Washington Times
By David Sherfinski
November 21, 2013
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she would be open to a piecemeal approach on immigration if that’s what Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, chooses to do.
“We have always said on that score that the speaker is the speaker, and any way he wants to bring the bill to the floor, in pieces or in big chunks or whatever it is, we just want to see legislation come to the floor so that Congress can act upon that legislation, the House can, and send it to the conference table with the Senate,” Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, said Thursday at her weekly press conference.
She pointed out that a House measure has nearly 200 co-sponsors, including three Republicans, and “many more Republicans who have said they would vote for the bill if it comes to the floor.”
Rep. Xavier Becerra, California Democrat, said party lawmakers were addressed at a whip meeting Thursday morning by a handful of activists staging a fast who talked about the need for Congress to act quickly on the issue.
“We believe our Republican colleagues should hear the message,” Mr. Becerra said. “Let’s act now. It is good for the economy. It is good for America for us to do this.”
Mr. Boehner last week seemed to close the door on chances for an immigration bill to pass this year when he said the House would work on its own timeline and would not enter into negotiations with the Senate, which has passed a single broad bill legalizing illegal immigrants and rewriting the legal immigration system.
Asked Thursday if immigration reform is dead in his chamber, Mr. Boehner said, “Absolutely not.”
“I believe that Congress needs to deal with this issue,” he told reporters at his weekly press conference. “Our committees are continuing to do their work.
There are a lot of private conversations that are underway to try to figure out how do we best move on a common-sense, step-by-step basis to address this very important issue.”
He also said he was “encouraged” when the president said he “wouldn’t stand in the way of a step-by-step immigration reform.”
“The American people are skeptical of big, comprehensive bills, and frankly, they should be,” Mr. Boehner said. “The only way to make sure immigration reform works this time is to address these complicated issues one step at a time.”
House Republicans are working on a series of bills, including ones to stiffen immigration enforcement, rewrite guest-worker programs and require tougher border security.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, also is working on a long-awaited bill, deemed the Kids Act, that would grant legal status to the young illegal immigrants, known as Dreamers, who are considered among the most sympathetic in the immigration debate.
“The leader has repeatedly said he believes children who know no other country and are here at no fault of their own should be able to remain here,” said Rory Cooper, a spokesman for Mr. Cantor. “If Democrats end their my-way-or-the-highway approach on immigration reform, it would help get something done towards that end.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, has said that he won’t pass an immigration bill unless it includes a broad pathway to citizenship for most illegal immigrants, which House Republicans have rejected. They say a massive program sounds too much like Obamacare, and they instead want to tackle the issue piece by piece.
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