deadline for lawmakers to work out a legislative solution, meaning that after March 5, most DACA recipients would start to lose their status and be at risk of deportation.

What is DREAM Act

The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) is an American legislative proposal for a multi-phase process for qualifying alien minors in the United States that would first grant conditional residency and, upon meeting further qualifications, permanent residency.

The bill was first introduced in the Senate on August 1, 2001 by United States Senators Dick Durbin and Orrin Hatch, and has since been reintroduced several times but has failed to pass.

What is DACA?

On June 15, 2012, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, providing temporary relief from deportation (deferred action) and work authorization to certain young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

DACA has enabled almost 800,000 eligible young adults to work lawfully, attend school, and plan their lives without the constant threat of deportation, usually to an unfamiliar country. However, President Donald Trump cancelled this programme in September 2017.