Members of the Gang of Eight
Credit: Politico

For those that are following the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill, here’s a quick synopsis of what is likely to happen during this next week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled a vote to end debate (also known as a “cloture” vote) on the proposed border-security amendment. 60 ‘aye’ votes are needed to invoke cloture and limit debate to 30 hours. As of Saturday, it’s not clear whether or not the bill will gather enough votes. Those who normally come out and proclaim that they have the ’ayes’ — or that they don’t — have been silent, either because they haven’t counted votes yet or for some other reason.

Following the cloture vote, the Senate still has some 372 amendments to the bill filed. It’s highly unlikely that they will consider all of them, given Reid’s usual practice of only bringing certain amendments to the floor for consideration. However, at least a handful of those amendments will be brought forward, debated, and voted on. Reid hopes to get all of that out of the way by Thursday, allowing the Senate to vote on the bill as a whole before they adjourn for the 4th of July recess on Monday the 1st.

All in all, it looks like a very busy week both for politicians and those of us who watch and report on them.