(Photo: AP / Gerald Herbert)President Bush makes remarks on comprehensive immigration reform in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House compound in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2007.
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WASHINGTON – The Senate revived the stalled immigration bill that could offer 12 million illegal immigrants citizenship Tuesday, after a crucial test vote helped the delicate compromise pass the first in a series of formidable obstacles lying in its path.
With the 64-35 Senate vote, the controversial immigration bill is once again on the floor for a second chance to address the broken immigration system. A similar test-vote earlier this month found just 45 supporters – only seven of whom were Republicans. This time, 24 Republicans joined 39 Democrats and independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, to back moving ahead with the bill. Bill supporters needed 60 votes.
“The first thing that we've got to recognize in the country is that the system isn't working. The immigration system needs reform. The status quo is unacceptable. Most Americans understand that,” President Bush said Tuesday morning.
“Our view is, if the status quo is unacceptable, we need to replace it with something that is acceptable and have been working toward that end with both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate,” Bush said.
Yet despite the initial support for revisiting the immigration bill, the Senate still remains deeply divided over the bill with conservatives vehemently insisting the bill provides amnesty for illegal immigrants while Democrats want to ease restrictions for those seeking legal status based solely on family ties.
“It may not be perfect,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), a key architect of the bill, according to The New York Times. But overall he said it is “a good bill” and likely the last chance for a long time to repair the broken system.
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Comprehensive immigration reform has been a top domestic priority for Bush in his second term, leading him to make a rare personal appearance on Capitol Hill to plead with Republican senators to support the bill after a failed cloture vote.
A bipartisan group of senators and White House representatives had spent months of intensive negotiations to hammer out the bill that would appease both Democrats and Republicans.
The bill calls for strengthening border security, enforcing a new system barring illegal immigrants from work, and creates a temporary worker program.
“In a good piece of legislation like this, and a difficult piece of legislation like this, one side doesn’t get everything they want,” Bush told business leaders and representatives of religious, Hispanic and agricultural communities earlier Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. “It’s a careful compromise.”
Churches and Christian leaders have also joined in the immigration debate and have spearheaded advocacy campaigns, rallies, and calls on believers to pray for the revival of the bill.
This past Sunday, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which represents 15 million Hispanic evangelicals, urged Christians to participate in a National Day of Prayer for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Christian leaders across denominational lines have described immigration reform as not only a political matter but a moral and spiritual issue that affects the lives of 12 million people. They hope that a comprehensive immigration reform bill will put a human face and biblically respond to the national crisis.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he plans for the Senate to move to a final vote on the bill before the Fourth of July break.
