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Obama faces prospect of firm Dem opposition on immigration reform
President Barack Obama has blamed Republicans for standing in the way
of immigration reform, but he may have to contend with deep misgivings
from within his own ranks as he tries to revive reform legislation.
Fourteen sitting Democratic senators voted to filibuster the last
comprehensive immigration reform bill Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid (Nev.) brought to the floor in June of 2007. Sen. Bernie Sanders
(Vt.), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted
against it.
Reid declared at an immigration rally in Las Vegas in April that he
had 56 votes for comprehensive reform and needed just “a handful of
Republicans.”
But it is not clear why any of the senators who voted to block the
last bill would change their minds.
Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), who is leading the effort to pass
comprehensive reform this year, has yet to unveil a bill. A 26-page
draft legislative outline he released in April left many details of an
actual bill uncertain.
Opponents of comprehensive reform say it will be tougher for Democrats to vote for a similar bill because of the sluggish economy and high unemployment rate, which hit 9.5 percent in June. At the time of the last vote, the rate was 4.6 percent, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A Democratic aide bristled at the notion that Reid might not have the 56 Democratic votes he claims, since he knows the caucus better than anyone.
Jim Manley, Reid’s spokesman, said: “It’s a tricky issue and there are passionate beliefs on both sides but he’s confident a majority of the caucus will vote for it.”
Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon explained why some Democrats might
support reform legislation now even though they opposed it the last
time.
"Our framework is much tougher on both illegal immigration
and border security, and sets up a better system for managing the
future flow of legal immigration than previous proposals,” he said.
Obama did not directly address the potential for significant
Democratic opposition when he delivered his first major speech on
immigration reform at American University on Thursday. Instead, he
focused on Republicans.
“I’m ready to move forward; the majority of Democrats are ready to
move forward; and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to
move forward,” Obama said. “But the fact is, without bipartisan
support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem.
“Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot
pass without Republican votes,” he added.
Reid blamed Republicans even more directly.
“More than two months ago, Senate Democrats introduced a framework of
ideas to fix our broken immigration system in a comprehensive way, and
we extended an invitation to Republicans to work together on this
important issue,” Reid said in a statement responding to Obama’s
speech.
“We know that if we fail to act at the federal level, states and
localities will continue to pursue a piecemeal approach to immigration
that will not work,” he said. “But instead of matching the leadership
of Democrats to solve this problem and engaging in good faith
negotiations, Republicans continue to engage in political
grandstanding and polarizing rhetoric that encourages intolerance of
our vibrant immigration population.”
Republicans accuse Democrats of blaming them for blocking the issue as
a way of appealing to Hispanic voters before the fall elections. But
they argue Democratic senators are as much of a problem for the
president.
“That was the elephant in the room during the president’s speech
yesterday, he’s squarely blaming Republicans for blocking
comprehensive immigration reform but he doesn’t have his Democrats
lined up,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations at
NumbersUSA, a non-partisan group that opposes putting illegal
immigrants on a path to citizenship.
Republicans also question whether Obama really wants to pass a
comprehensive reform bill this year.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), the lone Republican who agreed to
negotiate with Schumer on a comprehensive plan, pulled out of the
talks because he felt that Democrats were pushing the issue to stir up
Hispanic voters. He claimed it was a political ploy — not a good-faith
effort to fix the system.
Notably, in Thursday’s speech, Obama did not set a timetable for
congressional action, despite his emphasis on the importance of
deadlines during the healthcare reform debate.
“If you don’t set deadlines in this town things don’t happen. The
default position is inertia,” Obama said at a press conference last
summer.
Clarissa Martinez De Castro, director of immigration and national
campaigns at the National Council of La Raza, however, said the
importance of a deadline is overrated.
“He put on a deadline on healthcare reform and it didn’t quite work,”
she said. “What matters is that the engagement on immigration reform
is going to be sustained.”
Martinez De Castro said Obama’s speech was an important boost to the
effort to overhaul the nation’s immigration’s laws.
“It was a very important speech, it was the first time he was
addressing the American public on the issue of immigration intently,”
she said.
And she still blames Republicans as the chief obstacle.
“I consider it reprehensible what we’ve been hearing on Republican
side is we need to solve the problem and no Republican has stepped
up,” she said.
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