Immigration Bill Fails Test Vote in Senate
Via the AP: Immigration bill fails key Senate test
– A fragile bipartisan compromise that would legalize millions of unlawful immigrants suffered a setback Thursday when it failed a test vote in the Senate, leaving its prospects uncertain.
Still, the measure — a top priority for President Bush that’s under attack from the right and left — won a brief reprieve when Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would give it more time before yanking the bill and moving on to other matters.
His decision set the stage for yet another procedural vote later Thursday that will measure lawmakers’ appetite for a so-called “grand bargain” between liberals and conservatives on immigration.
If that fails, Reid threatened, “The bill’s over with.”
[…]
By a vote of 33-63, the Senate fell far short of the 60 votes that would have been needed to limit debate on the immigration measure and put it on a path to passage.
Quite frankly, one of the reasons I haven’t said much of anything about this bill specifically is because I have felt from the beginning that its chances of passage were quite slim.
