Facing GOP objections, Democrats put aside the so-called Dream Act and said they'd try again to advance it before year's end. They're short of the 60 votes needed to do so, however, and critics in both parties quickly said they won't change their minds in the waning days of the Democratic-controlled Congress.
"This is mainly a political exercise rather than a serious attempt to deal with our broken immigration system," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, one of several Democrats who have broken with their leaders to oppose the bill, said he too would block efforts to consider it.
The bill grants hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children a chance to gain legal status if they enroll in college or join the military.
The House passed it Wednesday night after Democratic leaders painstakingly lined up the votes to push it through. Just eight Republicans joined Democrats to support it while almost 40 Democrats defected to vote "no."
In the Senate, Democrats had virtually no chance of attracting any GOP support to move the legislation since all 42 Republicans have signed a letter pledging to block action on any issue until bills to extend expiring tax cuts and fund the government were completed.
The White House said the Senate's postponement was "the right way to move forward" to get bipartisan support for the bill. In a statement, press secretary Robert Gibbs called the measure "the right thing to do for our nation, our economy and our security."
There's no indication, though, that Democrats will be able to gather the 60 votes needed for quick action on an issue as emotional and complicated as immigration.
"We have to demonstrate that we are serious about fixing our broken immigration system, we have to secure the border, we have to enforce our laws, and then I think the natural compassion of the American people will kick in, and they'll let us deal with these sympathetic situations like these kids who are not culpable, but were brought here by their parents and find themselves at a dead end," Cornyn said.
The measure is viewed by Hispanic activists and immigrant advocates as a down payment on what they had hoped would be broader action by President Barack Obama and Congress to give the nation's 10 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants a chance to gain legal status.
It targets the most sympathetic of the millions of undocumented people -- those brought to the United States as children, who in many cases consider themselves American, speak English and have no ties to or family living in their native countries.
