Immigration bill heads to full Senate

May 22, 2013 @ 1:21 am


FILE - In this May 20, 2013 file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left, confers with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., as the Senate Judiciary Committee assembled to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Leading senators working on immigration legislation reached a compromise Tuesday on the details of an expanded high-tech visa program, officials said as the Senate Judiciary Committee neared completion of its work on the measure. At the same time, several officials said the White House has made it known to Leahy that it would prefer postponing a showdown over the rights of same sex spouses until a vote in the full Senate. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) | Zoom

WASHINGTON (AP) - A far-reaching bill to remake the nation's immigration system is headed to the full Senate, where tough battles are brewing on gay marriage, border security and other contentious issues, with the outcome impossible to predict.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the measure 13-5 Tuesday night, setting up an epic showdown on the Senate floor after Congress' Memorial Day recess. The legislation is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities _ yet it also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.

Many involved still vividly recall the last time the Senate took up a major immigration bill, in 2007, beginning with high hopes only to see their efforts collapse on the Senate floor amid a public backlash and interest group defections.

Some expressed optimism for a better outcome this time around as the Judiciary Committee gave its bipartisan approval. Three Republicans _ Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona, both authors of the bill, and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah _ joined the 10 committee Democrats in supporting the measure.

"We've demonstrated to the United States Senate we can all work together, Republicans and Democrats," said the panel's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "Now let's go out of this room and work together with the other members of the Senate, and with the other body (the House), and more importantly work with all Americans, and all those who wish to be Americans."

In a statement, Obama applauded the committee's action and said the bill was "largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system."

The legislation would create new routes for people to come legally to the U.S. to work at all skill levels, tighten border security and workplace enforcement, and offer a chance at citizenship to the 11 million people here illegally.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he would bring the legislation to the Senate floor early next month for a debate that some aides predicted could consume a month or more. The fate of immigration legislation in the House was even less clear, although it was due to receive a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

It was Leahy's 11th-hour decision to hold back on an amendment to extend immigration rights to same-sex married couples that cleared the way for the bill's approval.

Until Leahy began speaking on the issue to a hushed hearing room Tuesday evening, it wasn't clear how the matter, which had hovered over the three weeks of committee sessions to review the legislation, would play out.

Leahy had been under pressure from gay groups to offer the amendment, which would allow gay married Americans to sponsor their foreign-born spouses for green cards like straight married Americans can. But Republican supporters of the bill warned that including such a measure would cost their support. As the committee neared the end of its work, officials said Leahy had been informed that both the White House and Senate Democrats hoped he would not risk the destruction of months of painstaking work by putting the issue to a vote.

"I don't want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country," Leahy said, adding that he wanted to hear from others on the committee.

In response, he heard a chorus of pleas from the bill's supporters not to force a vote that they warned would lead to the collapse of Republican support and the bill's demise.

"I don't want to blow this bill apart," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the first to speak up.

"I believe in my heart of hearts that what you're doing is the right and just thing," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "But I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill."

Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Al Franken, D-Minn., added their voices, and Leahy announced that, "with a heavy heart," he would withdraw his amendment.

Gay rights groups voiced outrage, and the issue is certain to re-emerge when the full Senate debates the legislation. But it is doubtful that sponsors can command the 60 votes that will be needed to make it part of the legislation.

In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers, a deal that brought Hatch over to the ranks of supporters.

Under the bill, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would increase greatly, but there were also protections aimed at ensuring U.S. workers get the first shot at jobs, and high-tech companies objected to some of those.

Under the deal, companies in which foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled workforce would be subjected to tighter conditions than businesses less dependent on H-1B visa holders, and requirements on recruiting and hiring and firing of U.S. workers would be relaxed.

In defeat, opponents said they, too, wanted to overhaul immigration law, but not the way that drafters of the legislation had done.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recalled that he had voted to give "amnesty" to those in the country illegally in 1986, the last time Congress passed major immigration legislation. He said that bill, like the current one, promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said it had failed to do so.

"No one disputes that this bill is legalization first, enforcement later. And that's just unacceptable to me and to the American people," he said.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (60)


  • Add A Comment

  • HLC wrote...
    What happened to JOBs.
    January 25, 2013 9:52 am
    Wasn't that Obozo the Fools number 1 priority? Never mind if his mouth is moving he's lieing or having another go with Carl.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    HLC
    January 28, 2013 6:00 am
    The same can be said about The GOP led house. They said their number one priority in 2010 was JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. What happened instead was wasted time passing bills on Sharia Law, making E Pluribus Unum our national motto, making Christianity our official religion and English the official language, and many other laws that had absolutely nothing to do jobs.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @wsualum
    March 30, 2013 7:26 am
    Don't forget the time they wasted passing 'tea party budgets' that they already knew were nothing more than symbolic acts of futility because they contained so little comprimise, so little for even the Republicans in the Senate to get onboard with that they had ZERO chances of passing. Oh - and don't forget the big dust up over light bulb standards - remember the big angry house republican waste of time (started by Bachman) where they angrily protested the 'government forcibly telling us what lightbulbs we could use'? When it turned out it was the House itself that had passed the very freaking law they were protesting? I think they spent 2 or 3 days whining about how they themselves had set those laws in place... and then ended up doing NOTHING whatsoever.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • calapete wrote...
    Jobs? i thought it was about stripping million from health insurance
    May 21, 2013 12:01 pm
    that's why the House has wasted 50 million tax payer dollars holding 37 meaningless votes.

    Jobs?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @HLC
    March 30, 2013 7:29 am
    Haven't you learned yet that when you spend half of a posting spewing hate that you only look the idiot yourself and don't achieve anything against the object of your hate? And don't forget that the Republicans have spent ALL of thier time telling you how to hate Obama and blocking his every move instead of providing the jobs they claimed they were elected to create / the economy they claimed they were elected to fix. So, less hate, more facts please.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @HLC
    April 22, 2013 1:11 pm
    What about the Repubs #1 priority (other than thier stated #1 of denying Obama a second term)???? JOBS JOBS JOBS - yet all they've done is complain about how wrong Obama is - as the economy has very slowly improved in many, many ways.....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Fuego wrote...
    Jobs council
    January 25, 2013 1:44 pm
    hasn't met in over a year. Maybe Oprah knows what the he)) is going on.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Republicans are throwing everything else off the cliff -
    January 26, 2013 1:49 pm
    why not immigration?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    @CH
    January 28, 2013 5:24 am
    look at you....so confused again....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 509 wrote...
    There are plenty of jobs that American's will NOT do....like
    January 27, 2013 1:36 pm
    roofer, carpenter, or anything that big business does not want to pay a living wage. However, more immigrants will reduce middle class wages even further. The elites know exactly what their doing, unfortunately, most American's never took economics in school and do not realize the impact of 20 million people in the workforce willing to work for slave wages. READ the history of the labor movement in the early 20th century....it's success was after limiting immigration.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    a living wage.
    January 29, 2013 10:40 am
    What is this? GIve me a definition...a number. You can't. It's just another leftie, commie lie meant to instill guilt on the productive and validate taking more from them.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 509 wrote...
    Definition of a living wage....
    January 29, 2013 3:35 pm
    A working person should make more than a person able-bodied person on welfare. "Leftie, commie lie"....try a tea party conservative that is sick of the elites and corporations ripping off the American people through illegal immigration. Oh, I am a LEGAL immigrant. Took 12 years to get in....should I have swam the river prior to 87??
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    11 million are here illegally!!!!
    January 28, 2013 5:23 am
    who let that happen? DEPORT THEM!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    Sick
    January 28, 2013 6:03 am
    Brilliant! How will this be done? What will the cost be? Do we have the facilities to hold all of them? The resources? Ready to pay more for goods and services, let alone watch the economy shut down. Read the studies, they provide more for this country than they take.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick W7PSK wrote...
    Easy
    January 28, 2013 9:37 am
    Quick giving them freebies, get rid of the anchor baby rule and go after businesses that hire them.

    they will leave in droves on the no more freebies alone.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick W7PSK wrote...
    One more thing Make English the national language
    January 28, 2013 9:39 am
    That will save Billions right there. No more printing forms in 100 different languages, no more needing to teach classes in 100 different languages thus no need for interpreters. If you need one bring your own.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    wsualumn
    January 30, 2013 5:26 am
    they provide more births....seriously all the wic, housing, food stamps, free programs, dream act, cell phones, health care....a one way ticket back to their country would be cheaper...what are you talking about? I am not suggesting holding them anywhere.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • bigdogina4x4 wrote...
    I have to agre with SickofSeattle.....
    March 29, 2013 11:57 am
    your argument to do nothing is "it's too hard", and "it will cost too much". The fact is, we will save billions of dollars if we aren't supporting illegal aliens (by giving them tuition, medical benefits, welfare, etc..).
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • bigdogina4x4 wrote...
    WSUALUM?
    April 30, 2013 11:26 am
    You must be referenceing a liberal funded study. Only a blind retard can look at our situation and thinks that illegals give more than they take? ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @sickofseattleite
    March 29, 2013 7:14 pm
    "11 million are here illegally!!!! who let that happen?" --- How about those wonderful 'job creators' that illegally hired them? you know - the folks who's jobs brought them across the border over the last 40 years and the republicans and democrats that didn't do anything about it over those same years? That's WHY they're here. Or would you rather take the simpleton's way out and blame Obama?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HLC wrote...
    Obozo will like the immigration law.
    January 29, 2013 10:08 am
    After the fool gets rid of every part the republicans want. It may require his relatives to come out of the shadows.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Give us your poor...your huddled masses...
    January 29, 2013 10:38 am
    yearning to take advantage of hard working Americans and vote "D".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Quick giving them freebies, get rid of the anchor baby rule and go after businesses that hire them.
    January 29, 2013 10:42 am
    Bingo. Calif just began shutting down illegal baby birthing motels. The anchor baby loophole needs to be closed.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @HPD 5-0
    January 29, 2013 11:32 am
    I want to thank you for your attitude. That is exactly the attitude that leads toward extinction for conservatives. Keep it up!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • bigdogina4x4 wrote...
    Conservatives are....
    March 29, 2013 12:00 pm
    the remaining few who love America, and want it to prosper. Back in the day, those who work hard and achieve, reap the reward of the good life. Now, they are punished and forced to pay for the losers......
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • calapete wrote...
    love America?
    May 21, 2013 12:04 pm
    by wasting it's money and blocking all legislation? They love their money and power, they do not love America. That's why they don't bank here.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    just began shutting down illegal baby birthing motels
    January 29, 2013 7:27 pm
    then where would get your sex? In the back seat of the black and white.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    Repbulicans are already losing because they wont stand up to Obama
    January 30, 2013 5:24 am
    and the overspending dumbocrats ruining our country! At this point what have they got to loose? While the dumbocrats let Americans who earn everything loose everything to everyone else who does nothing. Stand up Republicans and take back our country! Stop this madness! Stop this reckless spending! Enforce the laws they are breaking! What the dumbocrats are doing to our country is an embarrassing OUTRAGE!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Pair o'dimes wrote...
    Whose country?
    February 8, 2013 11:29 am
    I'm always amused by the "take back our country" line. I have heard it used by whatever faction happens to not be in power, both republican and democrat, and I always wonder what they have in mind. Since we regularly have elections in our country, it would seem the real issue for the losers is winning a majority, and last time I checked it requires creating a platform and putting forth candidates that will appeal to the most voters. Or does the "take back" statement imply some other means of gaining power? Armed takeover? The other thing I wonder about is what is meant by "our country"? So the party in power aren't citizens? The people who voted for them weren't citizens either? Or are there not enough landowners among them? Or is it a matter of longevity? If they are relative newcomers to the U.S. does that mean they not rightful owners of "our country"? Oh wait...we have to give the country back to the native Americans!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }