http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3267032

July 15, 2005, 2:25AM
Frist says Senate unlikely to get to immigration this year
Cornyn, along with other backers of proposals on the issue, says the delay is disturbing
By SAMANTHA LEVINE and MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

"We must protect our nation from those who seek to enter it illegally, but we also have a moral obligation to protect all who set foot on our soil from physical harm."
-- Senator Majority Leader Bill Frisk, R-Tenn..
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday that immigration reform is probably off the table for this year, a prediction that threw cold water on the methodical efforts of Sen. John Cornyn to pass a bill this fall.

"The overall guest worker-immigration legislation will come in this Congress (which ends in late 2006). It won't be this summer, I can't promise it will be in the fall," said Frist, R-Tenn. "More likely, it will be in the early part of next year, but within the next 12 months."

Cornyn, R-Texas., said he was unaware of Frist's comments and found them disturbing. "I hope that isn't right," said Cornyn, who is likely to unveil his proposal, including a guest worker program, next week with his co-author, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

"My impression was that he wanted to do something sooner rather than later," Cornyn said. "I need to talk to him."

'Comprehensive approach'
Frist's comments came during a conference call on border security measures with reporters that coincided with the Senate's debate on the 2006 homeland security spending bill.

Frist said one reason for taking time with the issue was that the Senate's Republican leadership was aiming at a "comprehensive approach" on the idea of guest workers and immigration reform to attract bipartisan support. He said the leadership would "look at what the president has (proposed) and look at individual initiatives."

The majority leader also said he had asked the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog agency, to analyze how many illegal immigrants die annually trying to enter the United States.

"We must protect our nation from those who seek to enter it illegally, but we also have a moral obligation to protect all who set foot on our soil from physical harm," he said.

The delay on immigration legislation this year is largely due to the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearings to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The confirmation proceedings occur in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will also be partly responsible for handling an immigration bill.

Once the committee acts, the full Senate must vote on the nominee. The intensity of that debate is expected to consume a good deal of the Senate's schedule and drastically reduce the number of other bills in the Senate this year.

Concern, disappointment
Still, the news from Frist, who is in charge of scheduling which legislation hits the floor, shocked lawmakers who have spent months crafting immigration proposals.

One of them is Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona who introduced a bill in May with Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy.

The Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing on that measure, as well as the Cornyn-Kyl bill, this month.

"I am very concerned and very disappointed," said McCain, whose legislation would allow illegal immigrants to earn U.S. citizenship. "It's not helpful. More and more bad things happen. There is greater risk for terrorists crossing our borders. There are greater health care and law enforcement costs."

McCain said he hopes the drumbeat of concerns will keep the pressure on Frist to take up an immigration bill.

Cornyn, who chairs the Judiciary Committee's immigration subcommittee, and Kyl, who chairs the homeland security subcommittee, have held a half-dozen hearings on the immigration issue over the past few months.

Their bill would create a guest worker program that mirrors Bush's preference for a system that lets immigrants work here for three years before having to return to their home countries.

It also would include plans for stronger border enforcement and the phasing-in of requirements for all U.S. employers to verify the immigration status of their employees.

Last overhaul took 5 years
But that bill, as well as the McCain-Kennedy measure, will have a tough time in 2006. All of the House and one-third of the Senate will be up for election.

Joseph Vail, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Houston Law Center, said Congress has historically taken a long time to act on immigration.

Lawmakers spent about five years crafting the last immigration overhaul bill, which passed in 1986.

samantha.levine@chron.com michael.hedges@chron.com