Obama's help sought on gay rights in immigration

Ianus · 05-16-2013, 07:18 PM

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...519_Page3.html

Quote:

Senate Democrats are in such a bind over addressing gay rights under immigration reform that they’re turning to President Barack Obama for help.

They’re increasingly uneasy about risking Republican support but reluctant to tell gay rights advocates that an amendment allowing American citizens to seek green cards for their same-sex foreign partners may not get a vote in the Judiciary Committee.

After strategically keeping the White House at a distance, some key Democrats are privately advocating for the president himself to ask Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chief proponent of the measure, to hold off on offering the amendment until the floor debate, where it’s unlikely to pass.

“He is working behind the scenes,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a Gang of Eight member, told POLITICO when asked whether Democrats wanted Obama to get involved, although declined to get into details. “Obviously it is Sen. Leahy’s call.”

Leahy said he spoke with Obama on Wednesday, but the issue didn’t come up. Even if it did, Leahy said, a presidential intervention wouldn’t necessarily sway him.

“I am the most senior member of the Senate, I’m an experienced chairman. He’s happy I’m handling immigration,” Leahy said. “He hasn’t suggested whether I should or shouldn’t do it because he knows I’ll make up my own mind.”

Concerns about the fallout has paralyzed Democrats, who are being forced by Republicans to choose between delivering a win for gay families and maintaining bipartisan support for immigration reform. No Democrat wants to be the first to make the decision and take the blame from gay voters, an influential constituency.

But key Republican immigration backers such as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina insist they would abandon the bill — an outcome that could cripple the prospects of passage. As much as they support the protections for gay families, Democrats remain nervous about jeopardizing what is viewed as the best opportunity in a generation for securing comprehensive immigration reform.

“This one is something I worry about all the time,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a Gang of Eight leader and Judiciary Committee member, said last week. “I’m a good sleeper, but I wake up in the morning thinking of these things, sometimes early in the morning.”

It’s unclear if fears of GOP defections would compel Obama to weigh in with Leahy at some point before the Judiciary Committee wraps up the drafting process next week. Administration officials view the immigration bill as a realistic legislative achievement — and they may want it now more than ever to show that Obama’s second term hasn’t been immobilized by a spate a scandals.

Obama, who included the gay rights provision in his immigration reform blueprint released earlier this year, said during a trip this month to Costa Rica that he had hoped to see it in the Gang of Eight’s bill.

But he also didn’t call it a must-have.

“It’s premature for me to start talking about what I will or will not do before I get a final product since the road is going to be long and bumpy before I finally see an actual bill on my desk,” Obama said. “But I can tell you I think that the provision is the right thing to do. I can also tell you I’m not going to get everything I want in this bill. Republicans are not going to get everything that they want in this bill.”

He added that Congress and the White House could go back and “fix what’s not there” at some point.

The measure could help as many as 40,000 same-sex couples, including some who have left the country in order to stay with their partners who can no longer live here legally. Under current law, citizens can pursue green cards for spouses in traditional marriages, but not for same-sex spouses. The inequity stems from the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing gay marriage.

The Judiciary Committee had been expected to take up the immigrant visas section of the bill this week, compelling Democrats to make a decision on whether to offer the gay rights amendment. But the committee changed course a day after Leahy announced the schedule and pushed it to next week, allowing more time for Democrats to plot out a strategy. In the meantime, senators have plowed through the three other sections of the bill, dispensing with dozens of amendments on border security, workplace enforcement and the temporary worker program.

The issue could resolve itself once the U.S. Supreme Court decides by the end of June whether DOMA is constitutional, although gay rights advocates don’t want to rely on the justices ruling in their favor.

So they’re seeking relief in the immigration bill, but they sense a softening in the Democrats’ resolve — and some are pointing the finger at Schumer.

After the Gang of Eight didn’t include the protections in the underlying bill, Schumer assured advocates that the issue would get a vote in the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee, the most favorable venue for passing the amendment because the threshold is a simple majority, rather than the filibuster-proof majority on the Senate floor.

But now they are worried that might not even happen.

“We have been disappointed that Sen. Schumer, as a leading Democrat in the Gang of Eight, has not pushed back on Lindsey Graham and John McCain,” said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, a leading group in the fight for the Uniting American Families Act. “Quite frankly, he hasn’t stood up as strongly for gay families as we‘d like. At some point it would be good to see our friends put up a noble fight in committee.”

Ralls said Republicans are looking for reasons not to support the immigration bill, and if Democrats give up on the gay rights amendment, the GOP would just move on to its next target.

“If we don’t get a vote, there is bipartisan responsibility for not getting a vote and particular responsibility will be in the hands of Sen. Schumer and Sen. Graham,” Ralls said.

Graham issued a stern warning through his Twitter account Monday.

“If the Judiciary Committee tries to redefine marriage in the immigration bill they will lose me and many others,” Graham wrote.

Gay rights advocates said they will continue to exert pressure on Democratic senators over the next week of the bill markup, encouraging them to call the GOP’s bluff.

“The idea that some one would let a bill like this die over something like this is astounding,” said Maya Rupert, policy director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “That is what it is: posturing and rhetoric. We expected that sort of thing. It is actually unbelievable that people would walk away from the bill based on this.”

Judiciary Committee senators, meanwhile, are waiting to see if the president will make a more overt move.

“I always welcome presidential leadership, especially on an issue that is contentious and profoundly important,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. “I think presidential leadership is always helpful. Obviously I prefer it on the side that I favor, but the president has a platform that is irreplaceable.”

Task_1539 · 05-16-2013, 07:38 PM

Ugh this whole bill feels like one giant house of cards.

not_today · 05-16-2013, 08:14 PM

“I am the most senior member of the Senate, I’m an experienced chairman. He’s happy I’m handling immigration,”
- Leahy

"I can also tell you I’m not going to get everything I want in this bill. Republicans are not going to get everything that they want in this bill.”
- Obama

Things will be all right.

Ianus · 05-17-2013, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Task_1539

Ugh this whole bill feels like one giant house of cards.

Lol,We'll see and it looks likely this amendment might get a vote sometime next week.

satnam · 05-18-2013, 12:10 AM

Gay marriage is being legalized seemingly every other week all over the world. What's the most recent one? Looks like France did it today.

There's no need for such a provision. it will cost votes and might derail the whole thing.

Gay marriage being legal is inevitable. I hope the people in congress understand that and won't push it too far.

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Obama's help sought on gay rights in immigration