original bill included the felony provision, which is what Dems voted on; (and why isn't this stuff easier to find?)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101643.htmlsnip//
The bill, written by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), was passed in a matter of hours, nine days before Christmas. Just seven amendments were allowed to come to a vote, none of them fundamentally altering the legislation.
Sensenbrenner's committee bill included the felony provision, but when he took it to the House floor Dec. 16, he offered an amendment to downgrade the offense of being an undocumented worker from a felony to a misdemeanor.
The Democratic leadership pushed its members to vote against the amendment, and 191 Democrats did. Only eight Democrats voted with Sensenbrenner.
"It was an ugly bill in most respects, the felony stuff, the wall and no amendments," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who tried to add a guest-worker provision but was not allowed a vote. "The leadership saw this more as a statement than a policy, but I think in the end we would have been better off had we been more deliberative."
snip//