House Speaker John Boehner seems to have capitulated to the wishes of the Republican Party by refusing to introduce to the chamber the comprehensive bill for immigration reform that passed the Senate back in June. However, Boehner claims that he hopes he will be able to bring a bill to the floor of the House by the end of this year.
After a closed Republican Party meeting that took place at the Capitol Hill Club, Boehner told reporters yesterday that the issue of immigration is “an important subject that needs to be addressed.” However, if immigration reform is to take place in 2013, then lawmakers in the House of Representatives are going to have to move fast, with just five weeks left to go for the year on the legislative calendar.
It also seems likely that 2014 being an election year would make Republicans even less likely to move on any contentious issues such as immigration reform. The two major parties having such a bitter dispute over the debt ceiling in recent weeks has also not helped any spirit of cooperation for immigration reform between the political rivals.
The House Judiciary Committee has been working on a series of smaller, single issue bills, including one that would offer a pathway to US citizenship for around a million undocumented immigrants who came to the country when they were children, but any legislation to help other undocumented immigrants has a questionable level of support from Republicans.