US: US legislators predict a summer of tough negotiations between the Senate and the House of Representatives after senators voted 62-36 for a sweeping immigration reform.
A conference of senators and congressmen will seek to merge the Senate bill, which would allow most of America's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to gain legal status, with a tough border enforcement bill passed by the House last year. "I don't underestimate the difficulty of getting an agreement. Having said that, we need an agreement," said House majority leader John Boehner.
House Republicans show no sign of compromising on a key provision of the Senate bill, which would allow most illegal immigrants to embark on a path to earned citizenship.
Texas Republican Lamar Smith, a member of the House judiciary committee, suggested that it would be better to have no legislation than to introduce the Senate bill.
"It's hard to justify legislation that would reward millions of law-breakers, attract more illegal immigrants and depress American workers' wages. The Senate bill may be good for other countries and foreign workers, but it's not good for America and American workers," he said.
The first challenge for advocates of comprehensive immigration reform is to persuade the House to nominate representatives to the negotiating conference and to agree to start work on a compromise soon.
Senate judiciary committee chairman Arlen Specter said that President George W Bush could play a crucial role in encouraging House Republicans to negotiate.
"Now the time has come for very active participation by the president. The American people are watching to see if Congress can govern, and I believe the president will put a very heavy shoulder to the wheel," he said.
The Senate vote was the product of an unusual alliance between Republicans and Democrats, led by John McCain and Edward Kennedy, which steered the bill through procedural difficulties and partisan squabbles.
"A band of brothers, Republican and Democratic alike, who saw the importance of passage of this legislation, saw that America needed to relight the golden lamp, and that is what the United States Senate has done today," Mr Kennedy said.