A Second Wind For Immigration Reform – ABC News
Jan 31, 2014 9:11am
By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone)
NOTABLES
THE ROUNDTABLE
ABCs JEFF ZELENY: As Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders try to revive the immigration debate, a sentiment of skepticism hung in the air among rank-and-file lawmakers inside the room at the House GOP retreat. Even among those who may be inclined to support some type of reform, a central question: Do we have to do this now? Republicans suddenly seem more united than theyve been in months, so why rock the boat? But the speaker, in a stronger position than perhaps hes ever been, has made it clear this is a priority. And providing a path to legal status not citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants is the starting point for the latest chapter in the immigration debate. While there are plenty reasons to be skeptical that this latest round of talks will lead to anything, these four words from Boehner yesterday inside the closed-door meeting of his Republican conference, Its important to act, suggests the moment for reform may be at hand.
ABCs RICK KLEIN: Stop us if youve heard this one before Amid the cautiously optimistic statements issued yesterday by immigration-reform advocates, in elected office and out, is a purposeful forgetfulness about the last decade of immigration politics in this country. Its been a star-crossed last several years, with the House, the Senate, and the president all arriving at roughly the same place at different times in political cycles. Theres some reason to think this time may be different, but not all that much. Consider that it took House Republican leaders 13 months of the current Congress to produce a series of principles that are strong enough to be lacerated from the right, yet vague enough to avoid taking a position on the single biggest sticking point, time again: what to do about undocumented immigrants who are already in this country. The House may even pass a bill this year, but the conditions under which that would happen would almost certainly limit what a conference committee could do from there. Even this process of arriving at principles House Republicans could call their own displays the many reasons to think this year will be no different than last, or either of the times John McCain and Ted Kennedy announced a deal last decade.
BUZZ
HOBOKEN MAYORS DIARY CALLED INTO QUESTION IN CHRISTIE SCANDAL. Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmers journal, which sheturned over to the U.S. Attorneys office, has emerged as a crucial part of herclaim against the administration ofNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.But now something she said in a deposition in July 2013 is calling into question her diary writing, ABCs SHUSHANNAH WALSHE and JOSH MARGOLIN report. Earlier this month,on the heels of the developing lanes closure scandal, Zimmer accused the Christie administration of threatening to withhold Sandy relief funds if she did not back a Rockefeller Group development deal in Hoboken. When she came forward she pointed to diary entries she kept in May 2013, in which she writes about being approached and threatened by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. The Christie administration hasdenied Zimmers accusations. In July 2013, Zimmer was deposed during a wrongful termination suit. The deposition, obtained by ABC News, would have been about two months after she chronicled the threats from the Christie administration. When you have meetings regarding day-to-day activities involving Hoboken business with your department heads, do you memorialize any of the conversation that takes place yourself? attorney Louis Zayas, who represented former Hoboken public safety director Angel Alicea in a wrongful termination suit, asked Zimmer. Zimmer replied, No, I dont transcribe it. READ MORE: http://abcn.ws/MCsMEX
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