Immigration Bill at Risk

Bush says he wants guest-worker plan without amnesty

WASHINGTON (CNN) April 6, 2006 — The Senate majority leader on Wednesday accused Democrats of blocking debate on immigration and warned that the body could fail to produce legislation.

Barring "a radical departure ... the course we are on is to leave here in a few days having accomplished nothing for the American people," Sen. Bill Frist told the Senate.

The Tennessee Republican's comments came amid intense behind-the-scenes negotiations in an attempt to reach a compromise that would garner 60 votes in the Senate -- and amid heated election-year debate over procedure on the Senate floor.

"I haven't seen an issue in recent years that has so much emotion associated with it," Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, told the Senate.

Democrats have filed a motion to limit debate on immigration legislation brought to the floor, setting up a key test vote.

A bill approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee includes two controversial proposals: a temporary guest-worker program and a process that would allow illegal immigrants to work toward legal status.

The White House supports a guest-worker program but said Tuesday it opposes "an automatic path to permanent residency."

The procedural vote on cloture, which requires 60 votes to pass, is likely to take place Thursday. It would pass if it has the support of all Senate Democrats and at least 15 or 16 of the chamber's 55 Republicans, depending on how the Senate's lone independent votes.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters Tuesday that his panel's bill did not yet have enough support to win 60 votes.

On Wednesday, GOP senators expressed frustration after Democrats moved to block consideration of amendments until after the cloture vote.

"Twelve million people are living in the shadows," Frist said of the nation's undocumented immigrants. "I would argue today that our Democratic colleagues are living in the shadows by not standing up and addressing the problems."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid countered that "stonewalling" was "in the eyes of the beholder."

"I think what we have here is a compromise," the Nevada Democrat said of the panel's bill. "I think we have a real bipartisan opportunity to fix our immigration system."

"There is no more orderly way to proceed to a matter than cloture," he said.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said the vote was necessary to complete work on immigration legislation this week, as Frist has said was his aim. The Senate begins a two-week recess after Friday.

Durbin and Reid said that amendments could be considered after the cloture vote.

"We still have a chance to debate and amend this bill, and we will," Durbin told the Senate. "We need a process that brings this to a conclusion. There is no way we can deal with 228 amendments and have this bill completed this week."

The committee's bill is based on legislation proposed by McCain and Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.

McCain said Wednesday that a bipartisan group of senators negotiating on a compromise was "close" to an agreement and that he thinks the result "would have 60 votes in this body."

However, he objected to the Democrats' procedural maneuvers, calling for votes on amendments rather than cloture.

"We can't vote for cloture when it is proposed by the other side," he said. "The majority rules; the majority sets the agenda in the United States senate."

Bush calls for action

Earlier Wednesday, President Bush urged senators to "come to conclusions as quickly as possible" on an immigration bill that includes "a guest-worker provision that is not amnesty."

The president called for "a comprehensive bill, a bill that will help us secure our borders, a bill that will cause the people in the interior of this country to recognize and enforce the law, and a bill that will include a guest-worker provision that will enable us to more secure the border, will recognize that there are people here working hard for jobs Americans won't do."

Conservative Republican critics of the legislation say its controversial proposals are tantamount to "amnesty."

Bush's brief remarks echoed a White House statement on Tuesday that told lawmakers that the administration "firmly opposes amnesty" for illegal immigrants and wants Congress to pass legislation that "does not create an automatic path to permanent residency or citizenship" for them.

However, Tuesday's formal statement of administration policy does not repudiate the Judiciary Committee bill's legalization process.

Supporters of that proposal insist that it doesn't amount to "amnesty" because it would require illegal immigrants to work toward legal status by paying $2,000 in fines, working for six years, learning English, undergoing a background check and paying any back taxes they owe.

When the bill was in the Judiciary Committee, six of the panel's 10 GOP members voted against it, but it passed with unanimous Democratic support.

If it survives in the Senate, it will set up a legislative confrontation with the House, where anti-immigration sentiment is stronger. A House bill passed in December contains neither a guest-worker provision nor a legalization process.

But Speaker Dennis Hastert on Wednesday said he might support a worker program if the Senate adds it to the bill.

"I haven't ruled anything out because we have to have the dialogue with the Senate," the Illinois Republican said.

"There are some sectors of our economy that want to have a guest-worker program. You have to take that into consideration. But that's part of this dialogue. We'll wait to see what the Senate passes," Hastert said.