Washington – The U.S. Senate is heading toward a vote on legislation already passed by the U.S. House authorizing 700 miles of fences at the nation’s southern border, as Republicans signaled the need for some agreement on immigration before the election.
Both Republican and Democratic senators expressed frustration with the narrowness of the measure and called for amendments. But Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is likely to block most amendments, forcing a vote directly on the bill. Senate approval of the bill as written would send it directly to President Bush.
“It doesn’t mean that those of us who believe that we have to have comprehensive (immigration) reform in any way are backing away from that,” Frist said Tuesday. “It is that we need to start where there is general agreement, and that is on tightening and securing our borders.”
If the fence bill prevails over a number of procedural hurdles, it would mark the first congressional movement in several months on an immigration-related measure.
House Republicans – led by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, and others – have refused to negotiate with the Senate on merging disparate immigration reform bills. The House passed an enforcement-only bill last year. The Senate passed a measure that included a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
House Republicans this month began carving off parts of the larger House bill and forcing new votes. The House will consider three more immigration-enforcement measures Thursday.
“The fact is we’ve been at sort of a standoff here for the last several months over the two versions of the bill,” Tancredo said. (Senators) were not going to do anything unless we included some amnesty provision (for illegal immigrants). Right now that seems to be something they’ve abandoned.”
Senators will vote today on a procedural motion to end debate, which clears the way for a vote on the fences bill. Both Democrats and Republicans said they expected there would be enough votes for that step. And many said they thought ultimately there would be enough votes to pass the fences bill.
“This is all meant to box Democrats into voting ‘no’ and we’re not going to fall for it,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
The fences would be built along stretches of border with the most illegal border-crossing activity, largely in Arizona.
Sens. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., both voted earlier this year for an amendment to the Senate’s immigration bill calling for 370 miles of fences.
“We need to pass legislation that gives local law enforcement and border patrol the flexibility and tools to effectively combat illegal immigration,” Allard said.
Salazar called the fences bill “a one-dimensional attempt to address a complex problem.”
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, each said they wanted to amend the bill. Kyl and Hutchinson said Congress shouldn’t dictate where the fences go. Craig wants to add a guest-worker program for agricultural workers.
