By David M. Drucker
Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio made clear on Thursday that the House would not take up the Senate immigration package much less allow the legislation to be brought up for a floor vote.
The Senate on Thursday approved comprehensive immigration reform that includes
billions of dollars in additional funding for border security and a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.
The afternoon vote culminated months of intense negotiations and debate over a package crafted by the so-called Gang of Eight four Democrats and four Republicans and was hailed as a historic accomplishment by the bills supporters.
The reforms passed 68-32 with 14 Republicans joining the entire Democratic caucus to support the measure. House Republican leaders have said the package is dead on arrival in their chamber.
Its tough Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. said of the compromisebut its fair and above all its very practical.
Its a historic moment said Sen. Bob Menendez D-N.J. a member of the Gang of Eight. There are few times that you can affect the lives of millions of people positively and thats what this legislation does.
President Obama praised the Gang of Eight for helping to pass reforms that have eluded lawmakers for years.
The bipartisan bill that passed today was a compromise. By definition nobody got everything they wanted. Not Democrats. Not Republicans. Not me Obama said. But the Senate bill is consistent with the key principles for commonsense reform that I and many others have repeatedly laid out.
Today the Senate did its job he added. Its now up to the House to do the same.
Since coming to the Senate floor for debate more than two weeks ago immigration reform has faced an uncertain fate. Support for the bill hovered just under the 60-vote threshold required to pass it.
But the so-called border surge amendment negotiated by Sens. Bob Corker R-Tenn. and John Hoeven R-N.D. which would add 20000 new agents on the border in addition to billions of dollars worth of new technology was enough to assuage Republican concerns that security measures in the Gang of Eight bill were too weak. Additionally the amendments of several other senators on both sides of the aisle were rolled into the Corker-Hoeven proposal to ensure
support for immigration reform held.
A last-minute deal to allow votes on additional amendments fell through late Wednesday putting in motion the schedule for Thursdays final vote. Reid and Sen. Charles Grassley R-Iowa who managed the floor debate for the Republicans could not come to terms on which amendments or how many would be put up for a vote.
Under Senate rules opponents of the legislation could have stretched the floor debate into Friday afternoon. Recognizing that more debate was unlikely to change the outcome however these Republican senators agreed to allow a vote Thursday afternoon after which the chamber was scheduled to adjourn for the July 4 recess. One factor in this decision was confidence that the Republican controlled House would decline to approve the Senate bill as-is.
A lot of flaws in it said Sen. Richard Shelby R-Ala. who voted against the bill. But it always bothered me and I was in the House in 86 and voted against it then that youre rewarding people who broke the law to come here.
Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio made clear on Thursday that the House would not take up the Senate immigration package much less allow the legislation to be brought up for a floor vote.
Boehner in his most unequivocal comments to the media since the immigration debate began on Capitol Hill earlier this year said any immigration bill that gets a floor vote in the House must have the support of a majority of Republicans. Furthermore Boehner said he would apply that standard to any compromise immigration deal the House and Senate might negotiate in a conference committee.
The House is not going to take up and vote on whatever the Senate passes Boehner said Thursday. Were going to do our own bill through regular order and itll be legislation that reflects the will of our GOP majority and the will of the American people. For any legislation including a conference report to pass the House its going to have to be a bill that has the support of a majority of our members.
To underscore the significance of the vote Reid required senators to be seated at their desks when votes were cast a formality he reserves on key votes like Obamas health care reforms.
The Senate gallery was packed largely by pro-reform activists wearing bright blue shirts that said 11 million DREAMS a reference to illegal immigrants would would be legalized under the reforms. And while Vice President Joe Biden the Senates presiding officer caution the crowd against vocal demonstrations the crowd erupted after the vote shouting Yes we can in English and Spanish.
In addition to Menendez the Gang of Eight included Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York; Dick Durbin of Illinois and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida.
