Immigration Bill Survives Challenges, Faces Critical Vote

WASHINGTON — The Senate’s revived legislation to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants faces a critical test today after surviving potentially fatal challenges.

Attempts from the right and left to alter key elements of the delicate bipartisan compromise failed Wednesday, including a Republican proposal to deny illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and Democratic bids to reunite legal immigrants with family members.

The Senate killed, by a 56-41 vote, an amendment by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., to provide more green cards for parents of U.S. citizens. By a 55-40 margin, it tabled a proposal by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., to give family members of citizens and legal permanent residents more credit toward green cards in a new merit-based points system.

A make-or-break procedural vote was set for today, however, as the Senate plowed through a half-dozen amendments that supporters hoped would address waverers’ concerns.

Facing determined opposition from conservatives who call the bill amnesty, leaders need 60 votes to keep the measure alive and complete it as early as Friday.

The Senate on Wednesday killed several proposals designed to answer conservatives’ concerns that the bill, championed by President Bush, is overly lenient toward illegal immigrants. Among the amendments was one by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, to require all adult illegal immigrants to return home temporarily to qualify for permanent lawful status. The current bill requires only heads of household seeking permanent legal residency to return home to apply for green cards.

She had characterized her proposal as a way of removing “the amnesty tag” from the legislation.

An amendment by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., also defeated, would have restricted legal status applications to those who have been in the United States for four years. The bill would allow anyone in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2007, to be eligible.

A bid by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., to deny green cards to unlawful immigrants also failed.

The bill, which would toughen border security and institute a new system for weeding out illegal immigrants from workplaces, could face more challenges even if it survives today’s 60-vote test.

Votes on key amendments took place Wednesday under a complex and carefully orchestrated procedure designed to overcome stalling tactics by conservative foes. It allowed votes only on a limited list of amendments.

Tensions ran high on the usually courtly Senate floor, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was keeping a tight rein on the debate to prevent critics from derailing the bill.

Conservatives said Senate leaders were trying to rush through a bad bill.

“The American people have said loud and clear that this is an incredibly important issue to them. For the Senate to move ahead anyway using this process, railroading me and other critics of the bill and blocking our rights as senators to represent our constituents, is disgraceful,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

(c) 2007 Greensboro News Record. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.