'Gang of 12' Mulls Over Immigration Bill

Various file photos of Senators in involved in the bipartisan immigration compromise. Top row, from left are, Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., Republican Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Bottom row, from left are, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. (AP Photo/Files) (AP)

"A lot of us don't feel like they're speaking for us, that this idea that we can't offer an amendment or it's going to blow up the deal is a bunch of nonsense," DeMint said.

"This is something that every member of the Senate should be participating in _ not a small group," DeMint said. "There's never been a more emotional issue for people back home. They feel betrayed and violated. They don't trust our Congress."

The approach, however, may be the only way to ensure the bill makes it through the Senate and has a chance of being signed by President Bush.

It is not uncommon for informal bipartisan groups to band together to navigate complicated and controversial measures through the Senate. It takes only one senator to block action and most major bills essentially require the assent of 60 members.

A group comprising Democratic and Republican centrists came up with the Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 and hung together to keep it intact during a heated debate. A similar team _ branded the "Gang of 14" _ worked out a deal in 2005 to avert a filibuster showdown over Bush's judicial nominations.

Still, the immigration group is unusual for the diversity of its members, who represent two dramatically different views on immigration.

They united to oppose a liberal, organized labor-backed attempt by Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota to scrap the bill's guest worker program. It failed on Tuesday.

Not considered a deal-breaker was a proposal by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to slash the guest worker program from up to 600,000 visas annually to just 200,000. It passed the Senate overwhelmingly Wednesday.

Still, the group of lawmakers agreed to seek to make that cap adjustable as market conditions demanded.

They were negotiating with Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, in efforts to revise his proposal to deprive foreigners whose visas were revoked of court review before being deported.

"Once somebody's identified as wanting to make the bill better, we sit down and tell them how the amendment would affect the overall bill and see if we can accommodate them," Graham said.

The group is not all-powerful, though.

The lawmakers failed to fend off a proposal by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to toughen the border security and workplace enforcement triggers. They would have to be in place before the temporary worker program or the legalization of unlawful immigrants could go into effect.

It passed Wednesday without a recorded vote _ a tacit acknowledgment by the group it lacked the support to stop it.