| | |  Americas & Beyond | June 2009 
Immigration Bill Won't Get Through US Congress
 Peter Nicholas & Peter Wallsten - Los Angeles Times
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June 26, 2009
 |  | 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. |  | | |
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 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." |
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