Rubio Blasts Obama’s Immigration Proposal White House Responds: Then Get Your Act Together
Marco Rubio Blasts White House Immigration Proposal
SAHIL KAPUR FEBRUARY 17, 2013, 10:23 AM
A copy of the White House’s draft immigration proposal, leaked as a warning shot to Congress to get its act together, earned a swift and fierce rebuke from a Republican central to crafting a deal. The White House responded on Sunday.
In a statement Saturday after President Obama’s draft bill was leaked to USA Today, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) dubbed the proposal “half-baked and seriously flawed,” saying it would exacerbate the country’s immigration problems. He promised it would be “dead on arrival” in Congress.
“It’s a mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress,” Rubio said. “President Obama’s leaked immigration proposal is disappointing to those of us working on a serious solution. The President’s bill repeats the failures of past legislation. It fails to follow through on previously broken promises to secure our borders, creates a special pathway that puts those who broke our immigration laws at an advantage over those who chose to do things the right way and come here legally, and does nothing to address guest workers or future flow, which serious immigration experts agree is critical to preventing future influxes of illegal immigrants.
Appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough made clear that the proposal was designed to force Congress to get its act together.
“He says it’s dead on arrival if it’s proposed?” McDonough said. “Well, let’s make sure that it doesn’t have to be proposed. Let’s make sure that that group up there, the gang of eight, makes good progress on these efforts, as much as they say they want to, and that’s exactly what we intend to do, to work with them.”
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Ryan: White House Immigration Proposal ‘Very Counterproductive’
SAHIL KAPUR 10:25 AM EST, SUNDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2013
Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) said the leaked White House proposal for immigration reform harms efforts to resolve the problem.
"I did think that his words were measured and productive in the State of the Union. But putting this -- leaking this out does set things in the wrong direction," he said. "By putting these details out without a guest worker program, without addressing future flow, by giving advantage to those who cut in front of the line for immigrants who came here legally -- that tells us he's looking for a partisan advantage and not a bipartisan solution."
"There are groups in the House and the Senate working together to get this done, and when he does things like this, it makes it much more difficult to do that. And that's why I think this particular move -- very counterproductive."
Ryan continued: "I have a long record on immigration reform. I'm not a Johnny-come-lately on this issue."
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