Critics in Senate Vow to Alter Immigration Bill
Doug Mills/The New York Times


Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky with Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, left, both Republicans, at news conference on immigration yesterday.

By ROBERT PEAR and MICHAEL LUO

Published: May 22, 2007

WASHINGTON, May 21 — As the Senate began work on a comprehensive immigration bill, lawmakers from both parties demanded substantial changes in the legislation on Monday and forced Senate leaders to extend debate beyond the Memorial Day recess.

From the moment debate started, the crosscurrents buffeting the bill were evident. The intense lobbying since the bill emerged last week from three months of bipartisan negotiations is likely to be just a sample of what lawmakers will hear as they return home to their districts for the Memorial Day recess.

The bill overcame its first hurdle on Monday, a simple vote to begin debate on the hugely contentious measure.

The decision to extend debate followed four hours of speeches in which supporters and opponents of the bill agreed that the nation had lost control of its borders but disagreed on almost everything else.

“There just simply is not enough time on this massive, massively important piece of legislation to do it allâ€