Immigration bill survives early test as senators defeat GOP amendment on border security

The bill’s authors also stuck together to defeat a Republican amendment that would have barred anyone from seeking citizenship until the U.S.-Mexico border had been secured for six months. Supporters of the bill charged that the real effect of that provision would have been to delay citizenship indefinitely for the estimated 11 million people living here illegally.

The fast-paced action unfolded as the Judiciary Committee convened the first of what’s expected to be two weeks of meetings to plow through some 300 amendments to legislation backed by President Barack Obama to remake the nation’s immigration laws...

The bill survived an early test as the committee voted 12-6 to defeat a Grassley amendment to require border security for six months before legalization programs could begin. Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted with Democrats to bring it down. Flake and Graham are among the Republican authors of the bill.