As of 4:30 EST on June 7, 2007, there had been 327 amendments submitted for consideration of the Senate regarding the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348.) Only 2 days ago on June 5, 2007, there were 133. Clearly, the contentious bill has garnered the full attention of U.S. Senators.

In a heated session yesterday, June 6, 2007, sponsors S. 1348 were victorious in thwarting off several attempts of undermining the very essence of the bill.

One such attempt is the Cornyn Amendment (SA 1184) sponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) that would have prevented a large percentage of undocumented immigrants from being eligible to benefit from the new bill. The Cornyn Amendment would have excluded those convicted of document fraud or ID theft, ignored deportation orders or committed felonies from gaining legal status. This measure failed with a vote of 46-51.

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), one of the original sponsors of S. 1348, offered a Kennedy Amendment (SA 1333) that addressed the issue in a less radical fashion. Instead of making the grounds of inadmissibility based on felonies related to securing employment, SA 1333 expanded the types of crimes subjected to ineligibility to those that are aggravated in nature, such as sex offenses, domestic abuse, drunk driving resulting in the sentence of one-year or more in prison, etc. The Kennedy Bill passed with a vote of 66-32.

This is perhaps the most pointed attack of the bill to date. Because of S. 1348’s demonstrated resiliency, Senator Kennedy had planned for a cloture vote to end discussions on the bill. Unfortunately, that did not pass at the midday vote. Nevertheless, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) plans on calling for another cloture vote later during the day.

About 12 hours before the noontime cloture vote, S. 1348 suffered a setback when Senators voted to sunset the new guest worker program that would be created under the legislation after 5 years through the Dorgan Amendment proposed by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-NV) by a vote of 49-48.

The temporary worker program is one of the most widely-anticipated elements of the “grand bargain” forged by the bi-partisan group of sponsoring senators. The close passage Dorgan Amendment came as a surprise as a similar amendment was defeated in last year’s attempt at immigration reform.

Some others bills that passed in the discussion yesterday include:
• Lieberman Amendment (SA 1191) to Improve Treatment of Asylum Seekers
• Cornyn Amendment (SA 1250) to Allow Sharing of Information from Legalization Application with Law Enforcement
• Sessions Amendment (SA 1234) Preventing Those Who Legalize From Collecting EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit)
• Thomas Amendment (SA 1182) to Authorize Additional Customs Patrol Officers to Operate on Indian Reservations on the Border
• Schumer Amendment (SA 1272) Regarding B-1 Visitor Visas
• Hutchison Amendment (SA 1415) to Prevent Undocumented Workers from Collecting Social Security Benefits

Some other bills that failed include:
• DeMint Amendment (SA 1197) to Require Z Visa Holders to Maintain Health Insurance
• Bingaman Amendment (SA 1267) Removing the 2-1-2-1-2 Timetable from the Y Visa Program
• Menedez Amendment (SA 1194) Moving the Cutoff Date for Green Card Applications from May 1, 2005 to January 1, 2007
• Clinton Amendment (SA 1183) to Move Spouses & Children of LPRs to Immediate Relative Category
• Ensign Amendment (SA 1374) to Improve the Points-Based Merit System
• Vitter Amendment (SA 1339) to Increase Enforcement Triggers

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