The Senate voted yesterday to revive the comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes language from AgJOBS. "Revival of the Senate bill is good news for moving the process forward," says SAF's Jeanne Ramsay, senior director of government relations. "There is still a chance the Senate can complete work before the Fourth of July recess and send the bill over to the House." 

 "I view this as an historic opportunity for Congress to act, for Congress to replace a system that is not working with one that we believe will work a lot better," said President Bush on Tuesday to the varied coalitions working for the bill's passage.

Today, the Senate will begin debating the 26 amendments to the bill. "SAF has sent a letter to Capitol Hill opposing three of the amendments because they would undercut the key elements of the AgJOBS bill and threaten to derail the entire bill," says Ramsay.

If senators agree to end debate on the amendments on Thursday, a vote for final passage is expected late on Friday. If they cannot agree, the bill will be taken off the floor.

The bill also contains mandatory spending for border security and enforcement, creates a new temporary guest-worker program and includes all the changes made during the previous two weeks of debate.

 Yesterday, however, a group of House Republicans passed a one-line resolution, which reads: "resolved the House GOP Conference disapproves of the Senate immigration bill."

"The House action points out just how tough the battle ahead will be even if the Senate succeeds in passing the bill," Ramsay says.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 

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