Former President Bill Clinton declared on Tuesday that he is convinced that the comprehensive immigration reform legislation will easily pass through the Senate, which is led by the Democrats, and that while it may find a tougher time in the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, it is inevitable that it will eventually make it through Congress, according to the Washington Times.
“They’re going to pass this immigration reform, I think, and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t get 70 votes in the Senate,” says Clinton, who cited “just the pure demographics of it.” Clinton notes that the Republican Party is well aware that they will be unable to carry on being a national party if they continue to lose around 72% of the Latino community vote, and he added that those losses are likely to increase.
The remarks were made after Clinton delivered a lecture at Georgetown University. Clinton added that he believed the same was also true for Asian voters, with a large majority of that vote also going to the Democrats because of the US immigration issue.
Clinton did, however, note two potential obstacles to the progress of the bill, a possible filibuster in the Senate, and if a bill passed by the Senate would be allowed to come to the floor by House Speaker John Boehner if it wasn’t supported by most House Republicans, adding that the latter scenario was certainly a strong possibility. “But I really think this will pass,” he said.