By MICHAEL DOYLE
BEE WASHINGTON BUREAU

Source: Modesto Bee

Last Updated: May 14, 2007, 03:34:06 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — Congress can stage one heck of an immigration debate, as senators have shown.

But write new immigration law? That's the real test.

Starting as early as today, the Senate revives an immigration overhaul drama. The cast is familiar, the lines well-rehearsed, but the plot is a work in progress.

"We've studied this enough," said Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League. "Now, it's time to move it through."

Negotiators were meeting throughout the weekend, seeking a compromise before public debate begins. On Friday, hinting at progress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed to postpone a key vote so lawmakers can keep working.

Several puzzles remain. In particular, senators are stymied on how to balance family reunification with education and employment in granting visas.

Hoping to shape the outcome, Cunha and 150 other farmer advocates will be swarming Capitol Hill throughout the week. Farmers want an agricultural guest worker program included in the bill.

By the end of the two weeks that Reid has designated for debate, legislative prospects should become clearer.

"We've been working day in and day out for weeks," Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said.

He has been part of a rotating, bipartisan group of lawmakers pursuing a comprehensive immigration package behind the scenes. Since mid-February, sometimes accompanied by members of President Bush's Cabinet, senators and staffers have convened late afternoons for as many as two hours, three days a week.

Like his Republican predecessor last year, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Reid scheduled Senate debate to spur the negotiators. Like last year, senators have pressed right up to the debate deadline.

If they can cut a deal acceptable to Democrats, the White House and a sufficient number of Republicans, the negotiators' bill will become the Senate's centerpiece. A Senate bill, in turn, will set up further negotiations with the House.

"People have worked very hard for months now," Reid said.

The Senate's draft proposal includes some consensus elements. It would increase the number of border guards by about 50 percent. It would authorize a border fence for parts of California and Arizona. It would allow illegal immigrants to become legal if they learn English, pay fines and return briefly to their home countries.

One unresolved question is how much illegal immigrants would have to pay to achieve legal status. Some proposals call for fees in excess of $10,000. Trickier are proposals for a new point system allocating visas.

Current U.S. immigration pol-icy emphasizes reuniting families. Some proposals call for giving greater emphasis to immigrants who have desirable employment or educational backgrounds.

If negotiations stall, Reid will introduce a complicated, 600-plus-page bill that the Senate passed last year. But the changed political dynamics and last year's clunky political compromises make it little more than a placeholder.

For instance, last year's bill, credited in part to Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, divided the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants into three categories. This determined who could stay and who must go. Shortly after voting for the bill, lawmakers began backtracking from the compromise as unworkable.

Key Republican backers of comprehensive immigration reform, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, have urged Reid not to bring up last year's bill.

"If we start there, the floor action is likely to be a free-for-all," warned Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Deadline frenzy is common. So are last-minute deals, even if they fizzle. Last year's immigration bill passed the Senate 62-36, with the help of 23 Republicans, only to stall.

This year, negotiators bypassed the Senate Judiciary Committee and went behind closed doors for about two dozen bargaining sessions.

"I will concede there has been a lot of wheel-spinning," Specter said. "Perhaps it was an error to abandon the traditional committee process. But that is where we are, and we need more time."