After weeks of partisan back-and-forth and competing proposals that sparked mass demonstrations across the country, the Senate will head into its upcoming two-week recess without reaching a compromise on immigration legislation.

A painstakingly crafted compromise bill that supporters claimed would win an overwhelming majority received only 38 of the 60 votes needed to protect it from being watered down with amendments by opponents in a test vote Friday morning (April 7), according to The Associated Press. The derailment of the deal came after Democrats, who insisted that the bill have no amendments, lost six votes.

"An immigration system that forces people into the shadows of our society or leaves them prey to criminals is a system that needs to be changed," President Bush said at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Friday morning, urging senators to push the legislation through. "I'm confident that we can change our immigration system in ways that secures our border, respects the rule of law, and, as importantly, upholds the decency of our country."

The legislation was crafted to both boost border security and offer some hope of a future legal status to the more than to the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the country. The proposal splits illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. into three categories: Those who've been here more than five years could work for six years and apply for legal permanent residency without having to leave the country. People who've been here two to five years would have to go to border entry points in the next three years, but could immediately return as temporary workers. And those with less than two years in the U.S. would have to leave and wait in line for visas to return, according to the AP.

The bill also provides a new program for 1.5 million temporary agriculture-industry workers over five years, with provisions requiring employers to verify they've hired legal workers. It additionally calls for a "virtual" fence of surveillance cameras, sensors and other technology to monitor the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border. A proposal from the House passed in December called for the building of a border fence hundreds of miles long and provisions that would make it a felony for aid groups to help illegal immigrants.

Renewed rancor among senators who oppose what they claim is the draft bill's granting of amnesty to immigrants who illegally entered the country contributed to the failed vote, which, inevitably, led to yet more partisan finger-pointing as immigration reform has blossomed into a hot-button election-year issue for legislators.

"It's not gone forward because there's a political advantage for Democrats not to have an immigration bill," said Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, according to AP. Specter speculated that Democrats perceive a benefit in only having the Republican-written House bill criminalizing illegal immigrants on the table. It was that bill that sparked the massive protests last month, which included a march by 500,000 people in Los Angeles, as well as smaller student walkouts across the nation (see "The Immigration Debate: Behind The Protests").

Democrats, in turn, blamed Republicans for insisting on amendments that would weaken the compromise that Senate leaders in both parties had hailed late Thursday, but which quickly fell apart in the early morning hours.

"This opportunity is slipping through our hands like grains of sand," assistant Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin said.