Fewer than 20 senators are publicly committed to supporting the immigration deal announced last week, Stephen Dinan and S.A. Miller will report Monday in The Washington Times.
Nearly 40 senators have already said they oppose or have serious concerns about the measure, underscoring how difficult it will be for President Bush and his allies to craft a coalition that can pass the bill.
A survey by The Times of Senate offices and public comments after the deal was announced Thursday found another 32 senators who said they cannot even take a position yet -- a result of the fact that the deal was written in secret by a dozen senators and the Bush administration, wasn't even finalized until Sunday and still hasn't reached many Senate offices.
Senators will be asked to make their first vote on the measure Monday, on whether to begin debating the bill. It will require 60 votes to pass, and leaders of both parties are urging their members to vote for it, so the debate can at least begin.
Democrats who said they oppose the Senate bill are: West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd, North Dakota Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron L. Dorgan, Illinois Sens. Richard J. Durbin and Barack Obama, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, and Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson.
Republicans who said they oppose the Senate bill are: Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, Oklahoma Sens. Tom Coburn and James M. Inhofe, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas.
None of the senators from Virginia or Maryland have said they support the measure. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland Democrat, and Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, are in the "still reviewing/no public position" column, while Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Maryland Democrat, and Sen. James H. Webb Jr., Virginia Democrat, both said they have concerns about the bill.
Fierce resistance to the Senate bill erupted this weekend, when delegates to Republican conventions in Georgia and South Carolina booed supporters of the bill.
Meanwhile, the blog wars over the Senate bill heated up this weekend. An Insider Politics blog post by David Eldridge on Friday drew 112 comments, and at RedState.com, White House official Kerrie Rushton began defending the bill in response to criticisms by conservatives on that site.
Blogger N.Z. Bear has posted an online version of the Senate bill.
Citizens wanting to contact their senators about the immigration bill can find the contact information by clicking here, or telephone the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
--Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor
Update: Don Surber of the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily News points out that the number of senators opposed and the number who've expressed concerns are close to the 41 votes needed for a filibuster, and comments:
Michelle Malkin called it the shamnesty bill and if it passes, I'm declaring myself an illegal alien so I can stop paying taxes, too. ....Illegal immigration is a felony.
My God, how deaf, dumb and blind do you have to be not to detect that simple fact? We are a nation of laws. How I wish our lawmakers would keep that in mind.
This calls to mind the late, great Rep. Sonny Bono, California Republican. Asked to debate illegal immigration, Sonny replied: "What's to debate? It's illegal."
-- RSM
