Thread: Immigration bill won't get through Congress, White House say

Immigration bill won't get through Congress, White House says

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says a plan providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants lacks the necessary votes for passage. Obama will meet with key lawmakers on the matter today.

By Peter Nicholas and Peter Wallsten
11:16 AM PDT, June 25, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said today that there is not enough support in Congress now to pass a comprehensive immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, though he would not rule out adoption of such a measure by the 2010 elections.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting with Washington-based reporters, Emanuel said one of the reasons the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and proponents of an immigration overhaul asked for a meeting at the White House later today "is because the votes aren't there."

"If the votes were there, you wouldn't need to have the meeting," Emanuel said. "You'd go to a roll call [vote]."

Emanuel's comments came just hours before President Obama was scheduled to host a small, bipartisan gathering of lawmakers involved in the issue. The White House has described today's meeting as a working session -- beginning a conversation on what type of legislation to pursue. Obama and his aides have studiously avoided making promises on a timeline for passage or on the fine details of what the measure will say.

Immigrant advocates and some leaders from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus want the White House to press this year for a plan that would include a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 million immigrants believed to be living in the country illegally.

As a candidate for president, Obama supported a citizenship plan and said he would make the issue a top priority during his first year in office - prompting some Latino leaders to warn that he risks breaking a promise if there is no revision this year.

Emanuel said the president would use the meeting to discuss some administrative steps that have been taken to give immigrants a clearer picture of their legal status. Through improved record-keeping, people will be able to go online to quickly learn where their applications stand, he said.

Emanuel rejected the notion that an immigration overhaul is dead if no bill passes this year.

"If it doesn't happen in the next two months, I don't think that means it doesn't happen between now and 2010," said Emanuel, a former Democratic congressional leader from Chicago. "That's just my view. I don't buy that, particularly."

A backlash from the Latino community is unlikely, he said.

Politically, Obama stands to gain from passage of an immigration bill, Emanuel acknowledged. That said, he added. "The president is communicating with the Hispanic community and I have seen enough data to say he's doing as strong today as he was on Election Day - as are the Democrats."

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

peter.wallsten@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 7996.story

Wonder Boy is trying to set up the 2010 elections?

They've been working on 2010 since Nov 08.

is that various and sundry US Hispano-ethnocentric agenda driven groups who "represent' millions of funcionally illiterate constitients that are clueless as to our constitutional form of governance are going to pitch a hissy fit over the failure of a slick talkin' long legged mack daddy's unfulfilled election year promises.

I dont believe a word Rahm Emanuel or other thugs connected to our White House have to say. They have something up their sleeves.

It doesn't matter if they bring up amnesty or not. This administration is going around all that. According to what came out of the amnesty meeting today, Obama is going to speed up processing appllications. This administration has been giving out amnesty all along, and now they are going to speed that up. The reports I have read says that the FBI has caught up in background checks. Well, that's kind of funny seeing all the reports previously said it would take years to get caught up. So, more criminals have been allowed to stay here, that's the bottom line. This administration is working behind everybody's back and slipping amnesty to the illegals anyway. As for the quota that this country has on how many can come in, you can forget that. Just think about this. Obama has stopped all enforcement of our immigration laws, and he's allowing Congress to even keep from making E-Verify law. Put all of this together, and what do you have? Defacto amnesty.

We can't get complacent. Please keep calling. The amnesty-interests are spending millions to try to ram amnesty down our throats.

Emanuel said the president would use the meeting to discuss some administrative steps that have been taken to give immigrants a clearer picture of their legal status. Through improved record-keeping, people will be able to go online to quickly learn where their applications stand, he said.

What does this have to do with illegal aliens? With a couple exceptions, people who are here illegally can't apply for citizenship. It there another Obama administration E.O. in the making that will further circumvent the proper application process?

tinybobidaho wrote:

It doesn't matter if they bring up amnesty or not. This administration is going around all that. According to what came out of the amnesty meeting today, Obama is going to speed up processing appllications. This administration has been giving out amnesty all along, and now they are going to speed that up. The reports I have read says that the FBI has caught up in background checks. Well, that's kind of funny seeing all the reports previously said it would take years to get caught up. So, more criminals have been allowed to stay here, that's the bottom line. This administration is working behind everybody's back and slipping amnesty to the illegals anyway. As for the quota that this country has on how many can come in, you can forget that. Just think about this. Obama has stopped all enforcement of our immigration laws, and he's allowing Congress to even keep from making E-Verify law. Put all of this together, and what do you have? Defacto amnesty.

Unfortunately, I think you're on to something, tinybobidaho.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

It doesn't matter if they bring up amnesty or not. This administration is going around all that. According to what came out of the amnesty meeting today, Obama is going to speed up processing appllications. This administration has been giving out amnesty all along, and now they are going to speed that up. The reports I have read says that the FBI has caught up in background checks. Well, that's kind of funny seeing all the reports previously said it would take years to get caught up. So, more criminals have been allowed to stay here, that's the bottom line. This administration is working behind everybody's back and slipping amnesty to the illegals anyway. As for the quota that this country has on how many can come in, you can forget that. Just think about this. Obama has stopped all enforcement of our immigration laws, and he's allowing Congress to even keep from making E-Verify law. Put all of this together, and what do you have? Defacto amnesty.

I have to agree, for example last year there were 100,000 "political asylum" immigrants (like Obama's aunt), I bet there will be 2 or 3 times as many this year especially with no background checks. There is no cap on their number or their country of origin. I bet this is the "legal status" comment referred to in the meeting, these applicants are mainly illegal aliens seeking a way to stay in the US.

I wonder if we should shift our efforts from stopping amnesty in Congress to stopping an expanding Executive branch amnesty?

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