Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday officially began the process of bringing the immigration bill to the Senate floor, setting up the first major test vote for next Monday.
That move was designed to head off even the chance for an initial filibuster — though key Republicans had said they don’t intend to try to filibuster on the front-end of the debate.
The bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last month on a strong 13-5 bipartisan vote, but has since struggled to keep that momentum. A top Democrat and a top Republican who were involved in writing the bill have each said there aren’t 60 votes to get the bill through the Senate on a final filibuster test, which is expected at the end of June.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said the bill needs to have more border security added to it for voters to feel confident there won’t be a new flood of illegal immigrants.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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