Senate Panel Rejects Effort to Stifle Immigration in Reform Bill

Jeff Sessions' proposed caps get bipartisan thumbs down

Senate Judiciary Committee members overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to limit the flow of immigrants to the U.S. offered by a leading opponent of a broad revision of immigration law.

By a vote of 1-17 today, the panel defeated the proposal by Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions, who said the broader plan by a bipartisan group of eight senators would prompt a wave of immigration that would harm American workers.

The panel's Republican members joined Democrats in opposing the proposal. Among them, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and co-author of the bill, said that from immigrants "who today have low skills, will come some of the brightest" individuals in the U.S.