Long read, but pretty interesting to see that we still have McCain and Graham willing to attach something to a border security only bill in the senate.
Quote:
Republican leaders in Congress say they want to advance legislation next year to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, but they don’t favor addressing the status of 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that last year’s border-security proposal by House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul is a “good place to start” in talks with President-elect Donald Trump. The McCaul measure wouldn’t build a wall on the border as Trump insisted he would do during his campaign.
Instead, it would require the Department of Homeland Security to achieve operational control of the Southwest border in five years, while authorizing $1 billion a year over 10 years to meet various security goal.*
McCarthy said changes to immigration laws will have to wait. “I don’t think anything changes on immigration until we secure the border,” he said.
In the Senate, party leaders also want better border enforcement before taking the debate any further. That’s a change from the comprehensive measure the Senate passed in 2013, which included a pathway to permanent legal residency for undocumented immigrants.
‘It Just Doesn’t Work’
“My conclusion is we’re not going to be able to do a big comprehensive bill,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican leader. “We’ve tried that. It just doesn’t work. We need to secure the border and we need to enforce the law in regards to people with criminal records who are illegally in this country. And then we can have a further conversation.”
Some Senate Republicans warn that Democrats will likely insist on a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants as part of any bill next year, and their votes could be needed in a chamber that Republicans will likely control 52-48. Other Republicans, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, say it’s important to address the border and undocumented immigrants in a single bill.
McCain, who has pushed his party in the past to address needs of Latino immigrants, said he will “certainly be in an amending mood” if his party’s leaders advance a border-only measure.
“Obviously we need to secure the border, but we also need to do comprehensive immigration reform,” he said in an interview.
Legal Status
In the House, some rank-and-file Republicans say there would be openness to looking at a pathway to legal status, but Trump would need to take the lead and move the discussion in that direction.
“It depends on whether Trump wants to pull a Nixon-goes-to-China, because he has credibility on this issue that Democrats didn’t have,” said Representative Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican. “It depends on what his administration recommends. I think we can pass what they recommend.”
Get the border done first, then the other stuff piecemeal,” said Representative Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican who favors McCaul’s ideas. “A comprehensive bill is a dirty word in the House.”
|
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/ar...not-immigrants