Gutierrez: House group will unveil immigration deal by June, or not this year

Ianus · 05-09-2013, 05:46 PM

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/29...june-1-or-bust

Quote:

House lawmakers negotiating a sweeping immigration reform package will unveil their proposal this month — or never at all, a member of the group vowed Wednesday.

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said only a few disagreements remain to be ironed out within the bipartisan Group of Eight, which has been meeting for four years to craft legislation that can pass through Congress. If those differences aren't resolved by June, Gutiérrez said, then the window will have closed on reaching a deal this year.

"It can't be weeks, because there's no time for weeks. There's no time for months," Gutiérrez said. "If you don't see it rolled out by the end of the month, you're not going to see it rolled out. There's just not that much more to be decided."

Gutiérrez, Capitol Hill's most persistent immigration reform advocate, declined to identify what — or how many — sticking points remain, but said the group will meet again Wednesday afternoon to continue the process.

"We're always making progress — every day," he said.

The other seven House negotiators are Reps. John Carter (R-Texas), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), Sam Johnson (R-Texas), Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.).

Gutiérrez made the comments one day before the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin to mark up a separate comprehensive immigration reform bill unveiled last month by a similar Gang of Eight in the upper chamber. It's unclear how long the markup will take, but few are predicting a quick process. Indeed, members of the Judiciary panel filed more than 300 amendments to the bill this week.

Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) has vowed to push ahead with hearings on separate pieces of immigration reform even without legislation from House negotiators. Goodlatte has emphasized, however, that his "step-by-step approach" is not designed to replace a comprehensive reform package, should one surface later in the year.

Gutiérrez, for one, knows there's a big fight to come. But the Chicago native is predicting that, after years of coming up short, reform advocates will finally see their efforts bear fruit.

"This is going to be a long, laborious process. This is the beginning," Gutierrez said Wednesday. "It will take awhile before everybody has spoken and everybody's opinion is heard. But in the end, I really believe we're at the crossroads of a great victory."

swiftp · 05-09-2013, 06:10 PM

We'll really need those 70 Senate votes at this rate

VeryNicePerson1 · 05-09-2013, 07:08 PM

Yep, pretty much.

Now or never.

If CIR doesn't pass this year, I wouldn't be surprised if Obama quickly initiates a sweeping program to DACAize (Or maybe something even better) all remaining undocumented, and then he may continue being the face of a new era for Democrats and possibly using strategy to slowly keep the republicans down for as long as possible (Which could possibly be a very long time), in effect taking advantage of a changing America voting demographic, and in effect The Democrats winning the Presidency for many terms to come and possibly also winning much more seats in Congress long term.

bigdreamer2010 · 05-09-2013, 07:27 PM

Interesting.. They've been working on it privately for "years" -cough- bullshit

dude33 · 05-09-2013, 08:47 PM

That seems counterproductive !

Task_1539 · 05-09-2013, 09:11 PM

I'm curious, wouldn't this be a good thing? Essentially forcing the house's hand to follow the Senate's lead.

satnam · 05-09-2013, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Task_1539

I'm curious, wouldn't this be a good thing? Essentially forcing the house's hand to follow the Senate's lead.

It be good to have an alternative bill if Senate's fails. Even if it's more strict.

Hopefully the Senate bill passes though, it sounds like it will be the better option.

Task_1539 · 05-09-2013, 10:48 PM

Yeah, good point. But truthfully, if the senate bill were to fail I get the feeling the house's version would be hastily shelved. The only repercussion I can see from this, is some house republicans crying foul claiming the process is being rushed if the house was not even afforded enough time to prepare a bill before the Senate passes their baby into the chamber.

DA User · 05-10-2013, 01:06 AM

June is only a few days away so that sounds good.

Juan92 · 05-11-2013, 11:18 PM

maybe he is stalling it, so the Senate one gets more coverage ?

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

They need you!

Forum links

Resources

Join our list

National calendar of events

August

Gutierrez: House group will unveil immigration deal by June, or not this year