Senate to debate border security

washington » The effort to reform the nation’s immigration laws took another important step forwardMondaywhen aRepublican proposal to bolster security along the U.S.-Mexico border cleared a key procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate by a margin that bodes well for its eventual approval.

The Senate voted 67-27 to proceed to debate on the proposal, exceeding the threshold necessary tomove forward but falling short of the 70 votes some supporters hoped it might earn.

The vote was one of just a final fewsteps left before the Senate is expected to give final approval to the bipartisan measure later this week.

Fifteen Republicans voted with 52 members of the Senate Democratic caucus in support of the plan, which calls for doubling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol to about 40,000 agents, the completion of 700 miles of fencing along the southern border and the expanded use of radar andunmannedaerial drones.

A block of conservative Republicans stood firm against the plan, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his deputy, Sen. JohnCornyn, R-Texas, who had pushed for a stronger plan that was rejected last week.

But the deal was designed to garner the support of a collection of other Republicans, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Orrin Hatch ofUtah, andRogerWicker of Mississippi.

Voting on the motion to proceed was kept open Monday evening because flights carrying several senators back to Washington were delayed by severe weather and issues with an airplane that veered off a runway atReaganNational Airport. Despite the longer voting time, six senators still missed the vote.

Sen. MarkUdall, D-Colo., was one of the six. His office confirmed he missed the vote because his plane was delayed. Udall put a statement in the congressional record to reflect that he would have voted yes.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a key Democratic supporter of the immigration bill, saidMonday’s vote “shows that the pro-immigration forces on both sides of the aisle continue to make progress. We realize we have a long hard road ahead of us, but this vote puts the wind at our back.”

In voting no, severalRepublicans complained Monday that