WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist late Wednesday offered a new plan to overhaul U.S. immigration laws that would require as many as 3 million illegal immigrants to leave the country in order to apply for legal status and eventual citizenship.
Aides to the Tennessee Republican said a majority of GOP senators would support the plan, ending a stalemate that threatened to prevent action on the issue. But any bill that comes out of the Senate would have to be reconciled with a harsher measure passed by the House. It was not immediately clear how any legislation that passed would be enforced.
The "path to citizenship" issue has been the key point of disagreement among GOP lawmakers.
Senate Republicans had worked frantically for two days to build support for the latest proposal -- drafted by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) -- which would treat illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for more than five years differently than more recent arrivals.
Opponents insist that any provision giving legal status to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. amounts to condoning illegal immigration and defying American laws. Proponents argue that foreign workers are vital to the economy and must be offered some hope of a secure future.
Democrats have refused to consider changes in the bill currently under debate, which was approved by the GOP-controlled Judiciary Committee. That proposal would boost border enforcement, create a guest worker program with a path to legal status and offer the possibility of citizenship to immigrants who met certain requirements -- including learning English and paying back taxes.
The Democrats had been hoping to force Republicans to adopt that plan or fail in their effort to pass an immigration bill.
But Frist introduced the new measure and immediately filed a second motion to end debate -- parliamentary moves that would set up a vote on the Republican alternative no later than Friday.
Democrats said they needed time to study the plan but suggested they would not move to block its consideration.
"That would be great if we could end this acrimonious week on a high note, and we'll not know that until we study this amendment," said Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
The GOP leadership said a vote scheduled for today on the Judiciary Committee bill would fall short of the 60 votes needed for the measure to advance.
