WASHINGTON - It was immigration reform day at the White House Friday as President Barack Obama met separately with advocates and two senators determined to pass a comprehensive bill.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, the lone Republican senator who supports such a measure, said after his meeting with Obama that if Democrats push through health care reform using a procedural maneuver called reconciliation then he believes the immigration issue is dead for this year.
"For more than a year, health care has sucked most of the energy out of the room,'' Graham, R-S.C. said in a statement. "Using reconciliation to push health care through will make it much harder for Congress to come together on a topic as important as immigration.''
So far Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who chairs the Senate's immigration subcommittee, has only been able to recruit Graham from among Republican senators in this effort. Schumer and Graham brought Obama a framework for a comprehensive bill.
While the details have not been made public, their bill is expected to include a legalization plan for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living here, beefed up border enforcement and a secure identification card that will let employers know that the people they are hiring are authorized to work in the United States.
[Posted by Brenda Diaz]
http://www.ocregister.com/news/immigration-238882-reform-graham.html
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