'Crunch Time' On Immigration

(CBS/AP)  President Bush will address the nation from the Oval Office Monday night to discuss immigration reform as the White House enters "crunch time" on the issue.

The White House said it was seeking time from television networks for the president's remarks at 8 p.m. EDT. Bush is to speak from the Oval Office and his address is expected to run less than 20 minutes.

"This is crunch time," Tony Snow, the new White House press secretary said Friday at his first off-camera, or informal, briefing.

"The president wants to weigh in on what he considers a major issue, at a time when the Senate is about to take up immigration reform," Snow said.

On Thursday, Senate leaders reached a deal to revive a broad immigration bill that had appeared doomed just several weeks ago.

Acknowledging that the networks are playing the season finales of their biggest shows next week, Snow emphasized that the president feels strongly about engaging in the immigration debate, calling it a critical issue for the nation right now.

At an informal meeting with reporters, Snow said that it is "crunch time" on immigration, and Mr. Bush's speech will advance what he has said before.

The immigration push comes as the White House has been battered by falling poll numbers and a growing threat to the Republican majority in Congress in the coming mid-term elections. President Bush and the Republicans show nearly record low ratings while Democrats are viewed much more favorably in their performance on the issues that matter most to Americans, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released this week.

Only 31 percent of those polled approve of Mr. Bush's job performance and 68 percent believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Mr. Bush became president.

Immigration reform, however, has not dropped completely off the agenda in Washington.

A senior White House aide says immigration is an issue "ripe for presidential leadership," which could translate to the president committing thousands of National Guard troops to posts along the U.S.-Mexico border, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod. Mr. Bush is expected to spell out a plan for using the National Guard.

The plans on the president's table would have the National Guard assigned temporarily — until the agencies responsible for border patrol are sufficiently beefed up to do it on their own, Axelrod reports.

Meanwhile, the House voted on Thursday to allow the Homeland Security Department to use soldiers in that region in limited cases.

In the Senate, the key to the agreement is who will be negotiating a compromise with the House, which last December passed an enforcement-only bill that would subject the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States to felony charges as well as deportation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will send 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats to negotiate with the House, with seven of the Republicans and five Democrats coming from the Judiciary Committee. The remaining seven Republicans will be chosen by Frist and remaining seven Democrats chosen by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.