Thread: 70 votes looks elusive on immigration

70 votes looks elusive on immigration

Negotiators say Chambliss’s support on immigration is no longer gettable. | AP Photo

By BURGESS EVERETT and SEUNG MIN KIM | 6/26/13 12:22 PM EDT Updated: 6/26/13 3:44 PM EDT
The elusive goal of 70 votes for the Senate immigration bill started to slip from the Gang of Eight’s grasp on Wednesday, as potential swing GOP votes began to peel away from the reform effort.
A source familiar with the discussions told POLITICO that the negotiators are no longer trying to woo Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) because they see his demands on agricultural workers as an insurmountable hurdle. Two other Republicans, who had backed a so-called “border surge” plan, then turned around to reject a procedural move to advance the bill.

And whether the bill’s supporters could lure Sen. Rob Portman remained in question, as key senators exchanged a flurry of offers on amendment votes that could help win over the Ohio Republican — but kept falling short of an agreement.
“We continue to push to get an agreement on amendments, but time is getting short,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who co-authored the “border surge” changes that were officially added Wednesday to the immigration bill.
Chambliss had filed a slew of amendments to the agricultural worker program. But after a two-hour negotiating session, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) spoke Wednesday morning and agreed that Chambliss’s support was no longer within reach.
“The Gang was willing to compromise on some of these things, but at the end of the day, Chambliss was trying to undo” the bill’s provisions on agriculture workers, the source said.
Chambliss acknowledged an “impasse” in his talks but told POLITICO: “I actually moved backwards. I made a very reasonable proposition and they didn’t accept my proposal.”
Senate leaders and aides are still attempting to negotiate a deal to vote on more amendments before the overall bill passes, which it is on track to do by Friday. But as time evaporated and objections to an agreement mounted, it appeared unlikely that a resolution was in sight.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters that senators who oppose the bill have refused to sign off on an agreement to allow more votes, making it impossible for the Senate — which operates on consent from all 100 members — to strike a deal on amendments.
One offer involved a chance for the Senate to vote on 35 Republican amendments, said McCain, a member of the Gang of Eight.
“And that wasn’t good enough for those who oppose this legislation,” he added. “Of course, that’s their right to do, but it’s pure obstructionism.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who had sided with all Democrats and 14 other Republicans on the border surge amendment from Hoeven and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), announced Wednesday that he would ultimately vote against the immigration bill.
“Although the Corker-Hoeven amendment has, in my view, improved the enforcement provisions, the legislation is still deeply flawed and if enacted would not fix our broken system,” Wicker said.
Wicker and Sen. Jeff Chiesa (R-N.J.) had approved the Corker-Hoeven plan, but voted against the majority on the last of three immigration votes Wednesday that signaled the current level of support in the Senate for the immigration bill.
That vote was 67-31. The vote to pass the Corker-Hoeven plan was 69-29.
Though Wicker has made his intentions clear, the support of Chiesa, a placeholder senator who replaced the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) earlier this month, could still be in play.
“The senator has consistently voted for improvements to the bill, including Corker-Hoeven, and he is interested in continuing to improve the bill with additional amendments, hence his vote against cloture,” said Ken Lundberg, a spokesman for Chiesa. “He has yet to announce how he will vote on final passage.”
But others are clearly out. Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said he wouldn’t support the immigration bill during a floor speech Wednesday.
Still, negotiators were still working Wednesday on how to win over Portman, who has said he can’t support the bill without passing his amendment to toughen the legislation’s E-Verify provisions.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of the Gang of Eight and Democratic leadership, said he wouldn’t rule out adding Portman’s proposal to the overall bill.
“I would rather not have it,” Durbin said. “But I think I can tolerate it, live with it if it moves us closer to a good passage number.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...#ixzz2XMTmZ8me

The more that they add the more convoluted. As we know, virtually none of the Senators have read the bill in its entirety with the ongoing bribes and/or amendments.