Frist wants a full Senate vote by the end of this week on the immigration bill.
"There are 3 million people every year coming across our borders illegally. We don't know who they are; we don't know what their intentions are. We absolutely must address it," said Frist, R-Tenn. "I hope by Friday that we will have a bill on the floor that is comprehensive."
Good luck getting everyone organized for this, Bill. I think most are afraid that their careers are at stake over this bill.
And they're probably right.
This has already managed to split the Republicans down the middle, so who knows what will come of this.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., predicted the full Senate will approve the committee's bill and doubted that some Republicans will try to stage a filibuster to block it.
"It would be political suicide for our party to filibuster a comprehensive solution to a real problem facing America," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday." "It would be political suicide to ignore there's 11 million people, illegally undocumented, who are trying to work and add value to our country."
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said it is "conceivable" the Senate will reach consensus but called the House bill unacceptable. Allowing illegal aliens already here to seek citizenship is necessary since deporting millions of workers is unrealistic, he said.
"People will have to demonstrate that they're working hard and they're paying taxes, that they have no criminal record," said Durbin, who appeared with Sensenbrenner on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"Some will be able to meet these requirements; some will not. But it's the only way to bring people out of the shadows and have a system consistent with American values," he said.
Tags: [Bill Frist], [Frist wants vote on immigration bill this week], [immigration bill], [Sensenbrenner's bill], [immigration bill is splitting GOP down the middle]
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