Senate leaders plan to bring bill on immigration to floor this month

Slow progress in the Senate’s bipartisan immigration talks has not dissuaded Democrats from their plans to bring a bill to the floor this month, party leaders said yesterday.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will pull the immigration reform measure of his choice straight to the floor if a compromise bill is not ready by his announced deadline, the week of May 14, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters.

{mosads}“If we can’t produce a bill through the regular procedure, Senator Reid’s going to Rule-14 one and bring it to the floor,” Durbin said.

Rule 14 of the Senate’s standing rules allows any senator to sidestep committee consideration of a favored bill and place the legislation straight onto the calendar. Reid could move either last year’s Senate immigration bill or a narrower measure. The latter may be easier, as two supporters of the 2006 bipartisan plan have indicated they would not back it this year.

Meanwhile, thousands of immigrant-rights advocates marched in major U.S. cities yesterday to call for a workable reform bill, and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chairman helping to lead immigration talks, addressed the Anti-Defamation League on the issue. Kennedy said immigration talks “have not been easy” and called one GOP proposal to limit family ties as a factor in immigration approvals “a huge mistake.”