Senate makes new try for immigration bill

But many other Republicans say they have been shut out of a process. Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas, once a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, filed 30 amendments to the bill, and narrowed them to five after Democrats pulled the bill. His amendments, which are not on the list, aim to make a complicated new system more workable, he says.

For example, the proposed law provides a 24-hour period for background checks for Z-visa applicants, at a time when similar background checks for Americans drag on for months and even years. "We know with great confidence that that can't be done, and the default is provisional legal status for 12 million foreign nationals," he says. "That's wrong."

"I object to the process where a group of senators behind closed doors determine which amendments get votes and which do not," he adds.

Even some Republicans who did make the list of those allowed amendments are concerned. The secrecy and rush to a final bill will undermine public confidence in the outcome, says Senator Thune, who is proposing triggers for probationary legal status in the Z-visa program.

Meanwhile, supporters of a new national policy on immigration, ranging from church groups to business groups, have also seen lists of possible amendments, and are rallying their members to pressure lawmakers to complete work on the bill, even at the expense of provisions they would have liked to see.

Some employer groups, for example, welcome an amendment by Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa, to remove the requirement that workers present a REAL ID (tamper-proof) driver's license when seeking employment. But they say it's more important to get a bill that reforms a broken system. "The chief negotiators have called the Grassley amendment a deal breaker. What I want is a bill, and if that kills it, it doesn't get me to a bill. We will address our concerns another way," says Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce.

On the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Bush will need to deliver 70 Republican votes for an immigration bill to get through the House.

That got harder this week, as Reps. Peter King of New York and Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republicans on the Committee on Homeland Security and the Judiciary Committee, launched an alternative to the Senate immigration bill that calls on the administration to "substantially reduce illegal immigration and greatly improve border security" by rigorously enforcing existing laws.

"The immigration status quo is intolerable. Not because our immigration laws are broken, but because they are not vigorously enforced," said Representative Smith in a press briefing on Tuesday.

At a Monitor breakfast on Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who helped negotiate the Senate deal, said that he is "optimistic that we will get a bill."

"The essence of compromise is the recognition that the way to achieve something good for most people is for everybody to recognize they can't insist on a 100 percent win. It's going to have to be a win for everybody," he says. The alternative, of doing nothing, is a "silent amnesty," he adds.

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