After adding provisions providing for stronger border security a test vote in the Senate on Monday evening will reveal whether or not the compromise will have earned enough Republican support for the landmark immigration bill to pass sometime next week, reports Reuters.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was confident that the added provisions will enable the bill to pass the Senate.
"Next week we're going to add immigration as another example of how we get things done," Reid said.
If approved the vote on Monday will prevent opponents from delaying or obstructing the passage of the amendment for strengthening the borders or the bill itself, according to Reuters.
If the immigration bill passes in the Senate it should still expect to find a great deal of resistance within the House of Representatives. Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, has announced that he will not bring any bill up for a vote within the House without it having the support of a majority of Republicans.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is afraid that the immigration bill has been forced through the Senate too quickly and that if tonight's vote passes the bill will never get the proper attention it deserves.
"I fear we'll be told, 'We've got to pass this bill now! It has to be passed now, and we don't have time for any more of these pesky amendments from these pesky senators from all over the great country of the United States of America. We have got to pass this now!'" Lee said.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has been speaking out against the bill at every chance he gets, even on Fridays when the Senate is normally not in session, according to Politico.
"We'll just give amnesty to everybody here and we'll pass a law and we promise it will fix things and we don't really worry whether it does or not. And I can tell you it won't. It won't fix it," Sessions said during one of his many appearances on the Senate floor.
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for Federation for American Immigration Reform, spoke with Politico about Sessions' attempts to defeat the bipartisan bill.
"From the day this was introduced, he has been exposing every flaw, every weakness, every attempt to pull the wool over his eyes," Mehlman said. "He has sort of been the Paul Revere of this bill."
After tonight's vote on the border security amendment the Senate will most likely turn its attention to a few other potential amendments before bringing the total bill up for a vote. Amendments to be consider include one supported by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, which would give young children a shorter path to amnesty than the 13 year path adults are to be given, according to Reuters.
