Dems eye linking immigration reform to border bill
Source: Politico
If House Republicans pass a pared-down funding bill for the border crisis, Senate Democrats are warning they may try to attach the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration reform bill to the package.
The complicated calculus reflects the fact that the Senate’s own $3.57 billion border supplemental legislation appears unlikely to pass a procedural vote on Wednesday. So if the House is able to pass its $659 million supplemental bill on Thursday, Senate Democrats may press to attach their sweeping 2013 immigration reform bill to the House’s legislation, according to several Senate Democratic aides.
That move would likely doom whatever the House passes by daring Republicans to consider an immigration reform package they’ve ignored for more than a year.
“The only way any piece of the House proposal could become law is if it was conferenced with the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, which is something we’d certainly consider,” a senior Democratic aide said Tuesday.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/democrats-immigration-reform-border-bill-109498.html