Lead Story Security first, No amnesty
By Michelle Malkin • June 19, 2007 05:02 PM ***Update 9:25pm Eastern:***


Sixteen of the two dozen amendments the Senate will consider attaching to a revived immigration bill come from senators who helped derail the legislation earlier this month. A list of the proposed changes obtained by The Associated Press illustrates how key Republicans and Democrats plotting to revive the measure before the Fourth of July recess are trying to placate critics by holding votes to address their top concerns.
The Grand Schemers have settled on amendments to the shamnesty bill in a bid to win over the wafflers:

The proposals range from bids to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to gain legal status to attempts to give family members of U.S. citizens more opportunities to immigrate….One senior aide close to the discussions predicted that as many as 24 Republicans would back moving ahead with the bill under the scenario envisioned — compared with just seven GOP senators who did so previously…When the bill would hit the Senate floor was in doubt amid a troublesome debate on energy legislation that threatened to push the immigration bill into next week.

Democrats have begun an elaborate series of procedural maneuvers to allow a test-vote as early as Thursday night on a new version of the measure that includes a $4.4 billion “Immigration Security Accountâ€