Senate to weigh bill on migrants

Reform backers seek more support from Republicans

WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Senate gets back to business today, it is poised to take up a sweeping immigration-reform bill that would offer a pathway to citizenship to many of the11million immigrants who were living illegally in the United States before 2012.

Supporters of the bill crafted by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators guided it through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, fending off amendments that would have shattered a coalition of labor and business groups, Catholics and evangelical Christians, and law-enforcement and civil-rights groups.

Now, proponents of the bill face an even tougher challenge: how to lure more Republicans to support the legislation without alienating Democrats and losing the support of key immigrant-rights organizations.

While the legislation’s backers are confident they will secure the 60 votes needed to ensure passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate, they would like to reach 70 or so votes to pressure the GOP-controlled House to act on the bill.

Speaker John Boehner, ROhio, and other House GOP leaders said in a May 23 joint statement that the House intends to address the immigration system in its own way and “will not simply take up and accept the bill that is emerging in the Senate if it passes.”

But the Gang of Eight and their allies believe that a strong showing in the Senate would, if nothing else, give senators leverage in any conference-committee negotiations between the two chambers where the final version of the bill could take shape.

The 100-member Senate includes 53 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 45 Republicans, meaning any votes beyond 60 will come from the GOP side of the aisle. Securing those votes could require concessions.

‘‘ The question is: Can we get enough votes to convince the House to vote?” SEN. JEFF FLAKE, R-ARIZ.

However, some Democrats and immigration advocates don’t believe it’s worth watering down or adding concessions to a delicately balanced compromise just to pad the vote tally.

Some amendments are expected to pass, but deal-breakers, such as the proposed path to citizenship, are expected to remain intact.

“The Gang of Eight has done a great job so far of walking that tightrope,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration expert and professor of law at Cornell University Law School. “Now we’ll see whether they can continue to do so on the Senate floor.”

The Senate is expected to begin debating the bill the week of June 10. Supporters hope to pass it before the Fourth of July recess.

“The final bill won’t be exactly what passed out of the committee,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who will manage the floor debate on the bill. “The most important thing is to have a path to citizenship for the most people possible in a way that ultimately benefits and strengthens the United States of America.”

‘A tricky period’

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is one of the four Republicans who negotiated the bill with four Democratic colleagues, said he is worried about whether the bill can be amended to pick up enough Republican votes to create a show of force to House Republicans.

“We can pass this out of the Senate,” Flake said. “The question is: Can we get enough votes to convince the House to vote? We’re working with a number of Republicans who want certain substantive amendments, and we hope to get them in.”

Flake said he expects amendments from Republicans on border security and on government benefits and tax breaks for immigrants who gain legal status.

“There is a lot of dissatisfaction among Republicans that the border stuff is not tough enough, that there are no real triggers,” said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a coalition of business groups. “There certainly are going to be people who are pushing