Immigration plan fails key US Senate test vote

WASHINGTON, Apr 7 (Reuters) A compromise bipartisan plan to overhaul the nation's immigration law failed today on its first test vote in a sharply divided US Senate.

Just a day after leaders from both parties agreed to the plan and predicted it would be widely embraced, new bickering shelved the measure, amid complaints it would give amnesty to immigrants who illegally entered the country.

The Senate action complicates and could ultimately doom efforts to pass a comprehensive reform this election year.

REUTERS SHR RS2023