Senate Set To Pass Immigration Bill

A landmark immigration bill is headed for Senate approval Thursday, setting the stage for tough negotiations with the House.

Senate passage was assured with Wednesday's decision to limit debate. The measure calls for increased boarder security, a new guest worker program and possible citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

The vote to advance the measure was 73-25, 13 more than the 60 needed.

The House version, passed last year, is generally limited to border security. It would expose all of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to felony charges, and it contains no guest worker program.

President Bush has repeatedly urged Congress to approve an immigration bill that generally follows the approach taken by the Senate.

Republican Sen. John McCain, whose home state of Arizona has a lengthy border with Mexico, supports the immigration bill that will come up for a vote in the Senate Thursday.

"The American people may have different views as to how we should address this issue but I think all of them think we ought to address it," he told CBS Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.

"I hope that we can sit down with our colleagues on the House side and work out a good, strong compromise that is comprehensive in nature. And I'm guardedly confident we can do that," McCain said.

Presidential aide Karl Rove hoped to make inroads with House members who consider the Senate legalization provision "amnesty." Asked as he departed the Capitol whether he had made progress, he replied, "Could be."

But many conservative House Republicans have denounced the Senate measure as conferring amnesty on lawbreakers. They fear that giving too much ground in negotiations could cause conservatives to stay home this November and spell defeat for the party in midterm elections.

If the Senate or the president insist on "an amnesty-type path to citizenship, it's a nonstarter," said former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who is leaving Congress June 9.

But Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who heads a group of 100 conservatives in the House, on Tuesday offered his own immigration bill that combines a guest worker program with the House enforcement measure.

GOP Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, has insisted that Mr. Bush's view and the Senate proposal amount to amnesty. But he left the door open to make a deal.

"I don't think anything is a deal-breaker," Sensenbrenner, who will lead House negotiators, said on CBS' Face The Nation on Sunday. "We can't have legal proceedings to deport 11 to 12 million people, that is evident."

Also Wednesday, the Senate voted 56-42 to set aside two-thirds of 50,000 visas granted annually by lottery, largely to immigrants in African countries, for people with advanced degrees.

Senators also tacked on additional fees for illegal immigrants for the legalization program, raising total fees and fines to more than $3,200.

As the bill moved ahead, Mexico's president Vicente Fox spoke to legislators in Utah and farm workers, farm owners and business people in Washington state. Fox's message was that the U.S. and Mexico must fix immigration problems together.

Meanwhile, about 800 National Guard soldiers will head to the U.S. border with Mexico next week.

They will be the first of roughly 6,000 troops who will help the Border Patrol stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the border. The head of the National Guard told lawmakers that 200 soldiers will go to each of the four border states: California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.