Reid Fast Tracking Immigration Law

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has placed the immigration bill on the fast track. We hope Congress does it's homework this time.

WASHINGTON — Senate leaders Monday relaunched a controversial proposal to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, offering a new version of legislation that faltered earlier this month.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used his prerogatives as majority leader to reintroduce the bill and bypass the usual committee process, putting it on the calendar for quick consideration. A final vote is likely next week.

"I applaud Sen. Reid's action to bring the immigration bill back to the floor and the determination of so many of our colleagues to do the challenging work we were elected to do," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the bill's leading Democratic proponent.

The new version cleans up the legislation, which had been altered so much in the last year that it had become legislatively unwieldy. It includes a provision, agreed to in principle last week by Senate leaders with the support of President Bush, that would boost funding for border security and workplace enforcement by $4.4 billion.

"Republican obstructionists are going to have a very simple decision to make later on this week," said Jim Manley, Reid's staff director. "Are they going to stand for efforts to provide increased funding for border security along with comprehensive immigration reform? Or are they going to continue to block one of the top priorities of the president?"

The proposal announced Monday will incorporate the substance of about two dozen amendments adopted when the Senate debated the bill for two weeks this year. The core of the legislation has become known as the "grand bargain." Under the plan, opponents agreed to provide many illegal immigrants now in the United States a path to citizenship in return for a restructuring of the immigration system to give greater weight to education and job skills, rather than family ties.