US Representative Robert Andrews remains confident that the House of Representatives will not only vote on an immigration reform bill next year, but that the bill will ultimately be passed with bipartisan support. Andrews says that 2014 will see a new push on the issue despite the previous refusal of the Republican House leadership to take a vote on the bill that was passed by the Senate back in June.
“We now have bipartisan votes approving a budget deal recently, and for defense spending,” Andrews points out. “I am hopeful this will lead to new season of cooperation. At the end of the day, this bill deserves a vote. If the proposal loses, then it’s back to the drawing board to do something else.”
Andrews says that he is aware of a minimum of 40 Republicans in the House of Representatives that would give their approval to the Senate bill – and that that would be more than enough to make sure that the legislation is passed. He adds that once Republicans hear from the law enforcement officials, evangelicals and Catholic Bishops that all support immigration reform, they will give in and take it to a vote. “There’s going to be a renewed push for this, and I will be part of it.”
The immigration bill was passed by the Senate by a vote of 68-32 six months ago, and would provide a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants already living and working in the United States.