The House doesn’t appear to be in a big hurry to get to immigration reform in 2014.
In a memo to House Republicans on Friday, Majority Leader Eric Cantor said bills about the hot-button issue of an immigration overhaul may be brought to the floor “over the next few months.”
President Barack Obama has made immigration reform a priority and House Speaker John Boehner has signaled that he will back some changes to the system. The technology industry has also thrown its weight behind an overhaul. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently called immigration “one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time.”
Item No. 1 on Cantor’s agenda is another attack on President Barack Obama’s health-care law. “We will remain vigilant in our oversight as our committees aim to hold the administration responsible for its failures in implementing their signature piece of legislation,” he writes. Cantor said Thursday that the House will consider legislation beefing up security requirements for Obamacare’s health-insurance exchanges.
The Senate last summer passed a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that includes a path to citizenship for millions now in the U.S. illegally. It also boosts the number of high-tech visas and builds a fence along the southern border.
