Senator Harry Reid yesterday warned Republicans in the House of Representatives that if they do not hold a vote on comprehensive immigration reform by August 1st this year then they will force President Obama into taking administrative action over the issue.
Reid says that the Obama administration is already in the process of reviewing its policies on deportation and could slow or even put a complete halt to the practice of forcing undocumented immigrants to leave the United States. Reid believes that John Boehner, the speaker of the House, is too afraid to put immigration to a vote because of the “loud, shrill” objections from the conservative members of the Tea Party within the Republican caucus.
Reid insists that, in his opinion, the great majority of Republicans would vote in favor of immigration reform if given the chance. He says that the Democrat party and Obama have set a deadline of August 1st for the Republicans to finally move on this issue or they will be cut out of the equation entirely, with Reid pointing out that Obama has done it before when the Republican party was being intransigent.
70% of Americans are in favor of immigration reform, according to polls, and the Senate passed a comprehensive bill last year, only for the House of Representatives to leave it hanging in limbo: “We just need to have a vote in the House,” Reid says. “The speaker has said a number of different things, but never we’re going to have a vote.”
