Immigration bill put on hold

WASHINGTON — The Senate shelved a broad immigration bill last week after its critics succeeded in blocking its movement to final passage.

The action leaves the future uncertain for efforts to fix an immigration system that most people acknowledge has failed to stem a flow of illegal residents.

In several tries, bill sponsors were unable to gain the 60 votes needed to end debate, overcome a process hurdle and put the legislation on a path to completion.

The final vote on cloture was 45-50, which was 15 votes short, leading Senate leaders to set the bill aside.

Republican opponents of the bill said Democratic leaders were trying to rush it and limit amendments.

Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada responded that critics were more interested in killing the bill than making it better.

Reid said Republicans had ample time to shape the bill, which was negotiated by the Bush administration and senators from both parties.

Conservatives charged the bill would offer “amnesty” to people already in the country illegally and would not effectively secure U.S. borders.

Others, including some Democrats, expressed unease that a program allowing for immigrant “guest workers” would depress wages for U.S. workers.

Supporters said the bill was worth pursuing to bring order to a jumbled immigration system.

They said it would indeed tighten border protections and increase enforcement of illegal immigration while offering people in the United States illegally certain paths to legal residency after they pay fines and meet other requirements over time.

Reid voted to move the bill forward for a final vote. Sen. John Ensign., R-Nev., voted to continue debating the bill.

STEM CELL BILL PASSED

The House passed a bill that eases restrictions on stem cell research incorporating donated human embryos.

The House voted 247-176 for a stem cell research bill that President Bush has said he will veto. The vote was short of the two-thirds margin necessary to override a veto.

Bill supporters said embryonic stem cells offer promises of treatments and cures for degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and strokes.

Critics said they oppose any destruction of human embryos, and that research is moving in directions that might make it unnecessary to use embryos in order to come up with cures.

President Bush in 2001 set limits on federally funded stem cell research.

The bill passed last week would allow scientists to use embryos that are no longer needed and those donated by patients. It also would set federal ethics rules for stem cell research.

Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., voted for the stem cell bill. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., did not vote.

CLONING BILL DEFEATED

A bill intended to ban human cloning was defeated, 213-204.

Sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., the bill would have created severe penalties for anyone who used cloning technology to initiate a pregnancy.

DeGette said no law in effect makes it illegal to clone humans in that manner, and she wanted that outlawed.

But critics said the bill, while it banned human reproduction cloning, would leave the door open to cloning embryos that could be used in research and destroyed. White House officials said President Bush would veto the bill if passed.

Berkley voted for the cloning bill. Heller and Porter voted against it.