Senate to Restart Immigration Debate: After Controversy and Technical Delays, the Senate Prepared to

Jun 26, 09:11 AM

Current Headlines: By Dave Montgomery and Lesley Clark, The Miami Herald

Jun. 26--WASHINGTON -- After a month of on-again, off-again deliberations, the Senate was poised to resume debate today on a White House-backed immigration bill amid an intense lobbying effort by the Bush administration.

President Bush has aggressively backed the bill, urging Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. But lightning-rod provisions in the 627-page measure -- including legalization of an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants -- have divided Republicans and Democrats, as well much of the nation.

Supporters face a key test today when the Senate votes to take up the measure. If the bill survives that test -- requiring a 60-vote super-majority of the 100-member Senate -- it then faces nearly two dozen amendments, some of which have the potential to kill the bill.

The challenge for the White House and the bill's supporters is to maintain and build on a fragile bipartisan coalition that has struggled to keep the bill free of major changes since the Senate began debate on May 21. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., yanked it from the floor for a week in a parliamentary skirmish over amendments, but agreed to bring it back up after the quarreling sides reached a truce on how to proceed.

FINAL SENATE VOTE

A final Senate vote is expected by late Friday before Congress leaves for a July 4 recess. If it survives, the immigration legislation would then go to the House of Representatives and would ultimately be settled by a House-Senate conference committee. Defeat in the Senate would all but guarantee that the issue is dead for this session of Congress -- and possibly for years.

"We do not expect to fail this week," said Joel Kaplan, deputy White House chief of staff for policy.

The bill would allow immigrants who entered the United States before Jan. 1 to apply for Z visas, which would enable them to remain in the country and work indefinitely. They also could eventually be eligible to apply for green cards to get on track for U.S. citizenship, but would have to leave the country before applying.

Another controversial provision, opposed by organized labor and many Democrats, would enable U.S. businesses to bring in temporary foreign workers to fill low- and unskilled jobs. Two of the most substantial amendments to the bill thus far have altered the guest-worker program, reducing its size and phasing it out after five years.

SEEKING SUPPORT

Three leading Republican architects of the bill -- Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. -- are advancing a broad enforcement-oriented amendment designed to pick up conservative support.

The three senators hope to soften Republican objections to the legalization provision by requiring illegal immigrants to pass background checks before being granted probationary legalization. The amendment also would require the head of an illegal-immigrant household to leave the country in order to get a Z visa.

Graham predicted that the bill would gain the 60 votes needed today to reach the Senate floor -- and that it would gain final passage.

But Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a leading opponent, said there were 34 "solid no" votes against the bill heading into the debate, with 10 to 12 senators' votes "still in play." The measure's foes would need 40 votes to defeat it.

"Momentum against the bill is building as more and more people take a stand," DeMint said.

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