House immigration talks show sign of life

Ianus · 05-23-2013, 04:28 PM

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...ill-91827.html

Quote:

For the second time in two weeks, House lawmakers in both parties emerged from a closed negotiation with a tentative agreement to rewrite the nation’s immigration laws.

But now they have to put those ideas into text, when that accord could all fall apart.

With the Senate gearing up for an early June floor debate on immigration legislation, the House’s bipartisan group has struggled to wrap up its legislation, mostly because the two parties trying to figure out how to ensure that undocumented immigrants don’t take advantage of government health care subsidies.

With a self-imposed Thursday afternoon deadline looming, Republicans reviewed a Democratic proposal that would fit into a sweeping immigration overhaul bill. The scene was a first-floor Capitol office, where members met without their aides.

Sources familiar with the meeting say progress was made on the health care disagreement. Language will be inserted into the bill that explicitly says that undocumented immigrants can receive subsidized emergency care.

After the meeting, negotiators signaled progress, but were scant on detail. Some lawmakers — like Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart — said progress was made, but stopped short of saying there was a deal.

“We’re resolving it,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said of the health care hangup. “Language is being drafted.”

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) also said negotiators were writing up the language.

“We need to see it in writing, just to make sure we have a meeting of the minds on the language,” he told reporters. “We were all positive that we could move forward.”

Other members declined to comment. The meeting stretched for more than an hour.

As of Thursday morning, Republicans thought they were nearing a seven-person agreement on an immigration bill — excluding Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), although Democrats weren’t sure that was the case.

Before the meeting, Labrador said he is done negotiating for Thursday because of a planned 4 p.m. flight.

“It’s time that we get moving,” Labrador said. “We have to draft Republican legislation if we don’t have an agreement.”

A partisan bill would be a big blow for the House. If Speaker John Boehner passes a GOP-only bill through his chamber, it would be very difficult to reconcile that legislation with a bipartisan Senate bill.

Boehner Thursday morning declined to delve into specifics about the House’s immigration process, but said “people on both sides of the aisle … have done their best to try to undermine their ability to get to an agreement.”

Meanwhile, showing how long the slog will be toward immigration reform, members of the House GOP leadership on Thursday afternoon weighed in on the Senate legislation, saying “the House remains committed to fixing our broken immigration system, but we will not simply take up and accept the bill that is emerging in the Senate if it passes.”

Smooth · 05-23-2013, 08:41 PM

CIR is going to happen this year. I know it. In the end, the House will get its act together and pass CIR.

not_today · 05-24-2013, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smooth

CIR is going to happen this year. I know it. In the end, the House will get its act together and pass CIR.

I don't doubt it's going to happen this year, but Obama himself said both sides would end up compromising to pass something, and consider that the House seems extremely reluctant to include any provisions that could benefit us, after all, comprehensive immigration reform does not equal amnesty. It makes you wonder how shitty we, the undocumented, are going to have it.

DA User · 05-26-2013, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smooth

CIR is going to happen this year. I know it. In the end, the House will get its act together and pass CIR.

I agree.

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House immigration talks show sign of life