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House Speaker John Boehner refuses to take stance on immigration
By Michael Walsh

The Republican from Ohio tells ‘Face the Nation’ that he has to remain neutral ‘to facilitate a discussion’ among House members.
July 21, 2013

House Speaker John Boehner flat-out refuses to say whether he supports a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.


The Ohio Republican dodged "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer's repeated attempts for his personal opinion in an interview that aired Sunday.


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"It's not about me. It's not about what I want," Boehner said. "And as difficult as this issue is, me taking a hard position for or against some of these issues will make it harder for us to get a bill."
Boehner argues if he takes a side his role as speaker of the House — dealing with members from both sides of the aisle — would be far more difficult.


Boehner said the immigration bill passed by the Senate is too "massive" and does not contain "serious triggers" to guarantee border security.


"My job in this process is to facilitate a discussion and to facilitate a process," he said, "so the American people can see what we're doing and so the members understand that we're dealing with this in a deliberative way."


Though he stopped short of his personal beliefs, Boehner addressed immigration reform more generally.


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Boehner characterized the United States' immigration system as broken but reiterated that the House does not approve the Senate's current bill that, he argues, would leave our borders unprotected.
As for how an effective immigration system would look, Boehner kept quiet.

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