The U.S. Senate will begin voting on amendments to gun legislation on Wednesday, including the leading proposals for tighter restrictions spurred by the Connecticut school massacre in December.

The U.S. Senate will begin voting on amendments to gun legislation on Wednesday, including the leading proposals for tighter restrictions spurred by the Connecticut school massacre in December.

The Senate will begin voting Wednesday afternoon on nine proposed amendments to President Obama's gun control bill -- all of which will need at least 60 votes to be added to the overall legislation. That high bar seems certain to doom a high profile and bipartisan effort to expand background checks with even the architects of the amendment acknowledging Wednesday morning that the votes simply weren't there.

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As the Senate begins votes today on a package of gun control legislation, the National Rifle Association is flooding congressional offices with calls and emails and is launching a $500,000 internet ad buy to oppose legislation backed by President Obama, Democratic senators and a handful of Republicans.

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) conceded in an interview Wednesday that the gun control compromise he crafted with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) isn't going to pass in the Senate, but his office later backed off that assertion.

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The Senate will begin voting Wednesday on nine proposed changes to federal gun legislation, including efforts to expand background checks, ban assault weapons and increase funding for mental health programs.

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This afternoon, Senators Schumer and McCain briefed me on the bipartisan immigration reform bill that they have drafted with their colleagues in the Senate.  This bill is clearly a compromise, and no one will get everything they wanted, including me.  But it is largely consistent with the principles that I have repeatedly laid out for comprehensive reform.  This bill would continue to strengthen security at our borders and hold employers more accountable if they knowingly hire undocumented workers.  It would provide a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are already in this country illegally.  And it would modernize our legal immigration system so that we’re able to reunite families and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers who will help create good paying jobs and grow our economy.  These are all commonsense steps that the majority of Americans support.  I urge the Senate to quickly move this bill forward and, as I told Senators Schumer and McCain, I stand willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that comprehensive immigration reform becomes a reality as soon as possible. 

They have become some of the most visible advocates for changes to the immigration system: young adults who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Since the DREAM Act — a bill to provide a path to legalization for such young adults — died in the Senate in 2010, the immigration provision has increasingly become one of the most popular and least controversial pieces of possible change. Even Republicans who have not yet endorsed broader efforts, like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), have said they support the DREAM Act.

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A bipartisan plan to expand the national gun background check system still lacks the votes needed to proceed and pass the Senate, with several senators holding out Tuesday as they seek changes to the proposal.

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As the Senate opened debate on gun control measures for the first time in nearly 20 years, the path ahead for any gun control measure in the Republican-led House of Representatives is rocky and uncertain.