Immigration Reform Will Pass Congress In 2014?
Both comedian Bill Maher and Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner mocked Republican obstructionism last week, especially on comprehensive immigration reform which may still have a chance...
By: LiberalViewer
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Immigration Reform Will Pass Congress In 2014? - Video
Immigration reform still has a pulse
If you're a glass-half-full supporter of immigration reform, you've seen a few developments over the past week suggesting that maybe -- just maybe -- there's still a chance to pass some sort reform this year. At an event in his congressional district in Ohio last week, House Speaker John Boehner mocked his GOP colleagues for being afraid on immigration reform. "Here's the attitude. Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard," he said, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. That remark led some observers to speculate that either Boehner still wants to get immigration reform done, or that he has no intention of remaining speaker (or in Congress) after this year. Next, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, last week expressed hope for an immigration bill by August. And then yesterday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who helped write the Gang of Eight legislation that passed the Senate last year, optimistically declared yesterday that immigration reform is going to pass by June or July. "I believe, hopefully June or July, we will have an immigration bill it may not be exactly the Senate bill on the floor of the House. They will pass it. We will come to an agreement. They will put that bill on the president's desk for President Obama to sign into law," Schumer said, per the New York Daily News. "The Republican Party knows if it continues to be seen as anti-immigrant, they're going to lose election after election.
Glass half full vs. glass half empty
But if you're a glass-half-empty person, you also realize that immigration reform's prospects in the House aren't better than they were last month, or the month before that, or the month before that. For starters, more than 60% of House GOP members represent congressional districts where Latinos make up less than 10% of the population (so there is more of an incentive to oppose reform than champion it). Second, were already knee-deep in an election season, and the GOP sees the issue as something that divides the party rather than unites it. And third, Republicans dont trust President Obama to implement the border-enforcement mechanisms (even if the law is written where implementation wouldn't occur until AFTER his presidency). The common thread here: The resistance to passing immigration reform is coming exclusively from Republicans. And immigration-reform advocates say theres a solution for GOPers who say they want to pass something: put up or shut up. Theres a simple way House Republicans can prove that they are serious about delivering on immigration in the interim. The first step is to actually introduce the legislation they are touting and to actually hold votes on reform bills, says Frank Sharry of the pro-reform group Americas Voice.
The deportation wildcard
Yet theres one wildcard in this immigration debate: the possibility that President Obama -- under pressure from supporters -- uses executive action to scale back the deportations coming from his administration. That was something the president said he was weighing during hisnews conference two weeks ago. The only way to truly fix [the immigration system] is through congressional action. We have already tried to take as many administrative steps as we could. Were going to review it one more time to see if theres more that we can do to make it more consistent with common sense and more consistent with I think the attitudes of the American people, which is we shouldnt be in the business necessarily of tearing families apart who otherwise are law-abiding. Republicans have said that such a move would eliminate the possibility of Obama getting anything done on immigration in his last two years in office (read: theyre dangling the possibility that come 2015, with perhaps a GOP majority in the Senate, they would be willing to play ball). But Democrats counter that come 2015, the GOP will be in the midst of presidential primary season, and the candidates would have every incentive to blast any bill as amnesty. According to these Democrats, if a bill doesnt get done this year, its not happening until 2017 -- or beyond.
WaPo/ABC poll has Obamas approval at 41%
A new Washington Post/ABC poll presents some unwelcome news for the Obama White House after some relatively favorable press over the last few weeks: The presidents job approval is at 41% (down from 46% back in March), and opinions about the health-care law have gotten more negative (44% support it, 48% oppose it, which is a decline from Marchs 49% support, 48% oppose). So thats a plug to announce that our new NBC/WSJ poll is coming out first thingtomorrow morning. Will it show something similar? Or something different? And what is the publics appetite for another Bush or Clinton presidency? Tune in tomorrow for the results.
It all comes down to turnout
In case you missed it over the weekend, be sure to read Sasha Issenbergs piece in the New Republic breaking down the Democrats true disadvantage this midterm season: turnout. Today the Republican coalition is stacked with the electorates most habitual poll-goersor Reflex voters, as we will call them. The Democratic Party claims the lions share of drop-off voters, or Unreliables. Yet Issenberg notes how Democrats are trying to address their disadvantage. The strategists engineering the partys campaigns now have at their disposal databases containing the names of every Unreliable voter in the country, as well as guidance on where, how, and when they can be reached... Volunteers who live near those passive sympathizers can be dispatched; when in-person contact is unfeasible, carefully crafted letters can be sent instead. But all of these increasingly powerful tools also require money and manpower. This is why its not intensity scores on polls but rather the bustle of field offices and the sums on fund-raising reports that are the best guide to the Democrats midterm prospects.
Here is the original post:
Immigration Reform Still Has a Pulse
Immigration reform still has a pulse
If you're a glass-half-full supporter of immigration reform, you've seen a few developments over the past week suggesting that maybe -- just maybe -- there's still a chance to pass some sort reform this year. At an event in his congressional district in Ohio last week, House Speaker John Boehner mocked his GOP colleagues for being afraid on immigration reform. "Here's the attitude. Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard," he said, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. That remark led some observers to speculate that either Boehner still wants to get immigration reform done, or that he has no intention of remaining speaker (or in Congress) after this year. Next, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, last week expressed hope for an immigration bill by August. And then yesterday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who helped write the Gang of Eight legislation that passed the Senate last year, optimistically declared yesterday that immigration reform is going to pass by June or July. "I believe, hopefully June or July, we will have an immigration bill it may not be exactly the Senate bill on the floor of the House. They will pass it. We will come to an agreement. They will put that bill on the president's desk for President Obama to sign into law," Schumer said, per the New York Daily News. "The Republican Party knows if it continues to be seen as anti-immigrant, they're going to lose election after election.
Glass half full vs. glass half empty
But if you're a glass-half-empty person, you also realize that immigration reform's prospects in the House aren't better than they were last month, or the month before that, or the month before that. For starters, more than 60% of House GOP members represent congressional districts where Latinos make up less than 10% of the population (so there is more of an incentive to oppose reform than champion it). Second, were already knee-deep in an election season, and the GOP sees the issue as something that divides the party rather than unites it. And third, Republicans dont trust President Obama to implement the border-enforcement mechanisms (even if the law is written where implementation wouldn't occur until AFTER his presidency). The common thread here: The resistance to passing immigration reform is coming exclusively from Republicans. And immigration-reform advocates say theres a solution for GOPers who say they want to pass something: put up or shut up. Theres a simple way House Republicans can prove that they are serious about delivering on immigration in the interim. The first step is to actually introduce the legislation they are touting and to actually hold votes on reform bills, says Frank Sharry of the pro-reform group Americas Voice.
The deportation wildcard
Yet theres one wildcard in this immigration debate: the possibility that President Obama -- under pressure from supporters -- uses executive action to scale back the deportations coming from his administration. That was something the president said he was weighing during hisnews conference two weeks ago. The only way to truly fix [the immigration system] is through congressional action. We have already tried to take as many administrative steps as we could. Were going to review it one more time to see if theres more that we can do to make it more consistent with common sense and more consistent with I think the attitudes of the American people, which is we shouldnt be in the business necessarily of tearing families apart who otherwise are law-abiding. Republicans have said that such a move would eliminate the possibility of Obama getting anything done on immigration in his last two years in office (read: theyre dangling the possibility that come 2015, with perhaps a GOP majority in the Senate, they would be willing to play ball). But Democrats counter that come 2015, the GOP will be in the midst of presidential primary season, and the candidates would have every incentive to blast any bill as amnesty. According to these Democrats, if a bill doesnt get done this year, its not happening until 2017 -- or beyond.
WaPo/ABC poll has Obamas approval at 41%
A new Washington Post/ABC poll presents some unwelcome news for the Obama White House after some relatively favorable press over the last few weeks: The presidents job approval is at 41% (down from 46% back in March), and opinions about the health-care law have gotten more negative (44% support it, 48% oppose it, which is a decline from Marchs 49% support, 48% oppose). So thats a plug to announce that our new NBC/WSJ poll is coming out first thingtomorrow morning. Will it show something similar? Or something different? And what is the publics appetite for another Bush or Clinton presidency? Tune in tomorrow for the results.
It all comes down to turnout
In case you missed it over the weekend, be sure to read Sasha Issenbergs piece in the New Republic breaking down the Democrats true disadvantage this midterm season: turnout. Today the Republican coalition is stacked with the electorates most habitual poll-goersor Reflex voters, as we will call them. The Democratic Party claims the lions share of drop-off voters, or Unreliables. Yet Issenberg notes how Democrats are trying to address their disadvantage. The strategists engineering the partys campaigns now have at their disposal databases containing the names of every Unreliable voter in the country, as well as guidance on where, how, and when they can be reached... Volunteers who live near those passive sympathizers can be dispatched; when in-person contact is unfeasible, carefully crafted letters can be sent instead. But all of these increasingly powerful tools also require money and manpower. This is why its not intensity scores on polls but rather the bustle of field offices and the sums on fund-raising reports that are the best guide to the Democrats midterm prospects.
Continued here:
Immigration reform has pulse
House Speaker John Boehner says he was just teasing when he said his Republican colleagues whined that immigration reform is 'too hard.' Boehner says that 'you tease the ones you love, right?'
House Speaker John Boehner told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he was just teasing them when he lampooned their reluctance to act on immigration legislation, insisting that he blames President Barack Obama for inaction on the issue, not the GOP.
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"You tease the ones you love, right? But some people misunderstood what I had to say," Boehner told reporters after a closed-door meeting with the House GOP where he offered the explanation. "I can rib people just a little too much sometimes. This wouldn't be the first time."
The comments in question happened at a Rotary Club lunch in Ohio last week when Boehner said Republican House members don't want to take on immigration because it's too difficult.
What Boehner said, according to Cincinnati.com was:
"Here's the attitude. Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard," Boehner whined before a luncheon crowd at Brown's Run County Club in Madison Township.
"We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it's remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don't want to ... They'll take the path of least resistance."
Boehner said he's been working for 16 or 17 months trying to push Congress to deal with immigration reform.
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Immigration reform 'too hard' for Republicans? Boehner says he was teasing (+video)
Over 250 evangelical leaders arrive on Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge Congress to pass immigration reform. Churches have been conspicuous in their support of immigration reform.
Two weeks ago, the Rev. Luis Corts stood outside the White House after he and other faith leaders came to town to talk about immigration reform.
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Tuesday morning, the same scene will play out on Capitol Hill, as over 250 evangelical pastors from 25 states meet with their members of Congress to urge them to take action on immigration reform.
With House Republicans safe in their seats and Senate Republicans in line to make gains this fall, the chances for any movement on immigration reform before the midterm elections looks dim. But religious leaders around the country don't appear willing to take "no" for an answer.
Though various denominations often don't see eye to eye on contentious social matters such as same-sex marriage and abortion, legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration system has overwhelmingly drawn them together.
"It is the first and only political issue in this country where we all agree," Mr. Corts told reporters on April 15.
Support from the pulpit for America's undocumented immigrants is hardly new. The sanctuary movement of the 1980s put pressure on politicians to take in immigrants fleeing the civil wars of Central America. Some say the movement played a role in the Reagan administration's decision to push for the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted legal status to some 3 million people.
Today, immigrants are becoming increasingly integral members of shrinking American churches, and that has given the push for immigration reform a different kind of urgency.
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Why Christian leaders put aside differences to push immigration reform (+video)