Bush seeks immigration action

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President Bush, stung by Thursday's vote to block the immigration bill, is telling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to put it back on the Senate's schedule, and the bill's supporters say they think it can be resurrected.

"I urge Senator Reid to act quickly to bring this bill back to the Senate floor for a vote, and I urge senators from both parties to support it," Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address. The address is usually aired on Saturday, but the White House released it a day early to insert Mr. Bush, who is traveling overseas, into the public debate over the bill.

The legislation collapsed in spectacular fashion Thursday when 38 Republicans, 11 Democrats and one independent voted to filibuster the bill, demanding more time to pass amendments.

Mr. Reid fired back at the White House yesterday, saying the immigration bill failed because Mr. Bush couldn't persuade his own party to support it.

"The White House has so far failed to rally Senate Republicans behind tough, fair and practical immigration reform. I will bring the immigration bill back to the Senate floor as soon as enough Republicans are ready to join us in moving forward on a bill to fix our broken immigration system," the Nevada Democrat said.

Some senators said the bill will return.

Those who were part of the "grand bargain" that became the bill said they were close to an agreement Thursday night on how to handle amendments when Mr. Reid made the decision to force the procedural vote.

They said they will keep trying, and are counting on Mr. Reid to try again if they can get an agreement.

"If we had taken more time, we would have had an opportunity of reaching a conclusion," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, said at a press conference with other senators who worked on the deal.

But getting an agreement to return to the bill does not guarantee passage. Several amendments had already passed that members of the grand bargain said are fatal to the deal, and senators will have to figure out how to handle those.