Bloomberg
By Kathleen Hunter
May 28, 2013
The Senate plans to start work during the week of June 10 on legislation overhauling U.S. immigration law and creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
Spokesman Adam Jentleson said today that Democrats first want to complete work on legislation reauthorizing farm programs when the Senate returns next week from a one-week break. Then he said they will turn to the immigration measure, which the Judiciary Committee approved 13-5 on May 21.
The Senate measure, S.744, seeks to balance opening the door to U.S. citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, sought by Democrats, with enough border-security improvements to satisfy Republicans. The measure includes an agreement reached last week between Democrats and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah on visas for high-skilled foreign workers.
“We would like to finish the farm bill next week so we can move on to immigration the week of the 10th,” Jentleson said in an e-mail. He said Reid, a Nevada Democrat, would “strongly prefer not to wait any longer” to begin working on the immigration bill.
Senate Democrats want to pass the immigration legislation before July 4.
Jentleson said there was “a strong possibility” that during work on the farm bill next week, the first amendment senators may consider would be a proposal to prevent a doubling of student loan interest rates on July 1.
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