27/07/2013 11:20
House to leave town without holding a vote on immigration reform
House Republicans plan to leave Washington for the summer without holding a vote on immigration reform, The Hill reported.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Friday released a schedule for next week that does not include a vote on an immigration bill, dashing the hopes of Democrats who were pushing for a vote that might set up a House-Senate conference on immigration.
The House will instead work on a 2014 spending bill and several bills aimed at increasing government accountability before skipping town for a five-week recess that will last until the second week of September.
Democrats had hoped the House would be able to pass some form of immigration legislation before August, which might then have been used to start meetings with the Senate. House GOP leaders are known to support a piecemeal approach that does not include a pathway toward citizenship for illegal residents, but even passage of a narrow bill might have been enough to start bicameral talks.
Many Republicans have said openly that they don't want to pass any bill, since they fear a House-Senate conference might agree to some form of amnesty for illegal immigrants that would be jammed through Congress.
But Democrats see a conference as a critical step toward passing a bill this year, and are likely to criticize Republicans next week for dodging the issue.