“We have very few days
available on the floor in the House, so I don’t think we’re going to be able to
do it this year,” GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told me by phone today.
Diaz-Balart has been deeply
involved in bipartisan negotiations over immigration for years
now, and is thought to be in touch with House GOP leaders on the
issue, so folks involved in the immigration debate pay close attention to what
he says.
Worse, Diaz-Balart said
that if something were not done early next year — by February or March, before
GOP primaries heat up – reform is dead for the foreseeable future.
“I’m hopeful that we can
get to it early next year,” he said. “But I am keenly aware that next year, you
start running into the election cycle. If we cannot get it done by early next
year, then it’s clearly dead. It flatlines.”
Reformers on both sides
have been pushing for action this year. Three House Republicans have urged
the leadership to allow a vote on something, and House Democrats
have introduced their own proposal. GOP leaders have not scheduled a vote
on reform this year, but they haven’t ruled one out.
Even some Republicans have
ripped the GOP leadership’s foot dragging. GOP Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada recently said it would be “disappointing”
if leaders were to “punt the issue until 2014 for political reasons”
Now Diaz-Balart says a
vote this year isn’t going to happen. This matters because he is one of
the key Republicans who is negotiating over a piecemeal proposal to
do something about the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. This
proposal has yet to be released, but the Tea Leaves suggest it will
include probation for the 11 million, enabling them to work legally,
contingent on getting E-Verify running (if it isn’t after five years, those on
probation would revert to illegal status). This idea, which was in the now-defunct
House Gang of Seven plan, is seen as one of the few ways Republicans might be
able to support reform that deals with the 11 million.
Diaz-Balart said those
working on a proposal for the 11 million were making “great progress.” In a
note of optimism, he predicted he might be able to get more than half the GOP
caucus to support it, though he said it would have to be “bipartisan” to
succeed, and allowed that getting both Republican and Democratic support for it
would amount to “threading the needle.”
There are other ways reform
might get done. For instance, GOP leaders could allow piecemeal votes on border
security and the Kids Act — which is supported by Eric Cantor and would give
citizenship only to the DREAMers. That could conceivably lead to negotiations
between the House and Senate, but conservatives will resist that outcome,
and it’s a long shot. Nor is there any sign GOP leaders will hold any such
votes this year, either.
As for the proposal for the
11 million Diaz-Balart is working on, it now looks like it won’t be introduced
until early next year. And Diaz-Balart cautioned that it — and/or reform
in general — had to be acted on right away to have any chance. “That window
is definitely closing,” he said.
Indeed, the Congressman’s
comments read like a bit of a wake-up call: The House GOP is now at serious
risk of killing immigration reform for the foreseeable future. How many
Republicans care, of course, is another question entirely.
Article by Greg Sargent as printed in the Washington
Post
And Rest in Peace!
ReplyDeleteGreat news. The so-called "reform" bill is a hunk of junk.
ReplyDelete