Posted on 12/21/2013 1:43:06 PM PST by Hojczyk
“I think that John Boehner will conference with the Senate. Why wouldn’t he? He’ll have a lot of pressure from his members now that the election is getting closer,” Reid said in an interview with The Hill. “Some of his members are in very marginal districts where they need to do something on immigration,” he added.
Boehner has vowed he will not let the Senate bill, which spans more than 1,200 pages, reach the negotiating table. The most controversial element of the package is a provision granting a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
“We have no intention of ever going to conference on the Senate bill,” Boehner told reporters last month.
A spokesman for Boehner said his boss is sticking to his strategy.
“The Speaker has been very clear that the House will only address immigration reform in a step-by-step common-sense manner,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.
Boehner has been under pressure from conservative members of his conference not to pass even smaller pieces of immigration reform.
They fear being strategically outmaneuvered. Narrowly-tailored legislation on border security or work visas could be combined with the Senate’s comprehensive bill and then returned to the House floor for an up-or-down vote, they fear.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a Tea Party favorite, has organized a group of conservatives pledging to vote against any immigration reform bill to prevent Democrats from using it as a legislative vehicle to enact the pathway to citizenship.
Even Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a co-sponsor of the Senate bill, has backed away from calls to go to conference with the comprehensive measure.
“At this point, the most realistic way to make progress on immigration would be through a series of individual bills,” Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said in October.
Reid, however, thinks Boehner will eventually take on King and conservative groups on the issue. Last week, Boehner slammed conservative groups for opposing a Senate-House budget deal that reduced the automatic cuts known as sequestration and trimmed the deficit by an additional $23 billion.
Of course he will.
Secure the border and come back after 2016.
But Harry....will you be around to gloat?
should change his name to flaccid....
Yep. He will and that will be the final death blow to the GOP.
Of course he will.
Boehner embodies the backstabbing of conservatives
which has come to BE THE MAIN BEHAVIOR of the GOP.
The only way to make progress on immigration is
to SECURE the BORDER!
Putting live traps out to catch the mice then
releasing them in your garage is NOT going to work!
Nope, Boehner won’t cave in. Cave in means somebody holds out then surrenders.
He will be marching in the front line with the amnesty crowd.
Got to wonder about people that let the enemy — and they don’t get any more hostile than harry reid — get them all excited about someone on their side.
you’re getting played, people.
Cave?
Bonehead is totally on their side and has been, how is he “caving”?
I agree. No matter what we think of Boehner, why should we EVER trust anything Reid says? This is a psych job.
Harry “THINKS” Boner will cave?
Sheesh.. I KNOW he will! Can I be speaker of the House?
Guess he is out of the hospital. Oh well.
Yep. There are many at FR that get an “F” in enemy identification. John Boehner didnt hijack our health care, that weazen bastard making all the noise did.
people that dont understand that are totally unreliable in a fight. People like that lose elections for us.
But maybe those republicans facing re-election next year will find the courage to do the right thing and shove Harry's amnesty bill up his wrinkled arse.
Boehner will give them every thing they want and not an inch more.
Did Reid struggle to say this from his hospital bed?
Time to go old man.
1,200 pages?????!! Another nightmare of bureaucracy, red tape, waste, and abuse awaits if that becomes law...and a lot of it will have nothing to do with immigration one way or the other, I would suspect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.