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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Senate Kills Immigration Bill

Vote to move forward falls 14 votes short

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(Newser) – In a serious setback for the Bush administration's second-term agenda, the Senate effectively killed the immigration-reform bill today, voting 53-46 to keep the legislation from going forward. The president had actively promoted the bipartisan measure, going so far as to lobby senators by phone this morning, but with his influence at a low ebb, the effort fell short.

Calls from constituents opposed to the bill shut down the Capitol switchboard, the Washington Post reports, even as their legislative counterparts were triumphing in a procedural vote that exposed serious divisions within the GOP. Immigration  reform is unlikely to return to the legislative agenda before 2009, when a new president and Congress are in office.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., second from right, shakes hands with Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2007, following a news conference to discuss immigration reform. From left are, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., Rep. Sessions and Rep. Shadegg. (AP Photo/Susan...
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., second from right, shakes hands with Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2007, following a news conference to discuss immigration...   (Associated Press)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., second from right, participates in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2007, on the defeat of the immigration bill. From left are, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Reid, and Sen....
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., second from right, participates in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2007, on the defeat of the immigration bill. From left...   (Associated Press)
President Bush makes remarks about the immigration bill which died on the Senate floor, Thursday, June 28, 2007, during an address at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. A replica of the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima statue) is behind the president. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
President Bush makes remarks about the immigration bill which died on the Senate floor, Thursday, June 28, 2007, during an address at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. A replica of the Marine Corps...   (Associated Press)
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