California's senior senator called for an amendment to the immigration bill now moving through the Senate that would allow undocumented workers the chance to earn a green card after a years-long wait.

Speaking on television Sunday, Dianne Feinstein called her "earned legalization program" a comprehensive, realistic program to clean up problems with visa programs and increase border security.

The Hegel-Martinez bill now before the Senate is not workable, Feinstein said, because it would require 4.8 million of the foreign workers in the country to return home before applying for citizenship.

The Senate rejected a California Democrat's plan to allow the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country to remain, work and eventually become Americans, preserving a fragile bipartisan coalition needed to pass the bill.

Several lawmakers who voted against the proposal offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday said they did so reluctantly, but out of necessity to ensure survival of the broader immigration bill. The legislation is expected to win Senate passage Wednesday or Thursday.