SENATE MOVES TOWARD PASSING SECURE FENCES ACT

ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf reports: The Senate voted just after 11am this morning, 94-0, to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the Secure Fence Bill. This is a vote on whether to move toward a vote on whether to debate the bill itself. Highly technical, but it basically signals that Democrats are not technically going to obstruct the Secure Fences Act. A final vote on the Secure Fences Act will probably not occur until sometime next week.

It should be noted that procedural votes like today’s are often averted by agreement between the two party leaders to simply proceed to a final vote. So while the Democrats are not technically impeding the Secure Fences Act, they’re not speeding it along either. They want to try to further amend the bill. Many Republicans do not.

Supporters of the comprehensive Senate immigration bill passed this spring, but bogged down in conference with the House of Representatives, most Democrats and some Republicans, are leery of this Secure Fences Act because it enacts many of the the security measures in the comprehensive without enacting the more contentious guest worker program and path to citizenship for long-time undocumented immigrants

"This is not enforcement only. This is enforcement first," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, trying to allay those fears at a celebratory press conference (fed back live to the DC BUREAU) after the vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed.

Senator Rick Santorum, R-PA, who said the bill is  called today’s vote, "Putting the horse before the cart." In his analogy, the cart is comprehensive reform.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had indicated earlier in the day that while his caucus is going to allow the bill to move forward, no decision has yet been made on whether they will support final passage.

Some Republican supporters of comprehensive immigration reform have also said they are torn over the border security only bill.

"I am for the fence but I am not for the fence piecemeal which would preclude a comprehensive bill," Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said yesterday.

The bill directs the Department of Homeland Security to secure the United States border and waterways within 18 months by three distinct methods, according to the Congressional Research Service: "(1) systematic border surveillance through more effective use of personnel and technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar coverage, and cameras; and (2) physical infrastructure enhancements to prevent unlawful border entry and facilitate border access by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, such as additional checkpoints, all weather access roads, and vehicle barriers."

The physical infrastructures mentioned are 700 miles of fencing along urban areas in 5 urban areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Democrats find themselves in a pickle here. They wanted to wait to pass a comprehensive bill, but don’t want to go into the November elections susceptible to allegations that they are hindering border security.