Immigration reform, a major priority of President Obama’s second-term agenda, has lost momentum amid the recent partisan brinkmanship over fiscal issues and the government shutdown. And, so far, GOP leaders have declined to allow a vote on the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate in June. With only 19 days left in the House session, it seems highly likely that immigration reform will remain stalled.
Meanwhile, David Valadao (R-CA) announced Wednesday that he supports a comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced by Democrats. He follows Reps. Jeff Denham (R-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), both of whom also announced their support this week for the bill HR 15.
HR 15 is the only comprehensive immigration legislation currently in the House, but GOP leaders say they plan to consider separate bills but have yet to schedule votes. The Democrat-led legislation is based on the Senate-passed bill and a border security measure approved early this year by the House Homeland Security Committee, both of which passed with bipartisan support.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that there is a bipartisan majority in the House ready to pass comprehensive immigration, but House Speaker John A Boehner must first bring a vote. “With 28 Republicans having publicly expressed support for a path to citizenship, we believe the votes are there on a bipartisan basis to pass a bill,” Pelosi said. “It’s just a question whether Speaker Boehner can muster the will to schedule a vote.”
There are currently 190 co-sponsors, short of the 218 needed to get a majority in the House. A majority of House Democrats are co-sponsoring the legislation and supporters argue that more Republicans should sign on to pressure leadership to bring it for a vote. Meanwhile Politico recently reported that “a growing chorus of GOP lawmakers and aides are intensely skeptical that any of the party’s preferred piecemeal immigration bills can garner Republican support that they would need if Democrats didn’t lend their votes. In addition, Republicans leadership does not see anyone coalescing around a single plan.”
