ImmigrationSenate passes historic immigration reform bill
The Senate yesterday, on a vote of 68-32, approved a sweeping immigration overhaul bill, the most important immigration measure since the 1986 Immigration and Reform Act (IRCA). The measure offers a path to citizenship to about eleven million illegal immigrants currently in the United States and allocates billions of dollars to bolstering border security.
The Senate yesterday, on a vote of 68-32, approved a sweeping immigration overhaul bill, the most important immigration measure since the 1986 Immigration and Reform Act (IRCA).
The measure offers a path to citizenship to about eleven million illegal immigrants currently in the United States and allocates billions of dollars to bolstering border security.
The bill faces uncertain fate in the House, with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) saying he will not bring legislation to a vote that that lacks support of the majority of the Republican caucus.
Before the start of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), in a rare move, asked all ninety-nine Senators to be present and to vote from their desks.
“This is not a vote where people should be straggling in,” Reid said.
To mark the significance of the Senate vote, Vice President Joe Biden presided over the chamber.
The Washington Post reports that members of the Gang of Eight thanked the coalition that had backed immigration reform efforts.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said the voices of young undocumented immigrants “had made a difference.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said the bill’s border security measures had “exceeded every expectation I had,” and said the bill had “practically militarized the border.”
Analyst say that two late developments helped move Republican senators to support the bill.
First, a detailed study from the Congressional Budget Office calculated that the legislation would reduce the U.S. budget deficit by $175 billion over ten years – and by much more over twenty years — and boost economic growth.
This study contradicted a report from the conservative Heritage Foundation which argued that the legislation would add $6.3 trillion to the deficit over fifty years.
Second, an amendment to the bill, authored by Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Senator John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), meaningfully increased the amount of money directed at bolstering security along the U.S.-Mexico border, and doubled the size of the Border Patrol.
