The Senate passed yesterday, by a vote of 68-32, the most significant overhaul of U.S. immigration laws in a generation after more than six months of painstaking bipartisan negotiations. Vice President Joe Biden presided over the vote during which 14 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with all Democrats in favor of the bipartisan bill. The bill was crafted by the so-called “gang of eight” consisting of four Republicans and four Democratic senators who worked to build a broad coalition of support for the bill. The group’s Republican members are Senators Graham (SC), McCain (AZ), Rubio (FL), and Flake (AZ). Democratic members are Senators Bennet (CO), Durbin (IL), Menendez (NJ), and Schumer (NY).
The gang of eight fell just short of an ambitious, 70-vote mark set by some of its members, who had believed a broad bipartisan majority would force the House to move on its bill. Last-minute efforts to lure Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Rob Portman of Ohio failed.
Earlier this week, the Senate gave final approval to a Republican amendment that directs $46.3 billion to strengthen the bill’s border-security provisions. The amendment dubbed the “surge” is the costliest border-security plan ever for the United States. The measure doubles the size of the U.S. Border Patrol, adding 20,000 agents, requires construction of 700 miles of fencing at the U.S.-Mexico border and the deployment of new radar and unmanned aerial drones to help police the border. The Department of Homeland Security would also have to establish a biometric tracking system at the nation’s 30 largest airports. All employers would have to check workers’ legal status with an e-verify system, and a visa entry and exit system would be required at all airports and seaports. Those security provisions would have to be in place before any undocumented immigrant could gain permanent legal status, known as a green card.
The bill will provide 11 million undocumented U.S. immigrants a 13-year path toward achieving permanent residency status or U.S. citizenship after paying fines and back taxes. The agreement would increase the number of visas available to high-skilled workers, most of whom work in the fields of science and technology, and also to lower-skilled people who take jobs in the construction and hospitality industries. Immigrant farm workers also would be admitted under a temporary guest-worker program.
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) also offered an amendment this week that would make changes to the government’s e-verify program used to track job applicants immigration status. Portman’s proposal would have required the Department of Homeland Security to make changes to the program to avoid fraud and identity theft. However, Portman’s request for a vote on toughening the e-verify provisions in the bill got snagged in the procedural rules of the Senate.
“There are a number of provisions in the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill that are positive, including a generous legalization program and the recognition that U.S. employers of lower-skilled workers need access to a ‘future flow’ of such workers,” National Chicken Council President Mike Brown said. “The National Chicken Council is extremely disappointed, however, that the Portman/Tester amendment was not considered or adopted, which would have made the bill stronger by strengthening employment verification and creating both interim and permanent methods to deter identity theft. We look forward to the opportunity in the House to accomplish these important improvements to the legislation,” Brown said.
Thursday’s vote now puts the onus of immigration reform on the Republican-led House, where there is intense GOP opposition to S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. Most conservative Republicans have dismissed the Senate bill as insufficient in its attempts to protect the southern border and not tough enough on people who have broken U.S. law. In addition, House Republicans have adopted a piecemeal approach to immigration reform, which is sharply different from the Senate comprehensive approach.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH) told his colleague’s Wednesday morning at their weekly closed-door meeting that no matter what the Senate does on immigration reform, the House will act on its own. “We’ll do our own bill, through regular order and it’ll be a bill that reflects the will of our majority and the people we represent,” Boehner said.
If the House passes a bill that differs from the Senate bill, which is certain to happen, a conference committee of senators and House members could meet to draft a compromise bill.
