House pressed on immigration

After months of being on the receiving end of criticism that theyre not doing enough on immigration, Senate Democrats are aggressively pushing the focus back to House Republicans.

Liberal activists and lawmakers have largely concentrated on President Barack Obama recently, urging his administration to ease deportations. Now, some of those same voices are training their fire on the GOP lawmakers in the House taking seriously threats from congressional Republicans that major executive action could kill the prospects of reform altogether.

The rhetorical pressure was on full display Wednesday with twin speeches on the Senate floor, as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took turns blasting House Republicans for not moving on immigration reform so far this year and warning them that time is running out.

I want to be clear what our window is for the House to pass immigration reform it is the window between early June and the August recess, said Schumer, a member of the Senates Gang of Eight that produced a comprehensive reform bill that cleared the chamber nearly one year ago. If Speaker [John] Boehner, [Majority] Leader [Eric] Cantor and other Republican leaders refuse to schedule a vote on immigration reform during this window it will not pass until 2017 at the earliest.

(Also on POLITICO: Tea party leader backs immigration reform)

Reid noted that Wednesday marked 321 days since his chamber passed a sweeping comprehensive reform bill.

We need to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, he said. We can only do that if the Republicans in the House, led by Speaker Boehner, do the right thing.

The strategy reflects a renewed hope that at least some type of immigration reform legislation is still possible after the issue has stalled on Capitol Hill for the past year amid intense opposition from conservatives in the House.

Buzz about a potential reform effort is growing this week. Speaking in San Antonio on Monday, Boehner said he still wants to do immigration reform and noted that lawmakers in both parties are getting closer on the policy side.

But the window for a new law or even smaller pieces of a comprehensive bill is rapidly closing. Obama noted on Tuesday that lawmakers have just two, three months to get the ball rolling.

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House pressed on immigration

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