May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Arlen Specter said the threat of a ``very substantial'' no-confidence vote in the Senate may force Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign before lawmakers cast their ballots.

Specter, 77, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said more Republicans may join the majority Democrats in favor of a resolution expressing a lack of confidence in Gonzales over the way he handled the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

``You already have six Republicans calling for his resignation,'' Specter, of Pennsylvania, said on CBS's ``Face the Nation'' program. ``I have a sense,'' he said, ``that before the vote is taken, that Attorney General Gonzales may step down.''

Democratic Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California said the full Senate may vote on their resolution as soon as this week. While a largely symbolic gesture, such a measure would add to the political pressure on Gonzales, 51, a longtime adviser to President George W. Bush who the president appointed as attorney general in 2005.

``The bottom line is the only person who thinks that the attorney general should remain attorney general is the president,'' Schumer, 56, said today on ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``The president can keep him. He has the constitutional power to do it. But we have the constitutional power to try to pressure the president to understand that Gonzales is no good.''

Investigations

The Senate and House Judiciary committees are trying to determine whether Gonzales fired the U.S. attorneys to interfere with criminal investigations. Lawmakers expanded their probe after testimony last week by a former top Justice Department official who said Gonzales, when he was White House counsel, pressured a hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to approve a secret spying program in 2004.

Specter last week called the Justice Department ``close to being dysfunctional,'' and said that Gonzales seems ``unable to perform'' his duties as the U.S.'s chief law enforcement officer. He told CBS News today that any decision to resign would be a ``personal one'' for Gonzales and Bush.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said on the Fox program that Congress is playing ``gotcha games,'' and that there is no evidence Gonzales did anything illegal.

Administration Reaction

Bush administration spokesman Tony Fratto dismissed the effort by Democrats to push for a no-confidence vote.

``I think the attorney general is not affected by it,'' spokesman Tony Fratto said today at a briefing on Crawford, Texas, where Bush is spending the weekend. ``Maybe senators need a refresher course on American civics,'' he said. ``You find no- confidence votes in parliamentary system, not the American system of government.''

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader in the chamber, suggested today that he may try to counter any move by Democrats for such a vote.

``We won't have a no-confidence resolution in the Senate unless there are other resolutions,'' he said on ABC's ``This Week'' program. ``In the Senate, nobody gets a clear shot.''

Immigration

Congress this week also will take up a proposal for overhauling the nation's immigration laws.

Senate negotiators on May 17 reached bipartisan agreement on immigration legislation aimed at creating a guest worker program, providing a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented aliens and tightening U.S. border security. The proposal has the backing of the president, who was thwarted on his immigration initiative last year by fellow Republicans in the House.

While the Senate plan has backing from members of both parties, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed skepticism about elements of the proposal. Some Republicans continue to oppose giving undocumented workers a chance to gain citizenship, saying that amounts to amnesty for illegal acts.

``No one is for amnesty, and there's nothing in this bill that is about amnesty,'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 67, said on the ABC program. The path to citizenship ``is a very strenuous one'' under the agreement.

Starting Point

Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the Senate measure is a good starting point that may need to be improved through amendments. The House intends to complete work on its own bill before recessing in August, Pelosi said.

Senator McConnell said on the same program that the current proposal ``is a lot better than what passed the Senate last year.'' McConnell, 65, said debate might take two weeks or more and the legislation may be modified before a final version is sent to Bush.

``If someone has a better solution that's realistic, they should come forward with it,'' Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, 53, said about the immigration debate on Cable News Network's ``Late Edition'' program. ``But if all people want to do is complain and say, well, this isn't good enough, that's the Goldilocks solution, where it's always too hot or too cold.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Richter in Washington at Jrichter1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 20, 2007 15:58 EDT