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Trent Lott usually doesn’t answer his Senate phone himself, but when angry callers are burning up the lines — as they are over this week’s debate about revising the nation’s immigration laws — the Republicans’ No. 2 Senate leader has picked up to hear what they have to say. A lot of the talk is misinformation, he says. Talk radio and the blogs were blasting the compromise bill, which includes a guest-worker program and a path to legal status for many illegal immigrants, well before the bill’s text was ready for senators Tuesday.

“We talked for 15 minutes,” said the Mississippi senator, recounting one call. “I can’t talk to everyone in America for 15 minutes. … But if you cower in the shadows, you’ll get pummeled. … You’ve got to stand up.”

Withering attacks on the bill aren’t only by phone: Deal-busting amendments are surfacing on the Senate floor.

On Thursday, the bill’s supporters beat back challenges that could have scuttled the bill, including efforts to phase out a temporary-worker program and bar millions of illegal immigrants from gaining legal status.

By a 66-29 vote, senators rejected an amendment by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., that would have removed the chance for the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to live and work legally in the United States and eventually become citizens.

Earlier, in a 49-48 vote, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., to end the temporary-worker program after five years. By the same margin, senators voted down a proposal by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to allow government authorities to question someone about his or her immigration status if they had probable cause to suspect the person was in the country illegally.

Those razor-thin votes showed the tenuous nature of the agreement between liberals and conservatives. Taken together, however, the defeat of the amendments showed the durability of the unlikely coalition that cut the deal and is fiercely lobbying other senators to preserve it.

“We are still together, and we’re moving forward,” said Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

By week’s end, the legislation’s defenders expect to have an idea of whether their “grand bargain” will hold and then they’ll head home on Memorial Day break to meet the backlash face to face.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada had planned to wrap up the immigration debate before the break. But he delayed the start of the debate until this week, after negotiators, led by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said they were “80 percent of the way” to a bipartisan deal on immigration. That postponed a final vote on the issue until senators return to Washington in early June.

Critics of the legislation, who cross the political spectrum, plan to use next week to turn up the pressure on senators at home.

“People are going to be piling on their senators at public events, media events, and in their offices over the break,” predicted William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, in Raleigh, N.C. “I’ve never seen this degree of disparity between lawmaker actions and the electorate.”

Nearly half of U.S. voters oppose the proposal, and only 26 percent of U.S. voters support it, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll this week.

Two senators who helped craft the bill were booed at their respective state Republican conventions last weekend. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was shouted down when he called the legislation “the best bill I think we can get to President Bush.”

In Duluth, Ga., Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia was booed when he said the nation needs a “meaningful guest-worker program.”

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said he’s “never seen [his] constituents so angry and emotional.” His opposition to the bill was cheered by those at the Republican convention in his home state. His office has received more than 2,000 calls on the bill, most opposing it. “People pulled me aside [at the convention] and told me to fight it,” he said.

Lott, who was not a negotiator but who joined the effort to sell the bill this week, said, “We need time to show people what’s in this package.”

Author: The Christian Science Monitor and The Associated Press From:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

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