September
24, 2013
By ASHLEY
PARKER
House Democratic leaders are working on a
broad immigration proposal that they hope will reinvigorate the debate on
Capitol Hill and pressure their Republican counterparts to pass legislation
that includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented
immigrants already in the country.
With an
immigration overhaul languishing in the Republican-controlled House, taking a
back seat to the fiscal fights that promise to occupy most of the fall,
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, began working
with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as well as with Representative Xavier
Becerra of California, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, to put forth
an alternative bill that she said she believes could garner bipartisan support.
Though no
final decisions have been made, aides familiar with the strategy said,
Democratic leadership hopes to introduce the bill in the next few weeks. Ms.
Pelosi met repeatedly — in person and over the phone — with the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus over the past two weeks, working closely with Representative
Ruben Hinojosa of Texas, the group’s chairman. .
The
proposal would combine the broad immigration bill that passed through the
Senate Judiciary Committee in May with bipartisan support, as well as a border
security bill that also passed the House Homeland Security Committee in May
with overwhelming bipartisan support.
The
border-security component, drafted by Representative Michael McCaul of Texas,
chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, requires the Department of
Homeland Security to draft a plan to gain operation control — defined as a 90
percent apprehension rate of those who have crossed illegally — of the Southwest
border within five years.
Ms.
Pelosi’s proposal, however, does not include the border security amendment
tacked on at the end of the Senate process in June, and spearheaded by two
Republican senators, Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven of North Dakota.
Though the Corker-Hoeven amendment helped garner the support of roughly a dozen
Republicans for the overall bill, promising $40 billion over the next decade to
secure the southern border — including doubling the number of border agents to
40,000 and completing 700 miles of fencing — many were wary of the border
security plan, which they said was a waste of money and would “militarize” the
border.
House
Democrats said their proposal will, in the words of one aide, “shake up the
environment” and offer an option that can win bipartisan support.
“Any
member of the House — Democrat or Republican, who wants comprehensive
immigration reform — can support this bill,” the aide said. “This is something
that can get the support of House Republicans who have said they’re for a bill,
and obviously we believe there are more that would vote for this at the end of
the day.
“There are
certainly enough votes in the House to get this bill across the line.”
Though the
bill would most likely pass with the help of Democratic votes, Speaker John A.
Boehner of Ohio would still have to agree to put the proposal on the floor for
a vote, something he has been hesitant to do. The goal, Democratic aides said,
is to create a situation where House Republicans are pressured to either vote
on this plan — or to offer an alternative of their own, which very likely
includes at least some form of legalization, and could proceed to negotiations
between the House and the Senate.
“Leader
Pelosi is proposing something closer to her ideal bill, and her intention is to
keep the House moving forward, which is a good thing,” said Senator Charles E.
Schumer, a Democrat from New York and a member of the bipartisan group in the
Senate that drafted its immigration overhaul.
Though Democratic leaders had
already begun talking about this new immigration strategy in recent weeks, the
plan became particular urgent after two Texas Republican congressmen, John
Carter and Sam Johnson, last week dropped out of a bipartisan group in the
House that was hoping to introduce its own broad immigration plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment