Senate panel approves immigration bill

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved far-reaching immigration legislation that gives a chance at citizenship to millions living in the country illegally.

The 13-5 vote clears the bill for a Senate debate expected to begin early next month.

Committee approval came after the panel's chairman sidestepped a showdown on the rights of gay spouses, heeding appeals from the White House and others who feared such a vote could lead to the bill's demise in the Senate.

On a final day of drafting, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers.

The landmark legislation creates new provisions to bring workers here legally and enforce against illegal immigration, as well as creating a path to citizenship for 11 million here illegally.

As drafted by the Gang of Eight, four Republicans and four Democrats who negotiated the basic provisions of the legislation, gay spouses do not have the same right to a green card as heterosexual spouses.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., had introduced a proposal to reverse that, a provision that gay rights organizations seek and that ordinarily the White House and all the committee's Democrats would back. In this case, though, its approval would almost certainly lead Republicans to abandon the bill, and it would face a quick demise on the Senate floor.

The bill's ranks of supporters inside the committee grew during the day as the result of a compromise setting the terms of the expansion of H-1B high tech visas. Under the deal, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would rise from 65,000 annually to 110,000.