The leader of the House of Representatives declared yesterday that there will be no formal, compromise talks held with the Senate on the comprehensive immigration bill that was passed by them back in June, a further signal from the leadership of the Republican Party that the issue is dead for 2013.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner says that the House of Representatives prefers to focus on a piecemeal approach to immigration reform, but refused to comment on the chances of any progress in 2013 or if the issue has now slipped to next year, when the chances of action will be further diminished by the politics of congressional elections.
House Republicans have been determined not to help President Obama achieve immigration reform, still bitter over the President’s refusal to back down on the budget and near default. Kevin McCarthy, the number three Republican in the House of Representatives, has already stated that immigration reform will not be passed this year. Since the passing of the immigration bill by the Senate back in June, which included a path to citizenship for the nation’s undocumented immigrants, the House of Representatives has dragged its heels on the issue, approving a handful of piecemeal bills that fail to deal with the meat of the problem.
House Republicans are still claiming to want to resolve the immigration issue, but Democrats are increasingly skeptical. “If we can vote 45 times to gut Obamacare and have another vote scheduled this week, why can the Republican leadership not find the time to schedule one vote on immigration?” wonders Democrat Representative Luis Gutierrez.