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President Obama called House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to prod Republicans to bring up immigration reform, but the conversation apparently did not go well.

Cantor issued a blistering statement afterward, criticizing Obama for calling him just after delivering what he called a partisan statement that indicated no desire to work together on immigration, a top priority for Obama that House Republicans have largely ignored.[READ THE STATEMENT HERE.]

A White House official said Obama had called Cantor to wish him a happy "Passover, and immigration reform then came up.

The official said the White House was suprised by the tone of Cantor's statement, which didn't reflect the call.

Earlieron Wednesday, Obama issued his own statement marking the first anniversary of the introduction of the Senates comprehensive immigration overhaul, which passed on a bipartisan vote last June.

He called out House Republicans for blocking the bill and not taking action on their own proposals for immigration reform.

Unfortunately, Republicans in the House of Representatives have repeatedly failed to take action, seemingly preferring the status quo of a broken immigration system over meaningful reform, Obama said. Instead of advancing commonsense reform and working to fix our immigration system, House Republicans have voted in favor of extreme measures like a punitive amendment to strip protections from Dreamers.

Obama may have called Cantor instead of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) because Boehner has been out of the country on a congressional delegation visit to the Middle East.

Cantors statement is in contrast to what Boehner said after a recent meeting at the White House, where he characterized immigration reform as an area where he and the president were in agreement.

See the article here:
Cantor blasts Obama over phone call on immigration reform