Dallas Morning News: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, offered a scathing assessment this morning of Congress--especially House Republicans -accusing lawmakers of blocking administration efforts to spur job creation.
"It's interesting. The House Republican leadership has never seen a tax cut they didn't like except when President Obama proposed it," he said, adding that Congress as a whole has been an "abysmal failure" for the past year.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, predicted that President Barack Obama will win a second term in a "very close election."
"It's mostly the economy," he said over breakfast with a dozen reporters, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor , a block from the White House. "When you have as many people out of a job as we do in America today, I don't care who you are. People are going to be unhappy. They're not going to be jumping up for joy about your performance. I think the president has made a gargantuan effort to focus on the economy, to reach across the aisle" -- so often, in fact, that he gets criticized by fellow Democrats.
Some 250 mayors, including Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, are in Washington this week for their annual winter meeting. Among the numerous issues on the USCM's agenda: comprehensive immigration reform. The mayors issued a bipartisan, unanimous call last year for Congress to act. But Villaraigosa conceded Wednesday that the odds are slim.
"The prospects of doing anything in this Congress are small. That doesn't mean that we can't keep on knocking on the door and demanding that these people do their job. The immigration system is broken," he said.
Many Hispanic leaders and Democratic officials have complained that Obama has paid little more than lip service to the goal of immigration reform; we'll find out next week whether he bothers even to mention it again in a State of the Union address.
Villaraigosa is putting the blame mostly on Congress.
"Last time I looked, he doesn't have a vote in the Congress. He has made it absolutely clear that he supports comprehensive immigration reform. But you know, there was a lot of criticism about the fact that he needs to focus on jobs. He is focused on job creation. ... It's clear to me that the level of partisanship in that place would make it an uphill proposition. And I don't expect that there'd be much progress on it, if he did propose it again, as he did last year and as he did the year before."
"It's interesting. The House Republican leadership has never seen a tax cut they didn't like except when President Obama proposed it," he said, adding that Congress as a whole has been an "abysmal failure" for the past year.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, predicted that President Barack Obama will win a second term in a "very close election."
"It's mostly the economy," he said over breakfast with a dozen reporters, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor , a block from the White House. "When you have as many people out of a job as we do in America today, I don't care who you are. People are going to be unhappy. They're not going to be jumping up for joy about your performance. I think the president has made a gargantuan effort to focus on the economy, to reach across the aisle" -- so often, in fact, that he gets criticized by fellow Democrats.
Some 250 mayors, including Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, are in Washington this week for their annual winter meeting. Among the numerous issues on the USCM's agenda: comprehensive immigration reform. The mayors issued a bipartisan, unanimous call last year for Congress to act. But Villaraigosa conceded Wednesday that the odds are slim.
"The prospects of doing anything in this Congress are small. That doesn't mean that we can't keep on knocking on the door and demanding that these people do their job. The immigration system is broken," he said.
Many Hispanic leaders and Democratic officials have complained that Obama has paid little more than lip service to the goal of immigration reform; we'll find out next week whether he bothers even to mention it again in a State of the Union address.
Villaraigosa is putting the blame mostly on Congress.
"Last time I looked, he doesn't have a vote in the Congress. He has made it absolutely clear that he supports comprehensive immigration reform. But you know, there was a lot of criticism about the fact that he needs to focus on jobs. He is focused on job creation. ... It's clear to me that the level of partisanship in that place would make it an uphill proposition. And I don't expect that there'd be much progress on it, if he did propose it again, as he did last year and as he did the year before."
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