Post date: Oct 24, 2013 4:51:21 PM
President Obama calls on House Republicans to work with Democrats to pass immigration reform this year.
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 24, 2013) (RESTRICTED POOL) - As the White House struggles to fix the problem-plagued rollout of its healthcare reform law, President Barack Obama on Thursday (October 24) focused on another policy priority - immigration reform - with a call for congressional action.
The president, who listed immigration as one of three priorities for this year after the 16-day government shutdown concluded, urged lawmakers to finish work on measures to strengthen U.S. borders and provide a pathway toward citizenship for millions of people who are in the United States illegally.
"This isn't just the right thing to do; it's the smart thing to do. Securing our borders; modernizing our legal immigration system; providing a pathway to earned, legalized citizenship; growing our economy; strengthening our middle class; reducing our deficits -- that's what common-sense immigration reform will do," Obama said.
The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a broad immigration reform bill earlier this year, but the issue has languished in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The push for reform was drowned out in recent months by budget controversies and Obama's healthcare law. Republicans triggered the government shutdown in an effort to defund or delay implementation of the law.
The president acknowledged the difficulty in passing legislation in such a charged political environment.
"Now, obviously, just because something is smart and fair, and good for the economy and fiscally responsible and supported by business and labor and the evangelical community and many Democrats and many Republicans, that does not mean that it will actually get done," he said, to laughter from the audience. "This is Washington, after all."
Since the shutdown ended, the law known as Obamacare has dominated headlines because of its glitch-filled centerpiece website, healthcare.gov. Obama pledged on Monday that the problems would be fixed, but the issue has become a headache for him and his administration when it was supposed to be his crowning domestic policy achievement.
Talking about immigration reform on Thursday could be an effort to deflect attention from the White House's healthcare woes. An aide to Republican House Speaker John Boehner, however, said the issue would not be taken up as one big bill like the Senate version that Obama supports.
The president said he welcomed ideas from House Republicans but urged them to get the job done this year.
"What we can't do is just sweep the problem under the rug one more time, leave it for somebody else to solve sometime in the future," he said. "Rather than create problems, let's prove to the American people that Washington can actually solve some problems. This reform comes as close to anything we've got to a law that will benefit everybody now and far into the future. So let's see if we can get this done. And let's see if we can get it done this year."
Obama concluded his remarks to the audience of immigration reform supporters with a campaign-like exhortation to keep working.
"You look fired up to make the next push," he said. "And whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or an independent, I want you to keep working, and I'm going to be right next to you, to make sure we get immigration reform done. It is time. Let's go get it done."