Amid the flurry of legislative activity surrounding healthcare and tax reform measures, lawmakers are suddenly buzzing about the potential revival of a long-dead effort to pass immigration reform.
The talks were spurred by President Trump, who encouraged a handful of lawmakers in a private White House meeting in January to try to hammer out their own immigration reform bill.
Recommended Stories
Trump last week raised the issue again, addressing immigration reform in his speech to a joint session of Congress. Trump told lawmakers that in addition to securing the border, he wants the United States to utilize a merit-based immigration system.
The current system emphasizes an immigrant’s family ties rather than the ability to gain employment, and tends to result in more dependency on welfare programs.
“Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration and instead adopting a merit-based system will have many benefits,” Trump told Congress. “It will save countless dollars, raise workers’ wages and help struggling families, including immigrant families, enter the middle class.”
Lawmakers have tried several times over the past 14 years to pass immigration reform, most recently in 2013 when a bipartisan group of senators introduced the “Gang of Eight” bill, which coupled border security with a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants.
The Gang of Eight bill and others before it failed, mostly because Congress cannot agree on a plan to deal with those already living here illegally.
Even though Congress will be tied up this year with attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, as well as make major changes to the tax code, Trump told lawmakers immigration reform can get done, too.
“If we are guided by the well-being of American citizens, then I believe Republicans and Democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades,” Trump told Congress.
Trump’s mention of a merit-based immigration system intrigued GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Calif.
“Why wouldn’t we want the best and the brightest to get priority?” Issa said on the afternoon following Trump’s address. “We have almost 1.2 million immigrants coming in to the United States, and almost zero are based on merit.”
But many GOP lawmakers remain skeptical of legislation that might provide a pathway to citizenship for those living here illegally.
Such a provision sank the Gang of Eight measure, which was written by four Democrats and four Republicans in the Senate. The bill passed in the upper chamber, but was never considered in the House.
A Gang of Eight-style bill would be rejected if it is introduced again, some Republicans told the Washington Examiner.
“I don’t think there is any way that any of us are going to sign off on a pathway to citizenship,” said Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C.
Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, past chairman of the largest faction of GOP conservatives, the Republican Study Committee, said he believes despite past failures, immigration reform may be possible under Trump because he campaigned on strong border security and a plan to build a wall along the Mexican border.
Those strong border enforcement pledges were lacking during past attempts to reform the immigration system, Flores said.
“The main thing he needs to do now is make sure the two big issues get resolved first, and that’s border integrity and how to deal with the visa overstay problem,” Flores said. “Once Americans feel those are buttoned up, I think most are willing to have a discussion about dealing with the 11 million that are here now.”
It’s not clear who would initiate the legislation.
Last month, during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators, Trump asked for an explanation of the Gang of Eight bill, which proposed providing an approximately 10-year path to citizenship for those who pay fines and back taxes.
According to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Trump told lawmakers “to start working on it.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer later told reporters Trump merely told lawmakers he would look at their proposal.
Republican leaders, however, appear eager to have Trump take the lead.
“We’re very much open to an immigration proposal from the administration,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN. “We are anxious to take a look at what the president would recommend.”
