June 7, 2007

Senate Deals Blow to Immigration Bill With Key Provisions for Students

A broad, bipartisan plan for overhauling the nation’s immigration laws suffered what The New York Times called “a crippling defeat” tonight in the U.S. Senate, and while the Senate majority leader said he hoped to bring up the legislation again in several weeks, the bill was clearly on life support.

Advocates of the legislation, S 1348 — a fragile compromise plan reached among a group of Democratic and Republican senators and supported by President Bush — needed at least 60 votes to end debate on the measure and move it toward final passage. But they received only 45. Fifty senators voted against the cloture motion.

Senators from across the political spectrum voiced opposition to the bill, though the measure’s provisions related to higher education were not among the major reasons lawmakers cited for their disapproval.

The bill includes a plan to give college students who entered the United States illegally as children a clear path to receiving permanent legal status to remain in the country. And the measure would make it easier for states to charge those students in-state tuition rates, which are lower than the rates for nonresidents.

The process for issuing permanent visas would also be changed to give more preference than in the past to people who had earned advanced degrees and who had certain job skills that are in demand.

If the majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, is unable to change some of the votes, he may be forced to drop consideration of the bill for the year. —Sara Hebel

Comments

1. My poor party, these guys are falling for a rope-a-dope. If Ted Kennedy is for it and /dingy Harry brings it back for considertion? How slow do the Republicans have to be to fall for this.

   We cannot send virtuall noone home now for being illegal. By some miracle the courts are going to shut down and let immigration do their job fom now on.

   Reminds me of being a child, we would faithfully promise our parents we would never do something again and again and again. You get the idea.

   This will be the end of the Republican party as a majority further into the future than I can see.

   I for one as a life long straight party line Republican voter will now go to a third party. That is after doing whatever I have to vote against any Republican member of the Senate running for reelection.

   — Winston Crawford    Jun 13, 02:33 PM    #

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