The immigration bill taken up this week by the Senate judiciary committee, says Jeff Sessions, one of its members, is like a "mackerel in the sunshine-the longer it's out there, the worse it smells". To lengthen its spell in the sun, he and other opponents are freighting it with amendments. Meanwhile the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, has released a report claiming that provisions giving America's 11m-odd illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens would cost America $6.3 trillion over the next 50 years. So far, the bi- partisan alliance behind the bill appears to be holding. But the debate is revealing how delicate that coalition is, and how long and hard a fight it faces.
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