The contentious debate last month on a failed immigration overhaul plan was key to the Senate's approval of $3 billion that will tighten security along the nation's borders, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday.

The money will be used to hire border patrol agents, build fences in urban areas and erect observation towers, Graham said.

"I think we're going to find more success that could not have been achieved without the prior debate," Graham said. "I took some political heat for being involved in that process, but here's where the political payoff is."

...Graham will continue to push for votes on other pieces of the overhaul including:

- A tougher visa law that cracks down on people who stay in the U.S. illegally.

- A system keeping illegal immigrants from getting jobs and allowing more legal immigration for highly skilled and unskilled labor.

- Some means of addressing the estimated 12 million people now in the nation illegally...