Too early

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The top Democrat in the US Senate on Monday bowed to growing political pressure and put off a vote on a contentious immigration overhaul until next month.

Amid a growing challenge to the bill, which would offer a path to citizenship for up to 12 million illegal immigrants, the Senate did vote by 69 to 23 votes to move to debate on the massive reform package.

But Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said the measure was too complicated to be put to a vote by the end of this week, as he had hoped, and would instead be taken up in early June after a short congressional recess.

The bill, agreed last week after marathon talks between a bipartisan group of senators and the White House, would also establish a merit-based points system for future immigrants and institute a low-wage temporary worker program.

But in a sign of its intense political sensitivity, several senators running for president including Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joseph Biden, and Republican John McCain, were not in the Senate for the vote.

The bill aims to defuse a fiercely polarizing issue in American life and to fast-track reform before partisan rancor consumes politics ahead of congressional and presidential elections in 2008.

But conservatives have complained the proposals represent a blanket "amnesty" for those who broke the law to enter America, and warn a proposed border security upgrade is insufficient.

Some Democrats have complained the legislation would hamper attempts by immigrants to bring extended families to the United States and fear the short-term worker program would create a new underclass.

Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the key figures in last week's talks, said the legislation would be a landmark in US history.

"Our immigration system is adrift and urgently needs an overhaul from top to bottom," Kennedy said.

"If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost."

Some Republican senators had earlier denounced the attempt to pass the bill quickly.

"Why are we in the midst of this rush to judgment?" said Republican Senator David Vitter.

"I believe there is a very simple political answer, and it is if the American people fully understood what was in this bill there would be a massive outcry against it."

Another Republican, Senator Jeff Sessions, complained the bill was being rushed through the Senate.

"There is no way that we could and should produce the bill after one week's debate. If this is so, the American people will know we have had a railroaded bill for sure."

Former Republican House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich Monday assailed the bill in a message to supporters, saying news of the deal should have had "the same effect that the word 'iceberg' had on the passengers and crew of the Titanic."

Bush, his popularity slumping over the war in Iraq, hopes the bill will earn him an enduring policy success towards the end of a second term that has been short on domestic legislative breakthroughs.

In Bush's first term, with Congress under Republican control, his immigration reforms succeeded in the Senate but were blocked by the House of Representatives ahead of last November's elections.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush said the reform will "restore respect for the law, and meet the legitimate needs of our economy."

If the measure passes the Senate, it would also have to endure a rocky reception in the House, before being sent to Bush for his signature.

If approved, the bill would fund building 200 miles (321 kilometers) of barriers and 370 miles (595 kilometers) of fencing, and the construction of 70 ground-based radar and camera towers on the Mexican border.

Those illegally in the country before January 1, 2007 would have to pay a 5,000 dollar fine to get a non-immigrant 'Z' visa which will allow them eventually to become eligible for a green card or permanent residency.

New rules would give more credit for earning a green card to applicants with English proficiency, advanced education, science, technology and mathematics skills, and other special expertise. In the past priority has gone to people with family members already in the United States legally.