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Senate Vote Revives Debate on Immigration Bill

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 June 2007, 06:00 CDT

By Kathy Kiely

WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Tuesday to resume debate on the immigration bill, handing an important, but not decisive, victory to supporters of the controversial legislation.

The 64-35 vote in favor of resuming debate came after a full-court press by President Bush, who has made passage of the immigration bill a top domestic priority.

Every member of the Senate's Democratic and Republican leadership backed the bill, as did every one of the Senate's six presidential candidates, four of them Democrats and two Republicans.

Opponents of the bill vowed to pull out all the parliamentary stops to block it and quickly made good on their threat, bringing proceedings in the Senate to a halt by forcing the reading of a book-length amendment.

In a rare use of the Senate's arcane rules, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., objected when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., moved to waive the reading of proposed amendments to the bill. That forced Senate clerks to begin a word-for-word recitation of the 373-page document.

The immigration bill's opponents relented after about 45 minutes, at which point the clerks had gotten through 46 pages. But they succeeded in preventing any votes from being cast for the evening.

"I hope tomorrow we can get some movement on this bill," Reid said.

Coburn is vowing more efforts to slow down the process. "I'm going to do everything in my power to prevent this bill from leaving the Senate," he said.

The majority leader's spokesman, Jim Manley, said opponents will not be able to forestall a key vote Thursday that will determine whether the Senate can pass the immigration legislation this week.

In Tuesday's vote, 21 Republicans and six Democrats switched their votes after voting earlier this month to effectively stop further proceedings on the immigration bill. Some, such as Sens. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and John Ensign, R-Nev., have been promised a chance to offer amendments to the bill. Others, such as Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., support the bill but voted with fellow Republicans who were angry that Reid was pressing for a quick vote on the bill and would not allow more votes on amendments.

Further sweetening the pot for Republican skeptics: At the Bush administration's request, the bill's sponsors added $4.4 billion to beef up security along the border.

Some senators who voted to revive the bill said they might not support its passage if amendments they plan to offer don't win approval. "I think it's important to give this bill another chance on the Senate floor, but I remain seriously concerned," said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who voted to resume the debate. He said provisions of the bill aimed at illegal immigrants are becoming "increasingly onerous and impractical."

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said his vote on the bill will depend on the fate of his amendment, which would require illegal immigrants to prove they have been living in the USA for four years in order to qualify for legal status.

The immigration bill would offer a chance at citizenship to all illegal immigrants who can prove they arrived in the USA before Jan. 1, 2007. It would also expand opportunities for foreigners to work legally in temporary jobs and would change the criteria for future immigration to make job skills a factor in determining who wins admission.

Before the vote, Bush spoke to business, religious, agricultural, high-tech and immigrant advocacy groups that backed the bill, which he called "really important for our country."

"The status quo is unacceptable," Bush said. "Most Americans understand that."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a supporter of the bill, acknowledged that she is getting "a lot of heat" for her position.

She said her office has been inundated with 100,000 calls, e-mails and letters, many of them opposed to the bill, but added, "That doesn't mean they are a majority." (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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