With the June 7 failure of a procedural vote intended to bring the bill to a vote, the Senate's attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform went back behind the scenes, though the bill's backers in both parties vowed to bring it to the floor again.

After the failure of a second cloture vote to cut off debate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would take the bill off the floor to allow other legislation to move along, though he did so without closing the door to reviving its consideration.

By the June 9-10 weekend, Reid and Republican leaders were saying the bill was not dead and debate would reopen, possibly before the Independence Day recess that begins July 2.

Analysts on all sides have said that if immigration reform legislation is not passed before the end of 2007 it is unlikely to get a serious shot at passage again until after the 2008 general election.

Immigrant advocates including Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony were quick to take the Senate to task for not moving the bill forward.

"Congress must not abdicate its responsibility now," said a statement from Father Snyder. "It is crucial that members of the Senate work out their differences."

Cardinal Mahony's statement said the country has "a moral obligation to create an immigration system built upon the American principles of fairness, opportunity and compassion. We need a system that unites families, ends the exploitation and abuse of workers, and provides a legislation process for millions of immigrants who are among us already.

"Achieving comprehensive immigration reform is hard work, but our senators should not be deterred by the difficulty of this enterprise," he said. "Achieving comprehensive reform this year will have great impact on the continued moral and economic health of our country for years to come."

Reid said he would bring the bill back to the floor as soon as enough Republicans were on board with the goal of bringing the measure to a vote.

Some supporters of the bill accused President George W. Bush of failing to exert enough pressure on Senate Republicans to pass the bill. The legislation itself was the product of months of behind-the-scenes negotiations by the White House, Democratic and Republican senators.

In a strategy urged by the White House, that bill-shaping process was followed instead of the normal system of publicly crafting a bill in committees. It was intended to satisfy enough members of both parties to head off exactly the kind of procedural machinations that occurred in the second week of debate on the bill.

While many supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA, said the massive piece of legislation was flawed, most members of a vast alliance of faith groups, unions, civil rights groups and business organizations were urging that the bill be passed as a starting point to fixing a broken immigration system.

In a series of press conferences June 8, representatives of many of the organizations working for a broad approach to immigration reform said they believe Reid is sincere about bringing the bill to a vote and that backroom efforts could yield a viable plan for allowing more debate and a limited number of amendments.

Such an effort might satisfy enough of the senators who voted to keep debate open, effectively blocking a final vote that Reid had hoped to hold June 8, said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which represents a broad range of interest groups.

Sharry said he was much more optimistic on June 8 about the possibility of a bill passing than he was just the night before as the cloture vote failed.

The White House said Bush would use some of his time during a previously scheduled visit to the Capitol June 12 to try to persuade more Republicans to back the bill.

Meanwhile, House leaders have said they would bring their version of immigration reform to the floor before Congress recesses in August.

In some parts of the country, Catholics used June 10 observances of the feast of Corpus Christi to pray for struggling immigrants. Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Oscar A. Solis led a procession to the El Pueblo National Monument for a blessing for participants in a Dreams Across America rail tour to Washington.

"The exclusion that immigrants suffer wounds the body of Christ," Bishop Solis said at a Mass at Our Lady Queen of the Angels Church, where the procession began.

In Denver, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput urged lawmakers to press forward. "I repeat my constant appeal: We can no longer wait to address this pressing humanitarian issue," he said. "Delaying would lead to more enforcement raids, confusion and resentment."

He asked the public to press their senators "to not give up on the path started." He asked the public to ask senators to not give up and to pursue a "true, comprehensive immigration reform now."

The Dreams Across America rail tour is actually a series of four tours intended to highlight immigrants' stories and dreams at stops across the country before concluding with visits to members of Congress. The Los Angeles train was to leave June 13, followed by groups departing later in June from Miami, Boston and Richmond, Va.

---CNS