Obama and Senators to Push for an Immigration Overhaul

[alp227]

Source: NYT

President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators will begin separate but simultaneous efforts next week to build support for an overhaul of immigration laws, an effort that had long stalled in Washington but was pushed to the forefront again during the 2012 presidential campaign.

...Their initiative coincides with a similar push by the White House. On Friday, the president met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, calling the issue “a top legislative priority,” and on Tuesday he is set to give an immigration-focused speech in Nevada, where Hispanic voters are growing in numbers.

The Senate proposal will probably include four main elements: border enforcement, employer enforcement, handling the future flow of legal immigration (including temporary agriculture workers and high-skilled engineers) and a pathway to citizenship for those who entered the nation illegally. Mr. Obama’s approach will largely echo his 2011 immigration “blueprint,” which he first outlined in a speech in El Paso, and calls for a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country.

...

The bipartisan group, which has been meeting regularly since the November election, includes Mr. Graham, the Democratic Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Charles E. Schumer of New York, and the Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida. Senator Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, and the Republican Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah have also taken part in the discussions.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/us/politics/obama-and-senators-to-push-for-an-immigration-overhaul.html

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McCain? Hmm if McCain were president would he even bother with immigration reform at all?

[Populist_Prole]

1. I hope this isn't really what they mean:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014380591

Cynics aren't born; they're made.

[pampango]

4. "The Senate proposal will probably include four main elements:

border enforcement, employer enforcement, handling the future flow of legal immigration (including temporary agriculture workers and high-skilled engineers) and a pathway to citizenship for those who entered the nation illegally. Mr. Obama’s approach will largely echo his 2011 immigration “blueprint,” which he first outlined in a speech in El Paso, and calls for a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country.

In 2010, Mr. Graham and Mr. Schumer outlined a framework for overhauling immigration in a Washington Post op-ed. Their proposal similarly called for four central elements and “a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here,” but it did not advance. It is now being used as a starting point for the group’s efforts.

The 2012 election, in which Mr. Obama beat Mitt Romney with the help of 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, has also proved a galvanizing force for Republicans. “Because of the mood of the country that it’s time to move forward on this issue, it’s different than it was some years ago,” Mr. McCain said. “The election results always have an effect on that.”

Sounds like this proposal has the same 4 components that were in the 2010 version that went nowhere due to republican intransigence. They obviously had not changed their stance on a comprehensive approach going into the 2012 election - witness the demise of perry and romney's wonderful 'self-deportation' strategy.

mcCain's comments must have hurt him on the way out. “Because of the mood of the country that it’s time to move forward on this issue, it’s different than it was some years ago,” Mr. McCain said. “The election results always have an effect on that.”

These 4 elements are consistent with those that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus issued after the election last year.

[DRoseDARs]

2. Thank god we finally dealt with the absurd abuses of the filibus... what's that? We didn't? Oh. n/t

[msongs]

3. musn't make repubs angry as they won the election last november lol nt

[postulater]

5. 60 votes will give an excuse for a watered down version.

It begins.