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The
Hill
Boehner's
immigration problem
By
Alexander Bolton
04/26/14
He
wants to pass a bill, but can't get his House Republican Conference
to get behind the effort.
The
Ohio Republican recently told a group of GOP donors that he his
“hell-bent” on getting legislation passed this year, according to
The Wall Street Journal. He went further this past week when he
declared that he is ready to act and complained that many of his GOP
colleagues don’t want to follow.
“I
think we should but the appetite, the appetite amongst my colleagues
for doing this is not real good,” Boehner told constituents in
Madison Township. “Here’s the attitude, ‘Ohhh, don’t make me
do this. Ohhh, this is too hard.’” The comments, which were
videotaped, went viral. Conservatives on and off Capitol Hill quickly
expressed their displeasure.
Boehner
has shifted from the message he delivered in Washington, D.C., on
Feb. 6 when he blamed President Obama for the stalemate on
immigration reform.
“There’s
widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to
enforce our laws,” Boehner told reporters. “And it’s going to
be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.”
While
centrist Republicans have backed Boehner and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.),
an influential voice within the House GOP Conference, is also pushing
for action, conservative lawmakers remain highly skeptical.
Boehner's
mocking comments about the doubters within his conference further
hurt his cause. They could also cost him votes if — as he claims he
will — run for Speaker again after the elections.
The
main problem, according to Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the
Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, is that Boehner has
failed to reach out to conservative lawmakers one-on-one.
"The
problem is you have to win over the more conservative members. Many
of them want to do something but the leadership is not talking to
them. Boehner is not having one-on-one conversations and explaining
why this is the right thing to do," said Aguilar, who has been
meeting with lawmakers and their staffs on immigration reform for
months...
Read
the rest of the article at The Hill
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