WASHINGTON — The compromise immigration plan unveiled Thursday by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats offers the best prospect for congressional action on the explosive issue this year -- perhaps for several years to come.
But the attacks from both left and right that met the proposal suggested the latest push for change, although representing a potential breakthrough, could again end in a stalemate. At the very least, the criticism showed that the bill's supporters would need to do a lot of arm-twisting on both sides of the aisle.
"This is far from over," Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) said, criticizing as "amnesty, amnesty and amnesty" the provision that provides illegal immigrant workers with a path to legal standing and citizenship.
The provisions on citizenship were by no means the only ones to come under fire.
Among Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada expressed "serious concerns about some aspects of this proposal, including the structure of the temporary worker program and undue limitations on family immigration."
Reid's statement was referring to parts of the measure that would set out conditions for temporarily letting foreign workers enter the United States, and to changes in the provisions that permit legal immigrants to bring family members into the country.
Another Democrat, Sen. Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, said the guest worker program threatened to drive down U.S. wages.
"America's workers have enough downward pressure on their wages because of unfair trade deals and corporate outsourcing of millions of jobs every year," he said in a statement. "The last thing they need now is to have an inflow of millions of more immigrants competing for their jobs at substandard wages."
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) signaled that he wanted to tighten border security and "repair the woefully inadequate legal immigration process before we move to an amnesty-based immigration system."
Among Republicans, Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa objected to a provision that he said would give the Homeland Security Department "unlimited, open-ended access to all Social Security data, including confidential tax return information."
The provision Grassley challenged is designed to create a workable employment verification system. His statement said the provision would take a "wrecking ball" to "the balance between taxpayer privacy and legitimate law enforcement."
