BYLINE: Christopher Smith , The Salt Lake Tribune

WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has inserted his “DREAM Act” into the budget authorization for the Justice Department, bypassing opposition from Republican leaders who have refused to schedule a floor vote on the measure to permit states to give college tuition breaks to illegal immigrants.

The move could mean the bill benefiting undocumented alien children eventually becomes law as part of the larger two-year spending blueprint for the Justice Department, rather than trying to survive a contentious vote as a stand-alone measure.

Hatch’s Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the so-called “Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act” for consideration by the full Senate in February, but opposition from top Republicans has kept the measure off the voting calendar.

Lawmakers are divided whether the bipartisan bill is a matter of restoring states’ rights to determine whether worthy young people whose parents entered the U.S. illegally should qualify for in-state college tuition rates or if it is simply a form of amnesty for people who bypass U.S. border entry requirements.

“This bill will give those illegal alien parents exactly what they broke our laws to get — legal permission for their children to live and work permanently in the United States and one day become citizens,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in a Senate Judiciary Committee report attached to the bill.

Hatch made no mention of the DREAM Act provision added to the legislation authorizing 2005-2007 appropriations for the Department of Justice when he introduced the spending blueprint on the Senate floor this week. But another co-sponsor, the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, criticized the Republican leadership’s obstruction.

“It has been distressing that a bill with committee approval and 48 sponsors has been unable to get a vote on the floor of the Senate, and I hope that including the DREAM Act in this legislation will give it added momentum,” said Leahy.

Lobbyists for the bill say Republican campaign strategists don’t want a high-profile, intraparty fight over loosening immigration laws this close to the presidential election, since the issue could splinter President Bush’s conservative base. Although Bush has called for limited reform of agriculture immigration laws, the White House has not endorsed the DREAM Act and hundreds of immigrant activists stormed the home of Bush political adviser Karl Rove in March to protest his repeated refusal to meet with supporters of the bill.

Utah 3rd District Rep. Chris Cannon is the Republican sponsor of legislation similar to the DREAM Act in the House, known as the Student Adjustment Act of 2003. That measure has 148 co-sponsors, including 2nd District Democrat Rep. Jim Matheson. The two other members of the state’s congressional delegation, Republicans Sen. Bob Bennett and 1st District Rep. Rob Bishop, have not signed on in support of either bill.