PAGES

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Immigration reform heads for slow death in House

"In private conversations, top Republicans on Capitol Hill now predict comprehensive immigration reform will die a slow, months-long death in the House," Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write for Politico. "Like with background checks for gun buyers, the conventional wisdom that the party would never kill immigration reform, and risk further alienating Hispanic voters, was always wrong — and ignored the reality that most House Republicans are white conservatives representing mostly white districts."

The writers cite this example: "Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) held a town meeting last week where 25 of the 100 people spoke out on immigration — and every single one of them argued for staying clear of anything remotely resembling the Senate-passed bill," which has been a priority for agricultural interests since most U.S. farm workers are believed to be in the country illegally.

House Republicans are meeting today to discuss strategy on bills, but "After holding countless listening sessions, it is clear to these leaders that getting even smaller, popular pieces of reform will be a tough sell," Politico reports. "The House plans a piecemeal approach: a border-security bill this month, maybe one or two items a month in the fall."

But don't look for anything to become law soon. “The belief among House Republicans is that they’re going to do well in the midterms, and that instead of negotiating now from a position of weakness, they should wait until 2015,” an unnamed lobbyist close to House GOP leaders told Politico. “They’ll be stronger in the House and maybe control the Senate.” Also, the writers add, "Most Republicans in the House and Senate just don’t believe Hispanics will vote for them in 2014, 2016 and perhaps ever — simply because they backed immigration reform." (Read more)

No comments:

Post a Comment