June 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate again blocked passage of comprehensive immigration legislation, almost certainly ending chances Congress will act this year on the centerpiece of President George W. Bush's domestic agenda.
Supporters got just 46 of the 60 votes needed to conclude debate and proceed to final passage. Fifty-three senators voted against cutting off debate.
The measure, the biggest rewrite of U.S. immigration law since 1986, would offer 12 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship while tightening the border with Mexico and creating a guest-worker program to help employers fill low-paying jobs.
Today's vote dimmed prospects the House of Representatives would act on immigration. Bush's fellow Republicans in the House voted 114-23 this week vote to adopt a resolution disapproving of the Senate measure.
``This vote effectively kills comprehensive immigration legislation in the 110th Congress,'' said Representative Zoe Lofgren, the chairwoman of a House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has said she wants the support of 50 to 70 Republicans before she would bring the immigration measure to a vote. The House hasn't acted on immigration legislation this year while awaiting the Senate outcome.
Today's vote came three weeks after Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, pulled the measure off the Senate floor when supporters lost a similar procedural vote to limit debate. The measure was revived after a bipartisan group agreed on a package of some two dozen amendments that would be voted on.
Republican opponents of the legislation denounced it as amnesty for lawbreakers and said their constituents demanded it be rejected, with our without any amendments.
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