Obama Kick-Starts Stalled Immigration Debate
President Barack Obama called upon Congress on Thursday to re-energize efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The president’s speech came at a difficult time for both his administration and Republicans.
Obama has been deflecting critics over the flawed rollout of the federal healthcare exchange, and Republicans are suffering in the polls after a prolonged government shutdown. So the president’s speech gave both sides something else to talk about. Obama urged the House of Representatives to consider an immigration reform proposal similar to the one the Senate passed in June.
“This reform comes as close to anything we’ve got to a law that will benefit everybody now and far into the future,” the president said. “So let's see if we can get this done.”
Some Republicans have said it will be harder to work with the president after the stalemate over the government shutdown. But House Speaker John Boehner said he still thinks the issue is important and he kept hope alive that Congress would pick up the issue again.
