Speaker Sheldon Silver (at podium) and members of the Assembly Majority today announced the Assembly's intention to pass the NYS DREAM Act at a Capitol news conference. Silver noted that for the first time, if enacted into law, the bill would allow immigrant students to apply for state scholarships, financial aid through TAP and other Education Opportunity Programs.

Less than one month later, the legislation - Assembly Bill 2597 - was reported out of the Higher Education Committee with bipartisan support and, I should add, that the Majority included an investment of $25 million for the DREAM Act in our one-house budget proposal.

I am proud to report that this afternoon, the Assembly will take up and intends to pass the DREAM Act, building upon our well-established legacy of promoting educational opportunity for all New Yorkers.

Standing with me in support of this important legislation are a number of our Majority bill sponsors and supporters.

In a moment, you will be hearing from both the lead sponsor of our legislation, Assembly Member Francisco Moya of Queens, who has travelled around the state advocating for this legislation;

And from the Chair of our Standing Committee on Higher Education, Assembly Member Deborah Glick of Manhattan, a tireless worker on behalf of all students in this state.

There are a number of DREAM Act advocates with us this afternoon. In a few moments, we will hear from a "Dreamer," Luba Cortes, a Youth Coordinator from Make the Road New York.

To refresh your memories, the Assembly's DREAM Act, if enacted into law, would, for the first time, make immigrant students eligible to receive state scholarships, financial aid through TAP, and would enable them to participate in programs such as the Education Opportunity Program and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program.

In addition, our legislation would create the DREAM Fund, an initiative that would raise private funds for the purpose of providing private scholarships for eligible college-bound students who have at least one immigrant parent.

For more than three centuries, immigrants have come to this country, millions through New York, seeking nothing more than freedom and the chance to make their own way. Their striving, sacrifice and success are the story of the American Dream.

The immigrant story is also one of overcoming barriers, many times barriers that were intentionally erected to shut them out. Many of those barriers were knocked down by the men and women who have served in the Assembly and in our state government over decades.

Our work is far from done. This barrier to education and a more prosperous economic future looms large and it will take a collective effort in support of the DREAM Act to knock that barrier down.

As we have said many times, the DREAM Act is NOT about pitting citizens who were born here against those who were not. It is not a question of taking resources from one group and giving them to another. It's about opening the doors to higher education and self-fulfillment for all of our children.

We must not deny these young men and young women, who were brought to this country and know no other homeland the ability to achieve and to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society.

If you can look at Luba Cortes, hear her story, and still be in doubt, then I urge New Yorkers to consider the following:

According to a report on the New York State DREAM Act released yesterday by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the demand for highly skilled workers is increasing, especially in New York City and the downstate region, where the vast majority of our undocumented undergraduate students are enrolled in public institutions of higher education.

The report notes that as of March, 2013, the unemployment rate for people with only a high-school diploma is twice that for those with a bachelor's degree in the downstate region.

Let me say that again so that you understand the significance. The unemployment rate for those with only a high-school diploma is twice what it is for those with a bachelor's degree in the downstate region. Why would we accept that when the DREAM Act can lower unemployment and help us build a stronger workforce?

The Comptroller's report also demonstrates a societal benefit. For an investment of $8,000 - the maximum TAP award for a traditional two-year degree - a graduate with an associate's degree gives back more than $35,000 in additional state taxes, a contribution that helps support our schools, our hospitals, our roads and bridges.

In-state tuition has been available to New York's immigrant youth since 2002. Why deny these students the financial assistance that other students receive? There is simply no moral or economic argument to justify it.

The States of California, Texas and New Mexico already offer state financial aid to their immigrant youth. It is time that New York took the lead here in the East.

Let me close by saying that I am a child of immigrant parents whose older brother was afforded a college education at a public university in this state. If not for that opportunity, at a time when the cost of that public university was next to nothing, I'm not sure I would have had the opportunity to go to college and eventually to seek post-graduate education. So, to a great extent, the DREAM Act is very personal to me.