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Senate Immigration Reform Debate Scheduled to Resume May 15
The Senate debate on immigration reform bills stalled before the Senate’s Easter recess because the Senators could not reach agreement on procedures for voting on amendments and how members of a future conference committee would be chosen. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have now reached these agreements and debate will resume on the Senate floor Monday, May 15, 2006.
The final membership of a conference committee is crucial to the compromise bill that results. Supporters of the Senate version of comprehensive immigration reform are concerned that hard-fought positive provisions not be overtaken by the negative provisions in the House version. The final version of the bill reported out of the conference committee must then be approved by both the House and the Senate, then sent to the President for his signature before the bill would become law.
Stay Informed – Be Ready to ACT
The Senate debate is scheduled for the two weeks leading up to the Memorial Day recess that begins May 29. NAFSA will continuously monitor the debate and the proposed amendments. If and when the time is right, NAFSA will contact members registered for ACT to send a letter and/or call your senators. This may required a very quick turnaround time. Though we will be in Montréal during the last week of debate before the recess, we will continue to send you updates via e-mail as well as having computers set up in the NAFSA Commons to send letters to your senators. Please continue to monitor your e-mail and the NAFSA Public Policy Web site for updates.
Agreement Reached on How to Reconcile Differences Between House/Senate Versions
The agreement between the two leaders will allow debate and votes on amendments to occur. Senator Frist plans to have a vote on immigration reform before the Memorial Day recess. If a bill is passed by the Senate, it will then have to be reconciled with the House enforcement-only immigration reform bill (HR 4437) passed on December 16, 2005. The agreement between the Senate leaders provides that the conference committee include 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Of these 26 committee members, seven Republicans and five Democrats will be chosen from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The other members will be chosen by Senators Frist and Reid.The final membership of a conference committee is crucial to the compromise bill that results. Supporters of the Senate version of comprehensive immigration reform are concerned that hard-fought positive provisions not be overtaken by the negative provisions in the House version. The final version of the bill reported out of the conference committee must then be approved by both the House and the Senate, then sent to the President for his signature before the bill would become law.
