Rep. Diaz-Balart Turns Pessimistic on Amnesty Vote This Year
“The Republican-controlled House has refused to take up the bipartisan Democratic-controlled Senate bill that passed earlier this year. And now time has essentially run out. ‘I don’t see the math. There are only 16 days, legislative days, for the floor,’ Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a leading Republican immigration-reformer in the House, told the Miami Herald on Thursday,” the Miami Herald writes.
“‘Unless someone has some magic potion,’ he said. ‘I don’t see how there’s time to go through the committee process and through the floor with what could ultimately be six or nine bills.'”
Ingraham Presses GOP on Saying No To Conference With Senate
“Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham is on a crusade to prevent immigration reform talks between the Senate and the House.
For more than a month, she has tried to pressure House Republican lawmakers appearing on her show — “dozens,” by her own estimate — into acquiescing to her current obsession: the rejection of any conference committee with the Senate on comprehensive immigration legislation,” says the Huffington Post.
“President Barack Obama has signaled that immigration reform is a major priority in his second term and has tried to rally support around the Senate’s comprehensive bill. Ingraham has tried to rally support against it. She insists that any effort to push immigration reform under Obama is doomed to harm Republicans.”
Flake, McCain Defend Family Based Immigration Reduction Under Senate Bill
“Every year, tens of thousands of U.S. citizens file green-card visa petitions for their brothers and sisters to immigrate to the U.S. But the decades-old practice could be coming to an end. There is a growing consensus in Congress. even among lawmakers who support [amnesty], that family-based visas should be reined in to make room for more employment-based visas that serve the nation’s economic needs,” the Arizona Republic writes.
“Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., another member of the ‘Gang of Eight’ who wrote the Senate bill, said the change is part of an effort to better balance the immigration system for the U.S. economy. ‘We wanted to hold as many visas as possible for skill-based, education-based categories, and there would be a bit of a shift,’ Flake told The Arizona Republic.”