2009; voted yes; Expanded coverage for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which also included a tobacco excise tax increase from .61 to $1.00 per pack. Tort Reform Patient Lawsuit Amendment – S 1434 S AMDT 1250, 1999; Voted no on limiting medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000. Veterans Health Affairs Health Care for Veterans Amendment – 2005 – HR2863, AMDT 1937; voted yes; established that the Veterans Health Administration be held at the FY 2005 funding level, and would continue to be at that level, while adjusting for inflation and changes in the number of veterans using the program. Immigration Reid called"immigration reform" one of his top priorities for the 110th Congress. He supports the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348), ("[which] would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States.") but pulled it from the Senate floor because he believed too many amendments to the legislation were being introduced. Reid supported the DREAM Act which would make it easier for young people who are not citizens of the United States, but are permanent residents, to attend college or university in the United States. The DREAM Act was introduced to the Senate by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) Reid opposed a Constitutional amendment to make English the national language of the United States, calling the proposal "racist." Reid's positions on immigration have changed considerably over a relatively short period of time. Only fifteen years ago his position was in favor of sharply reducing legal immigration and of not amnestying undocumented entrants and overstays. Foreign Policy Iraq Reid voted in January 1991 to authorize military force in Iraq to liberate Kuwait. On the Senate floor, Reid quoted from John F. Kennedy's 1963 State of the Union speech by saying "the mere absence of war is not Peace". According to The New York Times, the "Senate approved the use of military force by a vote of 52 to 47" with ten out of the fifty-five Senate Democrats voting in support. Reid voted in support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In March 2007, he voted in favor of "redeploying US troops out of Iraq by March 2008". Reid said on April 19, 2007 "I believe, myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and – you have to make your