WASHINGTON, June 15: US President George W. Bush on Friday urged Congress to pass a bill this year granting a path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants, after Senate deal-makers gave the measure a second life.

“It's time for our elected leaders in Congress to act,” Bush said at the annual National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast.

“Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse. I will continue to work closely with members of both parties, to get past our differences, and pass a bill I can sign this year,” he said.

An agreement to revive the landmark bill emerged from hours of behind-closed-doors talks among a fragile coalition of Republican and Democratic senators trying to push it through Congress.

Democratic leaders pulled the bill from the Senate floor last week after conservative opponents prevented movement towards a final vote.

Despite its second chance, the package, which also includes border security upgrades and a complete overhaul of immigration requirements, still faces an uphill journey through Congress.

The breakthrough on Thursday came hours after Bush backed a 4.4-billion-dollar burst of immediate spending to secure US borders, in answer to critics of the bill who said its security component was inadequate.

Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said on Friday he would add the cash boost to the bill, and warned Republicans they would have to work through next weekend if they tried to stall the measure again.

Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell late Thursday announced the bill would be brought back to the floor, possibly by late next week, in a terse one paragraph statement.

“We met this evening with several of the senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, the immigration bill will return to the Senate floor after completion of the energy bill.”Neither predicted the deal, which sources said revolved around a group of amendments both sides could raise for debate, would pass the Senate. Supporters of the bill must piece together a super majority of 60 votes in the 100-member Senate in order to trump any blocking tactics by its sworn critics.

Top Democrats in the House of Representatives have already warned that Bush must cajole up to 70 Republicans to back the deal, as it is likely to be spurned by Democratic lawmakers with conservative districts.

Bush appealed for supporters of the overhaul to lobby lawmakers reluctant to approve the plan, which he hopes to turn into a major domestic policy victory in his final two years in office.

“There's a lot of emotion on this issue, and it makes sense to have people from around the country come and sit down with members of Congress to talk rationally about the issue,” said the president.

The bill, dubbed a “grand bargain,” grants a path to legal status to illegal immigrants, strengthens border enforcement and initiates a low wage guest worker programme.—AFP