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Stepping Toward Comprehensive Immigration Reform
On May 22, after bipartisan Senate leaders and White House officials reached a compromise, the Senate voted to begin the debate on comprehensive immigration reform. There will be two weeks of debate, split by a one-week break during the week of Memorial Day.
The process for the debate is unusual. Before the compromise was reached, a version of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed in the Senate last Congress (S. 2611) was reintroduced in this Congress as a placeholder bill (S. 1348). The compromise bill will be offered to replace the language of the placeholder bill. The two week debate and the amendments offered during this time will focus on the compromise bill. (845kb
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The Senate debate promises to be contentious, and there will likely be amendments that make significant changes to the underlying bill voted on during the two-week period.
The House has yet to take up debate on comprehensive immigration reform this year. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Chair of the House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, is anticipating mark-up of a bill in June and debate sometime in July. The subcommittee continues to have hearings to discuss different aspects of immigration reform.
If the Senate and the House are successful in passing immigration reform, the bills will undoubtedly have considerable differences. A conference committee with representatives from both chambers would be required to negotiate a final compromise that, if passed, would be sent to the President for his signature for the bill to become law.
Be sure to sign up for ACT, NAFSA’s Advocacy Centered Team, to receive timely alerts about writing Congress on issues affecting international students and scholars.
The process for the debate is unusual. Before the compromise was reached, a version of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed in the Senate last Congress (S. 2611) was reintroduced in this Congress as a placeholder bill (S. 1348). The compromise bill will be offered to replace the language of the placeholder bill. The two week debate and the amendments offered during this time will focus on the compromise bill. (845kb
)The Senate debate promises to be contentious, and there will likely be amendments that make significant changes to the underlying bill voted on during the two-week period.
The House has yet to take up debate on comprehensive immigration reform this year. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Chair of the House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, is anticipating mark-up of a bill in June and debate sometime in July. The subcommittee continues to have hearings to discuss different aspects of immigration reform.
If the Senate and the House are successful in passing immigration reform, the bills will undoubtedly have considerable differences. A conference committee with representatives from both chambers would be required to negotiate a final compromise that, if passed, would be sent to the President for his signature for the bill to become law.
Be sure to sign up for ACT, NAFSA’s Advocacy Centered Team, to receive timely alerts about writing Congress on issues affecting international students and scholars.
