By Dan Nowicki | The Arizona Republic
Bipartisan immigration reform talks in the Senate have hit another late snag, this time a dispute over agricultural workers’ wages, complicating the efforts of a bipartisan group of senators to meet its informal deadline to introduce legislation next week.
The staffs of the group of four Republican senators — including Arizona’s Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake — and four Democratic senators have been drafting the bill over the past two weeks while Congress was on its Easter break, with the goal of unveiling the eagerly anticipated immigration-system overhaul when the lawmakers return to Capitol Hill.
The senators, known as the Gang of Eight, also have continued to hammer out key sticking points in ongoing telephone negotiations.
Translating the wide-ranging negotiations, which began shortly after last year’s election, into written form would be a Herculean task under any circumstances, but the pressure is on because of worries there won’t be enough time to debate and pass such landmark legislation before the House and Senate are paralyzed by midterm-election politics.
Also: White House is asked for proof of better border security
