The Senate will this week begin considering the $82 billion supplemental appropriations bill and is likely to leave in legislative limbo controversial immigration-enforcement provisions attached to the House version.

The REAL ID bill, authored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., would require state motor vehicle departments to verify an applicant's identity and legal right to be in the country before issuing a driver's license.

States would not be forced to comply, but if they did not within three years their drivers' licenses would cease to be federally recognized for identity purposes and could not be used to board planes or access federal buildings.

Supporters say the bill is essential to make it harder for would-be terrorists to get federally recognized identity documents. Critics says that with up to 12 million undocumented workers in the country the public-safety cost of denying them drivers' licenses -- and therefore the driving tests and car insurance, too -- is not worth the benefits.

The REAL ID bill was attached last month to the House version of the supplemental appropriation, which allocates money for the U.S. military in Iraq, the war on terrorism and tsunami relief.

But a Senate Appropriations Committee staffer told United Press International that the provisions will not appear in the Senate version of the supplemental, which will be marked up by the committee Wednesday.

"The chairman doesn't see it as the role of appropriators to do this kind of legislation," said the staffer.

Normally, Congress does not attach substantive legislative provisions like the REAL ID measure to appropriations bills, which just deal with getting the government the money it needs.

But the House GOP leadership promised Sensenbrenner that he could attach his bill to the first must-pass legislation of the new Congress after he and allies threatened to block last year's intelligence-reform proposal.

Amy Call, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told UPI that even though the provisions would not be in the bill when it comes out of committee, "The issue could go up on the Senate floor" next week, when the supplemental will be debated by the whole chamber.

But Senate leaders fret that allowing such an amendment would open the floodgates for immigration-related amendments that might bog the supplemental down.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, indicated last week that he would introduce his AgJOBS bill as an amendment to the supplemental if the REAL ID legislation was put forward. His bill would provide a one-time amnesty for agricultural workers here illegally and reform the system for admitting them in future, and has attracted criticism from those who say that amnesties only encourage illegal immigration.

At least a half-dozen other immigration-reform bills have either been proposed or are being drafted, including one giving shape to President Bush's guest-worker plan.

"Once you open the door like that, there are a number of different bills out there that could be introduced (as amendments)," said Don Stewart, communications director for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee.

Stewart said that the subcommittee had only just begun holding hearings on immigration reform. "You'd basically start a debate on the whole immigration issue, which frankly the Senate isn't ready for yet," he said.

Indeed, even supporters of the REAL ID bill in the Senate say they have no plans to introduce it as an amendment next week.

A spokesman for Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said he was working on a Senate version of REAL ID but planned to introduce it as a standalone measure and not an amendment to the supplemental.

"We anticipate dropping the bill this week," said Scot Montrey.

Senate staff say political realities also mitigate against any effort to amend the supplemental.

"What you've got to remember is that this is a war supplemental," said one. "It's not a good piece of legislation to bog down with unrelated issues."

Staff say the "soft deadline" for the Senate to finish work on the bill is the end of April.

Call said that Frist would "do what's needed" to make sure the appropriations bill passed "in a timely enough fashion so that the money gets where it needs to go by the time it needs to be there."

She wouldn't comment on whether that might include passing it without any immigration-related provisions.

"Discussions are ongoing about how to proceed," she said. "We hope to be able to reach a compromise between members on this issue."

But even if senators can reach agreement, they still have to reconcile their version of the supplemental with the House bill.

Another Senate staffer predicted that the House would "pitch a fit" if the Senate sent them a version that didn't include the REAL ID provisions. "There are real concerns about they'd react," the staffer told UPI, adding that they would "pitch an even bigger fit" if the bill came back with an immigration-amnesty provision like AgJOBS attached.

Other staff were more sanguine about the prospects for reconciling the two versions of the supplemental. "That's what the conference is for," said one, referring to the House-Senate meeting where the differences are hammered out.

If the conference leaves the House-authored REAL ID provisions intact, opponents of the bill in both chambers would have to vote against the supplemental -- with its war and tsunami-relief funds -- to oppose it.

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