House Immigration Group Reaches Deal in 'Principle'
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Published on 05-17-2013 12:02 AM
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Rep. John Carter
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A bipartisan group of House members reached an "agreement in principle" on a comprehensive immigration law revision and will start drafting legislation, said Texas Rep. John Carter.
The group of eight lawmakers will prepare a measure to be introduced in the House, Carter and fellow Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told reporters Thursday in Washington.
"We have an agreement in principle," Carter said as he left a meeting with the others in the negotiating group. He and other lawmakers gave no details.
May 16, 2013
Bloomberg news
Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, also told reporters there was a tentative agreement.
The House measure will be different "in a lot of areas" than a separate Senate proposal, Diaz-Balart told reporters. He called the deal the first step in "a very difficult process."
Earlier today, Carter said House lawmakers planned at Thursday's meeting to discuss one remaining issue: how President Barack Obama's healthcare law would cover 11 million undocumented immigrants now in the United States.
Carter also said earlier Thursday that the group was prepared to move forward with bipartisan legislation covering 95 percent of the issues they have been discussing for more than three years.
"Ninety-five percent of this bill" will be "totally bipartisan," he told reporters.
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