Immigration bill awaits Senate approval
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Senate supporters of landmark immigration legislation looked ahead Wednesday to passage of a measure along lines set by President Bush, but they also signaled a willingness to seek common ground with conservatives whose House version would be far tougher on millions of men and women in the country illegally.
With Senate approval assured on Thursday, Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said, "Does anybody have a better approach? Not yet. But we're still open for business."
"If there are some unneeded and unwanted complexities in this legislation, they could probably be smoothed out," said Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz. He said it was good news that new suggestions were coming from the House.
The Senate bill's passage, long assumed, was assured with a decision to limit debate. That 73-25 vote set the stage for final approval Thursday in what will be a bipartisan ratification of legislation that calls for increased border security, a new guest worker program and a shot at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
By contrast, legislation passed last year by the Republican-controlled House is generally limited to border security. It would expose all of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country to felony charges, and it contains no guest worker program.
Contentious compromise talks seemed sure as supporters of the Senate bill beat back the last in a long series of potentially lethal challenges to their handiwork.
An attempt by Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., to scuttle the bill on grounds it violated spending limits was turned aside. The vote was 67-31.
For a second consecutive week, the White House dispatched top presidential aide Karl Rove to meet with rank-and-file House Republicans. Officials said his mission was to reassure critics by emphasizing Bush's commitment to stanching the flow of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border. Asked as he departed the Capitol whether he had made progress, he replied, "Could be."
Whatever impact Rove had, supporters of the Senate bill said at a news conference they did not underestimate the difficulties ahead as they seek an election-year compromise.
Numerous conservative House Republicans have denounced the Senate measure as conferring amnesty on lawbreakers. Some have demanded that House leaders refuse to enter compromise discussions with the Senate, and they have warned that giving too much ground could cause conservatives to stay home this November and spell defeat for the party in midterm elections.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and the man who would lead House negotiators, has a reputation for hard bargaining.
Nor is it clear how widespread support is among Democrats for a compromise. Some party strategists argue that Republicans would bear the brunt of public dissatisfaction if Congress failed to act on immigration. In this view, GOP lawmakers would be saddled with defending the votes they cast last winter to millions of Hispanic voters eager for an overhaul of existing law.
On the other hand, Senate Democrats are likely to provide more votes for passage of the measure than Republicans. And one lawmaker from the House, Rep. Howard Berman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., spent time in the Senate recently during debate on a provision for a new program of jobs for migrant farm workers, signaling his interest in having legislation emerge from Congress.
McCain and others said they saw signs of flexibility among House Republicans. They also claimed public support was on their side and said the party would benefit in the fall if the president and the GOP-controlled Congress could agree on legislation.
"The politics of solving this problem is better than the politics of doing nothing," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C.
McCain, of Arizona, a likely presidential contender in 2008 as well as a key architect of the Senate bill, re-enforced the view. "The American people accept a comprehensive solution," he said. "The president supports one."
"We've had conferences with Chairman Sensenbrenner in the past," said Specter, noting that earlier this year Congress passed a compromise anti-terrorist Patriot Act after particularly contentious negotiations.
In the House, prominent Republicans have sent mixed signals in recent days.
"Regardless of what the president says, what he is proposing is amnesty," Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said last week. He repeated the contention on Sunday, at the same time saying, "I don't think anything is a deal-breaker." Appearing on CBS, he said, "We can't have legal proceedings to deport 11 to 12 million people, that is evident."
A prominent House conservative, Mike Pence of Indiana, added a new dimension to the debate this week, proposing what he called a "real rational middle ground."
He outlined an approach that calls for securing the border, creating a guest worker program to "efficiently provide American employers with willing guest workers who come to America legally" and ordering tough sanctions on employers who hire illegal workers. In remarks at the Heritage Foundation, he added, "The only way to deal with these 12 million people is to insist that they leave the country and come back legally if they have a job awaiting them."
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