Reid fast-tracks revived immigration bill

Senate leaders Monday relaunched a controversial proposal to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, offering a new version of legislation that faltered earlier this month.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used his prerogatives as majority leader to reintroduce the bill and bypass the usual committee process, putting it on the calendar for quick consideration. A final vote is likely next week.

“I applaud Sen. Reid’s action to bring the immigration bill back to the floor and the determination of so many of our colleagues to do the challenging work we were elected to do,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the bill’s leading Democratic proponent.

The new version cleans up the legislation, which had been altered so much in the last year that it had become legislatively unwieldy. It includes a provision, agreed to in principle last week by Senate leaders with the support of President Bush, that would boost funding for border security and workplace enforcement by $4.4 billion.

“Republican obstructionists are going to have a very simple decision to make later on this week,” said Jim Manley, Reid’s staff director. “Are they going to stand for efforts to provide increased funding for border security along with comprehensive immigration reform? Or are they going to continue to block one of the top priorities of the president?”

The proposal announced Monday will incorporate the substance of about two dozen amendments adopted when the Senate debated the bill for two weeks this year. The core of the legislation has become known as the “grand bargain.” Under the plan, opponents agreed to provide many illegal immigrants now in the United States a path to citizenship in return for a restructuring of the immigration system to give greater weight to education and job skills, rather than family ties.

Reid pulled the legislation from the floor June 7 in a dispute with Republicans over how many amendments could be debated. He announced last week that he and GOP leaders had reached an agreement permitting each party to introduce about a dozen more amendments.

The legislation has split the parties internally, creating unusual bipartisan cooperation for and against the bill. Democratic and Republican aides say they believe they have the 60 votes they need to end debate and adopt the bill in the Senate.

To curb opponents’ chances of blocking the bill, Reid used a Senate procedure known as Rule 14 to reintroduce and bring the measure immediately to the floor for debate without going through a committee.

Aides said the majority leader was also considering introducing the last two dozen or so amendments in a block, using a controversial maneuver to prevent others from being offered.

“This is a very heavy-handed tactic by the leader that is cutting a large number of senators out of the process, and there is nothing we can do to stop it,” complained a senior aide to one of the bill’s GOP opponents, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about inter-party disputes.

The fate of the legislation is less certain in the House, whose members have been waiting for the Senate to act before offering their version. Any differences between the bills passed in each chamber would be subject to negotiation.

Last year, House Republicans defeated an immigration bill adopted in the Senate, and it is unclear how many may support the new version.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has told Bush that unless he can persuade about 70 Republicans to vote for the bill, it will not pass in the chamber.

maura.reynolds@latimes.com