IMMIGRATION BILL DIES IN SENATE

Bad news today for California winegrape growers. President Bush’s immigration bill died yesterday in the Senate on a procedural vote. Only 45 of the necessary two-thirds of the senators voted to proceed, and 50 were opposed. The stalemate ends, at least for now, months of bipartisan negotiations between the White House and a key group of senators.

The legislation would have legalized the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in the country, created a large new guest-worker program, with separate provisions for farmworkers, toughened enforcement at the border and imposed a new verification system on all U.S. employers and workers.