Shame, shame, shame:

Proponents today narrowly defeated an amendment that would have ended the bill’s temporary worker program after five years. The measure was defeated 49 to 48, the narrow margin secured when Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) changed his vote at the last minute after an entreaty from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the bill’s main Democratic sponsor.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), a key Republican supporter of the bill, praised Akaka for putting the fate of the bill as a whole ahead of his opposition to one element of it.

“He wasn’t prepared to bring the bill down,” Specter said. “Each of us has done that on many, many occasions. We have voted against our personal preference because the totality of the bill is so important.”

That amendment also split California’s two Democratic senators: Dianne Feinstein, a member of the bipartisan group of sponsors, voted against the amendment, and Barbara Boxer voted for it.

“American workers are going to be hurt by this,” Boxer said before the vote. “This is a modest amendment. This is a sensible amendment.”

But Feinstein, who said she had qualms about the temporary worker program, voted the opposite way.

“This was just a very important vote, because there are certain core principles in this bill that those people that participated in putting it together care about it,” Feinstein explained afterward. “And those core principles are formed on this basis: Republicans cannot pass a bill without Democrats, and Democrats cannot pass a bill without Republicans. Therefore, the only hope for a bill is to come together.”

In other votes today, senators resoundingly defeated an amendment that would have eliminated visas for workers currently in the country illegally, the key provision that incenses Republican opponents. It went down by a vote of 29 to 66.

“In my opinion and in the opinion of many Americans, this is amnesty pure and simple,” said Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the amendment’s sponsor. He argued that the immigration bill repeats the errors in the 1986 immigration reform “when we did amnesty but not enough enforcement…”

…Senators also defeated a measure that would have permitted law enforcement officers to question individuals about their immigration status if they had probable cause to believe that they might be in the U.S. illegally.

Mark Krikorian lists those who voted against Vitter’s amendment. Here are your Amnesty Now Republicans:

Republicans voting against it — i.e., specifically voting for immediate amnesty — were Bennett, Burr, Chambliss, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Domenici, Ensign, Graham, Gregg, Hagel, Hutchison, Isakson, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, Murkowski, Smith, Snowe, Specter, Stevens, Voinovich, and Warner.

Power Line calls out the Illegal Alien Sanctuary Republicans who voted against Sen. Norm Coleman’s amendment to punish outlaw cities and towns that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement:

Norm’s amendment was defeated 49-48 on the Senate floor today, even though several Democrats voted for it. These Republicans voted against the proposal:

Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Voinovich (R-OH)

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