Congress' Push For Illegal Immigration Reform Heats Up

Politico----

How likely is it that Congress will tackle immigration reform by the end of the year? Depends who you ask.

On Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president would like to see action on immigration reform this year, but "currently where we sit, the math makes that real difficult."

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that if the floor time can be found, "we have the floor votes to do it."

And on Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee that handles immigration, went one step further, saying that "all the fundamental building blocks are in place to pass comprehensive reform this session, and even possibly later this year."

The effort to raise the profile of this volatile issue comes in advance of a White House summit on Thursday, which will convene a bipartisan group of Hill lawmakers including Schumer and immigration subcommittee ranking member John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Schumer, speaking at an event hosted by the Migration Policy Institute at the Georgetown University Law Center, set forth seven principles to guide any forthcoming legislation, including a biometric employer verification system and operational control of the border to be complete within a year of enactment of the reform.

The last major push for immigration reform in the Senate was in 2007, when Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.) crafted a comprehensive reform bill that ultimately failed to garner enough votes.

Schumer said the problem with the 2007 legislation was a sense that the bill wasn't tough enough, particularly on employers who hired illegal immigrants.

"I wasn't convinced it was that tight, and you know, I was for the bill," Schumer said. "There were just too many ways to get around it."

Now, Schumer said public opinion supported immigration reform, and he sensed a similar commitment from the president.

"No doubt President Obama has an unyielding commitment to achieving comprehensive immigration reform," he said. "And I truly believe that his leadership will be the critical difference in getting us over the hump this time around."

Sources: Politico, Free Republic