Over lunch Tuesday in the Capitol, Bush planned an effort to change enough minds among GOP senators to salvage one of his top domestic priorities. The measure, which legalizes up to 12 million unlawful immigrants and tightens border security, stalled last week in the face of broad Republican opposition.

Bush "will talk about the fact that immigration reform is too important to let this opportunity pass, and this is the best opportunity that we have had in decades to reform the broken immigration system," said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman.