Again, from The New York Times:

Employers, who helped shape a major immigration bill over the last three months, said on Sunday that they were unhappy with the result because it would not cure the severe labor shortages they foresee in the coming decade.

In addition, employers expressed alarm as they learned that the Senate bill would require them to check a government database to verify that all current and former employees - aliens and citizens alike - were eligible to work in the United States.

The Senate begins debating the bill on Monday. Supporters, including the white house, had hoped that senators would finish work on it this week, before the Memorial Day recess. But leading members of Congress said Sunday that the bill would take more time and could face significant hurdles.

Hoped that senators would finish working on it this week??? I don't understand what people think. How can you expect senators to agree in such complicated, vital, controversial and sensitive matter within a week?

As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, this bill will take way more than a week to get passed, and it sure will face significant hurdles.

The bill is already being criticized, as expected. Employers are upset because of the proposed "merit-based system". Some of them fear the system will fill the market with unneeded high-skill workers. Others predict "significant labor shortages in key occupations", both for high and low-skill workers.

There's also the problem of the employee verification system. Susan R. Meisinger, president of the Society for Human Resource Management, which represents 215,000 executives, said:

"The Senate proposal would require employers to reverify the identity and employment eligibility of 145 million Americans who are currently employed. That's unworkable. The burden on government and the private sector could cause the system to crash."

Such a verification system has already been tested. Guess what? "Federal investigators found a significant error rate because information in the database is sometimes inaccurate or outdated." Significant hurdles, ha?

Not to mention all the differences between Republicans and Democrats, of course.

And the White House had hoped that senators would finish working on it this week, before the Memorial Day recess. They can't be serious.