Bush Continues Push for New Immigration Bill

President Bush today pressed his campaign for a new comprehensive immigration bill, telling an audience of Latino religious leaders that "our economy depends on" foreign workers and calling on Congress to act now before the problem of illegal immigration "grows worse."

Bush made the remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington after Senate leaders, under pressure from pro-immigration groups and the White House, agreed last night to bring a controversial overhaul of the nation's immigration laws back to the Senate floor as early as next week.

The bipartisan negotiators working on the immigration bill whittled hundreds of amendments down to a package of 11 amendments from Republicans and another 11 from Democrats and then presented their compromise to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (Miss.) indicated earlier that he could produce enough GOP votes to clear the 60-vote threshold to get the bill back to the floor and push it to a final vote.

With Reid's demands satisfied, he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a terse statement last night: "We met this evening with several of the Senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, the immigration bill will return to the Senate floor."

Members of both parties cautioned that passage is still anything but certain.

"I'm sure senators on both sides of the aisle are being pounded by these talk-radio people who don't even know what's in the bill," Lott said. He added that the "leadership will have to be prepared to do what needs to be done."

In a speech peppered with Spanish phrases, Bush today thanked Latino religious leaders "for making comprehensive immigration reform your top priority," adding, "I share that priority." Also attending the prayer breakfast were two senators who support Bush's vision of an immigration-law overhaul: Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.). Bush hailed them as having " corazones grandes[big hearts] on the immigration bill."

Bush told the prayer breakfast, "Our responsibilities are straightforward -- we've got to enforce the border, basic duty of a sovereign nation. We've got to create a lawful way for foreign workers to fill jobs that Americans are not doing. Our economy depends on them. And we must resolve the status of illegal immigrants already in our country without amnesty and without animosity, because that is the only practical way to fix the problem that has been decades in the making."

Casting his appeal in religious terms, Bush said, "We must meet our moral obligation to treat newcomers with decency and show compassion to the vulnerable and exploited, because we're called to answer both the demands of justice and the call for mercy."

He added, "Most Americans agree on these principles. And now it's time for our elected leaders in Congress to act. . . . Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse. I will continue to work closely with members of both parties, to get past our differences, and pass a bill I can sign this year."

Last night's breakthrough in the Senate represented a victory for Bush, whose visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday appeared to come too late to resurrect a measure that had been pulled from the Senate floor five days earlier.

"We are encouraged by the announcement from Senate leaders that comprehensive immigration reform will be brought back up for consideration," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. "We look forward to working with senators as the process moves forward."