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Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) met at the White House yesterday with President Obama and Vice President Biden to discuss immigration policy, and the Republicans left the West Wing ... unusually happy.
"It's one of the best meetings I've ever had with the president," Graham told reporters. "Sen. McCain made a strong point about the border, and the president understands the working components of it, so I was quite frankly encouraged. I think we'll have presidential leadership in a very productive way on immigration reform, and with that, we've got a very good chance of doing it this year."
But what about House Republicans, most notably House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who ruled out a pathway to citizenship just last week? The latest reports suggest there's some wiggle room after all.
Asked by a reporter Wednesday if his position meant that undocumented immigrants legalized under a comprehensive reform plan could never become citizens, Goodlatte replied, "I don't think that."
At issue are the fluid and sometimes vague definitions of terms like a "path to citizenship" and "amnesty," which some Republicans say means undocumented immigrants should be barred from ever becoming citizens and others say means they shouldn't be granted citizenship automatically.
There appears to be some ambiguities to Goodlatte's position, but when TPM asked about some of the provisions in the bipartisan Senate compromise, the Virginian said, "I do have concerns about a lot of the different proposals I've seen and rather than negotiate those concerns in public, I think it's better to let the process work and see what kind of consensus we can develop."
And if nothing else, that sounds a lot more open minded than what Goodlatte said last week.
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I'm not opening the champagne just yet. Those two -- Graham and McCain (esp McCain) -- change their positions faster than a prossie. Goodlatte is more consistent but in a "consistently a prick" way. We'll see where we are, say, 6 months down the road.
Why is Obama meeting with McCain? McCain is simply a senile mean spirited, bitter old man who makes no sense. McCain is the poster boy for why term limits are desparately needed.
Look for the flip-flop.
The GOP is talking the talk, becasue they know they'll get hammered if it fails. They want to set themselves up to seem reasonable with a lot of head-nodding.
When it comes down to brass tacks, however, you can be sure that the GOP will find some excuse ("The Illegals must be castrated prior to getting their work visa!") to f**k this up.
Obama does not need to compromise very much on the immigration bill. There does not seem to be very much leverage for negotiations. If Republicans block the bill, they get the blame. The elections are not that far away so Dems will get what most of what they want in the bill while Republicans get a face saving measure.
The major reason that the Republicans are changing their tune on immigration is not what you think. Yes, the 2012 election showed that the Latino vote went to the Democrats and the demographics favor Latinos to increase in the near future, but the real reason is JOBS.
As long as U.S. companies could recruit a stream of undocumented workers, it didn’t matter to them if many of the workers were arrested and deported. If the trafficking in undocumented workers was slowed or halted because of tighter border security and checking the legal status of the workers, then the companies have to look elsewhere for their workers. One way to hire and retain workers is through the dream act. Another is to give the workers who are already here a path to citizenship. They can still pay the workers low wages and low benefits, but the employment pool will become more stable and reliable.
So , if the Republicans back immigration reform, it is not for humanitarian reasons. Reform is consistent with the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity agenda because it helps the “JOB CREATORS.”