Today by a vote of 64-35 the Senate agreed to limit debate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform measure. The move leaves 30 hours of debate to consider nearly two-dozen amendments pending to the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in concert with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have agreed to pare down the list of amendments from more than 100 to less than two-dozen. Reid has been reported to consider a parliamentary maneuver known as a clay pigeon to dispense with a majority of the amendments to speed the measure toward final passage, grouping all remaining amendments into a super-amendment which is then divided into separate parts, voted on piece-by-piece and making it difficult to intervene using any of the other parliamentary tactics usually available to drag-out the process.
While nearly 2/3rds of the Senate agreed to move forward with the bill, its passage is not assured with a number of Senators having only committed to supporting the end of debate, not necessarily the end product. If the Senate is able to pass the immigration legislation, the House has not committed to tackling comprehensive immigration reform as a single piece of legislation and may employ its own shotgun approach of considering the various components of the Senate bill as separate pieces of legislation.
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