US Senate starts debates on immigration reform
WASHINGTON. The United States Senate began yesterday the formal debate on a complete immigration reform that opens a way for the legalization and eventual granting of citizenship for the undocumented population, after two key procedural votes with a high degree of symbolism.
"The approval of a complete immigration reform would be good for national security, it would be good for the economy," said the leader of the Democratic majority of the Senate, Harry Reid.
During the next three weeks, the Senate will debate hundreds of amendments for the modification of the reform plan, which was already approved by the Senate Judicial Committee last 21 May, by a 13=5 vote, after three weeks of debates in which some 136 amendments to the text were added. The text is now 1,076 pages long.
Reid's objective is that the definitive vote should happen before the Independence Day holiday, next 4 July.
Among those who voted in favor of the debate were Jeff Flake, of Arizona; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; and Marco Rubio, of Florida, all of them members of the "Group of Eight", the bipartisan group that had worked out the legislative initiative since last January and presented it in April.
The other Republican senator from Arizona, john McCain, also a member of the group, was not present since he returned from Germany the night before last and had a previous commitment yesterday in New York, but "if I had been there, of course I would have voted in favor of the debates," he explained.
"The approval of a complete immigration reform would be good for national security, it would be good for the economy," said the leader of the Democratic majority of the Senate, Harry Reid.
During the next three weeks, the Senate will debate hundreds of amendments for the modification of the reform plan, which was already approved by the Senate Judicial Committee last 21 May, by a 13=5 vote, after three weeks of debates in which some 136 amendments to the text were added. The text is now 1,076 pages long.
Reid's objective is that the definitive vote should happen before the Independence Day holiday, next 4 July.
Among those who voted in favor of the debate were Jeff Flake, of Arizona; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; and Marco Rubio, of Florida, all of them members of the "Group of Eight", the bipartisan group that had worked out the legislative initiative since last January and presented it in April.
The other Republican senator from Arizona, john McCain, also a member of the group, was not present since he returned from Germany the night before last and had a previous commitment yesterday in New York, but "if I had been there, of course I would have voted in favor of the debates," he explained.