Pressure on immigration bill persists

WASHINGTON —  The Senate defeated a measure Tuesday that would have made it all but impossible for illegal immigrants to become permanent legal residents, a step toward citizenship, under the bipartisan immigration bill.

The amendment would have required illegal immigrants to apply for permanent visas, or green cards, under the same point-based system the bill would establish for all future immigrants, a change that would have effectively kept them perpetually at the end of the line of green card applicants.

The sponsor, Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), said the amendment would create a “level playing field” for all immigrants, but Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) countered that it would change the core framework of the bill.

In their first day of debate after a weeklong recess, lawmakers considered two amendments that would reshape the bill’s temporary-worker program. One measure, which passed, would ensure Americans are recruited for jobs first. A second, which did not come to a vote, would eliminate the bill’s requirement that program participants leave for a year after every two years of work.

Senators also weighed but did not vote on another measure that would require all illegal immigrants who gain legal status under the bill to buy a minimum level of health insurance, an effort to ease the burden on hospitals and clinics faced with uninsured patients.

The chamber also voted on two unrelated amendments: Senators defeated a measure that would have required voters to show photo identification and passed another that would authorize studies of the experiences of European Americans and Jewish refugees during World War II.

Debate was interrupted by an extended tribute to Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), who died Monday of leukemia and whose desk was draped in black cloth and marked with a large bouquet of white carnations, white Gerbera daisies and red roses. A Senate exodus to attend Thomas’ funeral may delay a final vote on the immigration bill, the timing of which prompted a clash between Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid set a vote for Thursday that would limit debate, overriding Republican objections. He insisted that the Senate had pressing business on Iraq and energy to deal with and that lawmakers had to move forward.

“This is a bill that will never, ever make a majority of the Republicans happy. It doesn’t matter what we do,” Reid said. “There are efforts made to stall this bill and when that happens, the only thing we can do is go by the Senate rules and procedures and move on.”

Republican leaders said they wanted more time to debate. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that his party was being “shut out,” adding that immigration “is a big, complex, emotional matter” that required more debate, not less.

Other Republicans said that more debate would increase the number of senators who would support the bill in the end. A few members said Reid might be trying to scuttle the bill by forcing votes before Republicans were ready, but more suggested it was a parliamentary tactic to keep debate on track.

“I believe it’s to keep us moving forward,” said Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, a key Republican supporter. Martinez said he did not think that any minds had changed so far and worried that the move to end debate may have come early.

But senior Democratic and Republican aides said that in the coming days, the two sides would probably reach an agreement, known as a unanimous consent decree, on how much longer and how many amendments to debate.

“It’s not true that Reid tried to kill the bill. It’s more to try to put Republicans on the spot,” said a Democratic leadership aide. A GOP leadership aide said that Reid’s move was “just bluster, and in the end we’re going to get an agreement and a vote.”

Senators defeated two of the four amendments Tuesday. Allard’s amendment targeting the Z visa, the bill’s provision for illegal immigrants, was defeated 62-31. The Z visa would give illegal immigrants a way to gain legal temporary status and then apply for legal permanent resident status, a step toward citizenship.

California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats, voted against that amendment and against another brought by McConnell that would require voters to present a photo ID. That measure was voted down 52-41.

Another amendment targeted a loophole that allows the secretary of Labor to waive the bill’s requirement that Americans be recruited first before a temporary foreign worker could be hired, if the secretary determines there is a labor shortage in a certain occupation. The amendment, which passed 71-32 with support from both Californians, eliminated that waiver and requires that employers always try to recruit Americans first.

“That’s a reasonable starting point for any debate on immigration,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who co-sponsored the measure with Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).

Senators also passed an amendment, 67-26, that would establish two commissions, one to review injustices suffered by European Americans and Italian Americans during World War II and another to examine how Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany were treated by the United States.

“It is time for a full accounting for that sad period in our history,” said sponsor Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.).

--

nicole.gaouette@latimes.com

maura.reynolds@latimes.com