Ayotte announces critical GOP support for Senate immigration bill 
 
 (CBS News) Sen. Kelly Ayotte will support the comprehensive immigration reform bill expected on the Senate floor this week, the New Hampshire Republican announced Sunday on "Face the Nation," heaving the legislation past the 60-vote threshold that shields it from a GOP filibuster. 
 
 "I've looked at this very carefully," Ayotte said. "Our immigration system is completely broken; we've got 11 million people living in this country illegally and in the shadows. We have a legal immigration system that isn't meeting our needs to grow the economy. And so I looked at this carefully, this is a thoughtful bipartisan solution to a tough problem and so that's why I'm going to support it." 
 
 Ayotte called the bill's most controversial tenet - a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants - a "tough but fair way for them to earn citizenship: Go to the back of the line, pay taxes, pass a criminal background check, learn English." 
 
 With Democrats and independents adding up to 54 likely "yea" votes, six is the magic number of Republicans needed to get the bill through the Senate. Expected to join Ayotte on the right are the four GOP members of the "gang of eight" senators who crafted the legislation - Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. - and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who voted the bill out of the Judiciary Committee last week. 
 
 The "gang" has said it hopes to collect as many as 70 votes in the Senate before moving the bill over to the House, and President Obama on Saturday said in his weekly address that there's "no reason" lawmakers can't get an immigration bill on his desk by "the end of the summer." 
 
 Even with Ayotte's backing, though, the legislation's path forward remains uphill: Rubio - who as recently as Friday said 60 votes weren't there yet - has warned that the floor debate must churn out increased border security provisions if it hopes to pass muster among conservatives in both the Senate and the House. And though Hatch made a deal to pass the bill through committee, he hasn't committed to voting it into law. 
 
 Procedural votes to begin a weeks-long debate on the bill are scheduled on the Senate floor Tuesday, the same day Mr. Obama is slated to deliver immigration remarks. On the House side, members of the chamber's "group of 8" working on their own version of immigration reform emerged from a closed-door meeting with select senators Wednesday saying they have "found a way forward" on a comprehensive bill. 

 Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) announced Sunday she will vote for the bipartisan immigration reform bill, a crucial development for the legislation's supporters. 
 
 Ayotte said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that the Gang of Eight bill fixes the problems in the nation's border security and legal immigration systems. She is the first Republican not on the Gang of Eight, which drafted the legislation, to say she will vote for the bill. That brings supporters closer to building a filibuster-proof majority of 60 votes. 
 
 "I looked at this carefully, this is a thoughtful bipartisan solution to a tough problem and so that's why I'm going to support it," she said. 
 
 See Also: 6 Republicans Who Could Vote for Reform 
 
 In an op-ed explaining her support, Ayotte called the path to citizenship -- the most critical element of the bill for Democrats -- "a tough but fair means for those who are here illegally to earn citizenship." 
 
 Ayotte's vote brings the number of Republican senators officially supporting the bill up to five. GOP Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) all helped write the bill as members of the Gang of Eight. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted for the bill on the Judiciary Committee, but has said more changes are needed to win his support. 
 
 If all six of the aforementioned GOP senators and all 54 members of the Democratic caucus support the bill, that would give supporters a critical 60-vote majority. But not all Democrats are on board with the legislation, meaning that backers of the bill must continue to hunt for votes. 
 
 The first procedural votes on the legislation in the Senate are scheduled to occur on Tuesday.
– Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte has announced her support for the Senate immigration reform bill, bringing the measure one vote closer to the 60-vote majority needed to avoid a filibuster. "Our immigration system is completely broken; we've got 11 million people living in this country illegally and in the shadows. We have a legal immigration system that isn't meeting our needs to grow the economy," Ayotte told Face the Nation, as per CBS. "And so I looked at this carefully, this is a thoughtful bipartisan solution to a tough problem and so that's why I'm going to support it." With her support, Ayotte joins the four GOP senators who helped write the bill. Republican Orrin Hatch voted for the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but says he will only support it again if more amendments are made, reports the Washington Post. If Hatch gets on board, and all 54 members of the Democratic caucus support the measure, it will hit the magic 60. But that's a big "if"—so far, not every Democrat supports the bill, reports ABC News.