Speaker Boehner on Rubio’s Modified DREAM Act: ‘I Found It of Interest’

(CNSNews.com) – House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters today that he talked to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) about his version of the DREAM Act and “found it of interest.”

He added that the current “hostile political environment” in the House of Representatives dealing with an issue such as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors [DREAM] Act makes things difficult, but “there’s always hope” for immigration legislation that goes beyond just dealing with border security.

At a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Speaker Boehner, “Marco Rubio has been talking to reporters a lot about his vision for a modified DREAM Act … with a path to legality. Can you imagine any type of immigration bill that would be in the House this year that wouldn’t be specifically just about border security?”

Boehner said, “There’s always hope. I did talk to Sen. Rubio about his idea and [he] gave me some particulars about how this would work. I found it of interest. But the problem with this issue is that we’re operating in a very hostile political environment and to deal with a very difficult issue like this, I think it would be difficult at best.”

The Republicans control the House (242-190) and the Democrats control the Senate (53-47), with Democrat President Barack Obama in the White House.

The House speaker went on to criticize President Obama for not proposing an immigration plan of his own that could be enacted into law.

“Let me ask this question: The president of the United States runs around the country doing speeches, done a couple speeches over the last 15 months about immigration,” said Boehner. “[As a] matter of fact, over the last three years he’s done a number of speeches about immigration. Where’s the president’s immigration plan? Where does the president stand on this issue? Instead of campaigning all the time, maybe he ought to come back to Washington and go to work.”

Details of Rubio’s alternative DREAM Act, known as the GOP version, have surfaced although the Florida senator has not released a written, specific plan.

His version would provide younger illegal aliens with a special visa allowing them to stay in the country legally and get in line to become citizens if they choose to.

"There is nothing that prohibits them from getting citizenship,” Rubio told the Tampa Bay Times in an April 3 interview. “We just don't create a new pathway. The bottom line is they would have a visa of some sort and, like they and any other visa holder in this country, can get in line and apply for residency. You have to wait in line but you get to wait in line in the U.S. legally.”

“They would be here living, studying, working, while they're waiting in line,” he added.

“We have a broken legal immigration system,” Rubio further said. “Someone would say, 'Well it's going to take them forever to get residency.' Well, that's true of anybody. The system has to be modernized but that's a separate topic. It doesn't create a pathway to citizenship directly but doesn't prohibit them from entering the regular pathway.”

In its current form, the DREAM Act, which was first introduced a decade ago, would grant conditional permanent resident status for a period of six years to those who came into the United States illegally before the age of 16. Those eligible would be able to attain legal permanent status if they obtain an associate-level academic degree or serve in the U.S. military for two years after the six year period.

Passage of the DREAM Act has failed since it was introduced in 2001.

“I support the idea behind the DREAM Act, which is to help these young kids. I don’t support the DREAM Act as currently drafted because it allows for chain migration, because it creates a pathway to citizenship that can potentially encourage illegal immigration in the future,” said Rubio in an April 1 interview with Juan Williams on Fox News Latino.

“We should figure out a way to accommodate and there are ways to do that and we’re actively working on ways to do that, that gets us to 60 votes, whether it’s a visa process that legalizes them and,” he said, “wouldn’t’ prohibit them in the future from accessing the citizenship process. But it wouldn’t give them a pathway to it especially carved out.”

On March 27, The Hill quoted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as saying, “I’m going to do everything in my power to stop a watered-down version of the DREAM Act.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/speaker-boehner-rubio-s-modified-dream-act-i-found-it-interest

DAMN My man Boehner laying a smack down on Obama! Looking at that House GOP majority, it looks like this is going to be one uphill battle for Dreamers. This is where we will see the real difference between Republicans and Democrats. If Boehner gets a bill passed in his chamber, we will know that the Republicans know how to stick together better than Democrats.

Republicans are better organized than Democrats.

WTF?

This is what I was talking about a couple a weeks ago. The republicans often unite for a common purpose, that being screwing democrats. They might not really be in for Dream act ideologically, but they sure are against Democrats taking over the fastest growing minority and other immigrants of this country. The gist here is that, Boehner is not so popular among repubs, the good news is that he IS the speaker of the house and also, he denominates himself as a tea partier.


I say this is good news overall.

Guys, we need to be ready to mobilize. This is a good fucking year for relief. I think something can be done.

Ive always thought of Boehner as a man who could be willing to compromise with the Dems but the rest of them are just brutal. Although the guy does use some harsh words against Obama lol

Hell yes!! This is great news. Guys, something can happen this year! Do you know what this means???????!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoa hoo!

Dude, we just need enough votes for the House though. Also, remember that Rubio is backed by the Tea Party. That can help us as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These past few weeks democrats have been very quiet, too quiet if you ask me. All of the new ideas, proposals and news are coming from the republicans side and nothing new from the democrats.. I'm happy that the politico climate has finally caught up with dreamers.. Now more that ever both side will try to appeal to Latinos or any other voting bloc. So I think that the democrats are planning something big behind closed doors. Because I don't think they would let the republicans pass any kind of legislature that will end up taking away some of their proclaim voting bloc.

Well, they better cooperate, or they will look like assholes--cynical ones. That I can guarantee you. Something is happening behind the scenes: negotiations. They have to be negotiations because trying to address the issue is crucial for both sides.