WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Sara Murray
February 26, 2013
John McCain and Lindsey Graham emerged from a meeting at the White House buoyant but tight-lipped about the prospects of achieving an immigration overhaul this year.
“It’s one of the best meetings I ever had with the president,” Mr. Graham (R., S.C.) gushed after the meeting. He said it was clear President Barack Obama is committed to advancing legislation on the issue, which could help calm GOP concerns that the issue could morph into a political football instead of a legislative priority.
President Obama’s across-the-aisle outreach comes as a group of eight bipartisan senators, including Messers. McCain and Graham, are crafting a comprehensive plan to change immigration laws that would both strengthen border security and develop a path to citizenship for the millions of Americans already in the U.S.
Mr. McCain said he also came away from the meeting encouraged but quickly brushed aside questions about the specific issues that were discussed, saying he wouldn’t divulge details from the meeting.
“I believe that the president is very committed to comprehensive immigration reform,” Mr. McCain (R., Ariz.) said after the meeting. “Does that mean he’s committed to anything we do? No.”
Democratic senators working on the bipartisan legislation — which include Illinois’s Dick Durbin, New York’s Chuck Schumer, New Jersey’s Robert Menendez and Colorado’s Michael Bennet – met with Mr. Obama earlier this month to discuss the effort. But Tuesday marks the first face-to-face meeting between Mr. Obama and GOP Sens. McCain and Graham, both architects of the Senate effort, since they unveiled the outline of their plan.
As border security emerges as a fault line in the immigration debate, Mr. Graham said the president “understands we need border security that we can afford,” and said his counterpart, Mr. McCain, made strong points on the issue in Tuesday’s meeting.
Pressed for more details, Mr. Graham hopped in an elevator.
“Adios,” he said.
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