Senators Try to Revive Immigration Measure

Architects of a revived immigration compromise are directing an intense behind-the-scenes bargaining effort to round up enough votes among wavering Republicans to keep it alive.

Senate leaders’ announcement Thursday that they would allow the bill a second chance came after getting assurances from key negotiators that they could produce enough support to steer the measure through a procedural minefield, including attempts by conservatives to block it.

The compromise would grant millions of illegal immigrants lawful status while tightening border security and creating new measures for weeding out illegal workers. It has sparked an outcry among conservatives who regard it as amnesty for lawbreakers.

An appearance by President Bush on Capitol Hill this week to prod action – and his subsequent OK to immediately pump $4.4 billion into border security – helped set the stage for the measure’s resurrection. But it was raw trolling for votes by key Republicans and Democrats that made the difference, said lawmakers and senior officials.

The coalition drew up a tentative list of 22 amendments whose consideration would give a handful of Republicans the comfort they needed to allow the bill to go forward. That would take 60 votes – a threshold the bill missed by 15 last week.

Allowing votes on the proposals “has as its goal bringing more people on board,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a lead Republican negotiator, said Friday.

“I do believe that with this new process, there will be enough votes to get to final passage, but the pressure’s immense,” Mr. Graham said.

For some GOP holdouts, the promise of votes to make the bill more punitive toward the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants who would get lawful status might be enough to persuade them to support moving ahead.

Proponents of the bill are hoping others will like the prospect of the binding commitment of new money for strict border security and workplace enforcement measures. That proposal is geared toward satisfying the concerns of Georgia Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, who have called on the Bush administration to request separate emergency funding for those purposes before taking any action on a broader immigration bill.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., now says he plans to block a conference that would be needed to reconcile House and Senate versions before an immigration bill could be signed into law, his office said Friday.

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