Senate Agrees to Revive Bill on Immigration

Jun 15, 05:00 AM

Current Headlines: By Kathy Kiely and David Jackson

WASHINGTON -- The Senate will resume debating immigration later this month, its Democratic and Republican leaders announced Thursday.

The deal to revive the bill came after a stepped-up lobbying effort by President Bush, who met with Republican senators during a rare visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had pulled the legislation from the Senate schedule, saying Republicans were trying to kill it with amendments.

Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tentatively agreed to limit the number of amendments that can be offered, putting the bill on track for a vote on final passage before the July 4 break.

The House will begin debating immigration in July, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said administration officials "are encouraged by the announcement from Senate leaders."

Hours before Reid's announcement, the president pledged $4.4 billion for border security and enforcement of employment laws in a speech to Associated Builders and Contractors.

The move was designed to win over Republican skeptics. Only seven of Bush's fellow Republicans supported the immigration bill in a key vote last week.

In the days since, Bush has pressured senators to support the most sweeping rewrite of the nation's immigration laws in more than two decades.

The bill would beef up security along the border, increase penalties for hiring illegal aliens, expand opportunities for foreigners to work in the USA and, for the first time, make job skills a factor in determining who may immigrate. The most controversial provision would give an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the funds for border security would come from fines and penalties assessed against illegal immigrants under the bill.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a presidential candidate and bill critic, accused Bush of backing "amnesty fees" and the administration of stalling construction of a U.S.-Mexican border fence "until the president gets his amnesty bill." (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.