With the battle over debt ceiling and Government shutdown concluded for now, President Barack Obama and the House Republicans may be gearing up for another big-time face-off over comprehensive immigration reform.
Seen as Obama’s biggest second-term initiative just as healthcare reform was in his first term as President, the landmark immigration reform Bill lays out a 13-year pathway to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants, including some 250,000 Indians.
The Bill, as passed by the Senate last June, also expands the H-1B visa scheme for skilled professionals, but has some provisions that target Indian IT firms with major US operations, giving rise to acute concerns among the likes of TCS, Infosys and Wipro.
Obama, who has been under intense pressure from his Hispanic constituency, lost little time on Thursday as he flagged immigration overhaul as his next biggest push in Congress, stressing: “We should finish the job of fixing our broken immigration system.”
House Republicans have had strong objections to the Senate version, described by some last summer as “dead on arrival in the House”. At that time, Speaker John Boehner indicated that the House would much rather take up a set of smaller bills, instead of an omnibus, far-reaching reform plan.
“let’s start negotiations (over passing immigration reform),” Obama said, adding: “let’s not leave this problem to keep festering for another year or two years or three years.”
“There’s already a broad coalition across America that’s behind this effort of comprehensive immigration reform -- from business leaders to faith leaders to law enforcement,” he said, highlighting the Senate bill that was passed with strong bipartisan support.
Citing economists, Obama said if the immigration bill becomes law, the US economy would be 5 per cent larger in two decades, adding: “That’s $1.4 trillion in new economic growth.”
But the House Republicans continue to remain opposed to a sweeping bill of the type that the Senate has passed and House Democrats are pushing.
“It’s not going to happen this year,” commented Tea Party conservative member Raul labrador said. “After the way the president acted over the last two or three weeks where he would refuse to talk to the speaker of the House ... they’re not going to get immigration reform. That’s done.”
Mainstream Republicans may not be so virulent, but note that Speaker Boehner will face another monumental challenge. As another conservative lawmaker Tim Huelskamp put it, Boehner would have to “divide” the Republican conference to pass an immigration bill – with Democratic support. “That would really melt down the (Republican) conference,” he commented.
Major rallies, organized mostly by Hispanics, are being held in Washington from time to time to press for early passage. One such demonstration was held last week at a time when Congress was dealing with impasse over the shutdown and debt limit.