The lone Republican senator inclined to support the Obama administration's bid to pass a major immigration overhaul said on Friday that if a healthcare bill passes this weekend, the immigration effort is dead for the year.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is considered a crucial player in the immigration debate -- a Republican prepared to cross party lines and vote for a bill that would provide a path to legal status for the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally.
Graham has spent months working with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to draft an immigration bill. The two met privately with President Obama last week, delivering a three-page blueprint.
On Thursday, the Washington Post's website published an op-ed article coauthored by Graham and Schumer laying out a proposal seen as the basis for a politically viable bill.
But Graham's support has never been a sure thing. In recent days, he had made it clear that he was unhappy about the procedures Democrats are using to push the healthcare bill to a vote.
"If the healthcare bill goes through this weekend, that will, in my view, pretty much kill any chance of immigration reform passing the Senate this year," Graham said on Friday, two days before thousands are expected to march in Washington in support of an immigration overhaul.
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http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-graham-immigration20-2010mar20,0,6978019.story
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