Doubt clouds US Senate immigration drive - Yahoo! News

Doubt clouds US Senate immigration drive - Yahoo! News: " Doubt clouds US Senate immigration drive " WASHINGTON (AFP) - Cliffhanger talks were set to stretch into Tuesday night on saving a US Senate reform drive to deal with 12 million illegal immigrants -- a legacy-building issue for President George W. Bush. Republicans and Democrats have been locked in weeks of intense bargaining over comprehensive immigration reform, a key issue for the US Hispanic community, which is likely to wield significant clout in 2008 elections. Unless a deal can be struck, Democratic Majority leader Senator Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) has vowed to bring up an immigration bill held over from last year, backed by Democrats but opposed by most Republicans. If Reid cannot attract a number of Republicans, to hit a 60 vote supermajority needed to launch debate in the 100-member Senate, the issue could effectively die until after 2008 presidential and congressional polls. Reid said negotiators from Bush's cabinet and Republican and Democratic senators had made some progress towards a deal, but things were "certainly a long ways from where we need to be." Key sticking points included differences on guest worker programs and reuniting illegal immigrants with families outside the United States, congressional sources said. Republican leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) said he remained "optimistic" even at the 11th hour of a process launched amid fierce public debate and a crackdown on illegal workers by immigration authorities and border guards. "I think we'll have a better sense of whether that's achievable by later tonight, maybe very late tonight," he said. Reid's spokesman Federico de Jesus told AFP that even if the vote on Wednesday, known as a "cloture" vote to set the timetable for a debate, fails, the majority leader would go ahead with the old bill. That version was passed by the Senate last year when Republicans were in control, but foundered for lack of support in the House of Representatives. Such a strategy would allow more time for negotiations to go into overtime in the hope of pulling out a last minute deal on a new reform package, but time is short as Reid has allocated only this week and next week for debate. "We cannot afford to wait any longer," Democratic Majority whip Dick Durbin said Tuesday, adding that a failure to clinch a deal on immigration would be "a lost opportunity." Debate on immigration centers on whether to begin legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already in the United States or to send them back home to then apply for US work permits. The Washington Post editorialized Tuesday that Congress was at a "make or break point" on meaningful immigration reform, pointing out that, because the issue is so politically sensitive, not moving ahead now will delay any action until after November 2008 presidential and congressional elections. "The longer Congress dithers, the more states and localities will attempt to deal with the matter on their own -- and the more anarchy will become the rule when it comes to immigration enforcement." Bush's immigration proposals were supported by many Democrats, but hit strong resistance from members of his own Republican Party.