Panel in Senate Sends Immigration Bill to the Floor.

Source: NYTimes

In a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws Tuesday evening, sending the legislation onto the floor, where the fight is expected to last through June.

The move came as the committee reached a deal on one of the final snags threatening the legislation — and agreed to hold off on another particularly controversial amendment, which would have added protections for same-sex couples.

After intense behind-the-scenes negotiations, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, struck an agreement with the bipartisan group of eight senators that drafted the original bill to address his concerns about the high-skilled foreign workers who could fill jobs in the high-tech industry.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us/politics/leahy-voices-optimism-as-panel-continues-work-on-immigration-bill.html?hp