Bloomberg
By Derek Wallbank
April 24, 2014
Republicans
will suffer in this year’s elections if the U.S. House doesn’t pass a
comprehensive immigration plan because voters may doubt they’ll ever do
it, said Democratic
Representative Joe Crowley of New York.
Republican
leaders “have come up with a lot of excuses” for not advancing
immigration legislation, Crowley, the fifth-ranking House Democrat, said
in an interview yesterday
at Bloomberg News in New York.
“If
we don’t get something done between now and July, there’s really no
time left to get something done” as lawmakers focus on campaigning for
November’s vote, said Crowley.
“And that’s something I think they’ll pay dearly for at the polls.”
The
Senate passed a bill last year, S. 744, that would increase border
security while providing a pathway to citizenship for most of the
estimated 11 million undocumented
workers in the U.S.
House
Republican leaders said they wouldn’t take up the Senate bill, and in
January they released a list of principles for piecemeal immigration
legislation, starting
with border security. House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican,
later said it would be difficult to pass a bill because members of his
caucus don’t trust President Barack Obama to enforce the law.
Crowley
said action on immigration “really comes down to Speaker Boehner” and
whether he’ll allow a vote on a bill that could pass with mostly
Democratic votes. “That’s
what we’ve done on just about any major piece of legislation in the
House the past few years,” he said.
‘Broken’ System
“As
the speaker has said, the need to fix our broken immigration system is
clear,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in an e-mail, “but, at this
point, neither Congress
nor the American people trust the president to enforce the law as
written. It is difficult to see how we make progress until that
changes.”
Crowley,
52, was first elected to the House in 1998 and represents a district
comprising parts of New York City’s Bronx and Queens boroughs. His
district overwhelmingly
backs immigration law changes, he said. Crowley was arrested in October
at a rally near the Capitol demanding action on immigration
legislation.
Although
business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support
immigration legislation, Crowley said many Republicans, including those
running in primaries trying
to appeal to the limited government Tea Party movement, have “poisoned
the well” in their party for passing an immigration plan.
‘Dead Body’
Representative
Paul Broun, seeking a Senate nomination in Georgia in a primary in
which two other two other House Republicans also are running, said at a
debate this week
that a bill including what he called amnesty for undocumented
immigrants would only pass “over my dead body.”
“No amnesty,” said Phil Gingrey, one of the other House Republicans vying for the open Georgia Senate seat. “Never.”
Crowley
said immigration is one of several issues where Republicans will be
hurt in the November midterm elections because the party doesn’t have a
vision for the country.
Most major bills that have cleared the House this year, including
domestic violence prevention legislation and raising the U.S. debt
limit, have relied on Democrats to pass.
“The
Republican Party shut down the United States government for over two
weeks; that’s the accomplishment on their side,” Crowley said, referring
to the partial closure
of the government last October in a fiscal standoff with Obama.
Tax Proposal
On
the push to revise the U.S. tax code, Crowley said House leaders
probably won’t bring up a proposal by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp,
a Michigan Republican who
isn’t seeking re-election, that would lower tax rates and curtail
dozens of tax breaks.
“I don’t see the Camp bill moving,” said Crowley, a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
House
Republican leaders, in touting their performance, point to 224 bills
the chamber has passed -- addressing job training, easing regulations
and boosting energy production
-- that the Senate hasn’t taken action on, according to a bill tracker
from the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia
Republican. Another 99 have been signed into law.
Democrats
hold 199 House seats to 233 for Republicans, with three seats vacant.
While most nonpartisan analysts rate the Republicans as heavy favorites
to keep their majority,
Crowley said he believes Democratic chances are good in November.
“I just think we’re going to win back the House,” he said. “I’m going to guess we’ll have at least 19 seats” as a net gain.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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