Republicans’ Immigration Blueprint Leaves Party at Odds and Democrats Hopeful
CAMBRIDGE, Md. - The House Republican leadership's call on Thursday to provide legal status for 11 million undocumented workers, and possible citizenship for those brought to this country as children, caused sharp division within the party even as it provided a starting point for negotiations with Democrats on overhauling the nation's immigration system.
Many Republicans rejected the one-page "standards for immigration reform" outright, and others said now was not the time for a legislative push on a number of contentious issues in an election year with trends going their way. Even their leader was cautious about where the issue will go from here.
"It's time to deal with it, but how you deal with it is critically important," Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said Thursday at the Republican leaders' annual issues conference retreat here. "It's one thing to pass a law. It's another thing to have the confidence of the American people behind that law."
A closed-door discussion on immigration at the retreat was described by a House member as "very passionate," with a "sizable bloc" opposing the leadership's position. Members took turns expressing their distrust of President Obama and Senate Democrats as negotiating partners, and many of the Republicans said they were torn over whether to turn the principles into an actual legislative effort.
"One of the root challenges is the lack of trust in President Obama and Senator Reid," Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, said after the discussion. "It's a shame because we agree perhaps on most of the issues, but getting past the basic hurdle of who we can work with is hard."
Still, Democrats from Mr. Obama to Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York and Representative Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois expressed optimism for an accord. Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who helped fashion a Senate version of the legislation, also said the House move was promising.
"I actually think we have a good chance of getting immigration reform," Mr. Obama told Jake Tapper of CNN in an interview in Wisconsin.
House Republican leaders, insistent that their party embrace a message that goes beyond criticizing Mr. Obama, tried to find an agenda that would give their candidates a campaign message that did not disrupt the political progress the party has made as the president's approval ratings have slipped. "We're in the process of laying out the things that unify us," said Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
At the retreat, Republicans also were torn over whether to push a legislative alternative to the Affordable Care Act and how to proceed on a rewrite of the tax code. On the most urgent legislative priority, raising the government's borrowing limit before a potential debt default in late February, House Republicans urged the president and the Senate to move first.
"House Republicans are serious about dealing with the debt," said Representative Aaron Schock, Republican of Illinois.
The deepest skepticism emerged around immigration. The Republican blueprint issued Thursday specifies that "there will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation's immigration laws," and lays out the party's belief that "specific enforcement triggers," as well as border security and interior enforcement measures, must be in place before any undocumented immigrant can gain legal status.
At least in its broad strokes, it does not guarantee a path to citizenship but does not necessarily preclude one - something that is likely to be a deal-breaker for Democrats and immigration activists.
"There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation's immigration laws - that would be unfair to those immigrants who have played by the rules and harmful to promoting the rule of law," according to the document. "Finally, none of this can happen before specific enforcement triggers have been implemented to fulfill our promise to the American people that from here on, our immigration laws will indeed be enforced."
Even the order of the principles was calculated to win over Republican doubters. The principles start with border security, the enforcement of laws preventing the hiring of illegal workers, a new visa tracking system and a beefed up employment verification system, before there is any discussion of expanded guest worker programs and the status of illegal immigrants already in the country. Many activists also said they were heartened that the Republican proposal, at least in its broad rendering, does not seem to preclude citizenship for many of the undocumented immigrants who receive legal status.
"It is a step forward, but opens up several battle fronts," said Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "But there is a sweet spot there where both sides could reach an agreement. We see this as a floor, not a ceiling."
But the most ardent supporters of an immigration overhaul said the principles did not go nearly far enough. Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., called it "a flimsy document that only serves to underscore the callous attitude Republicans have toward our nation's immigrants."
Some Republicans shared Mr. Trumka's scorn.
"People wonder if you pass a bill that has some things that are good and some things that are bad, is the president going to pick and choose what he enforces?" Mr. Scalise asked.
Conservative voices from the Heritage Foundation to William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, quickly denounced the proposal.
Other members looked for middle ground. Representative Patrick T. McHenry, Republican of North Carolina, said his party should unify around principles for reform, but he and others expressed grave doubts that the House could or should go further. "Unifying behind principles would be a very useful thing," Mr. McHenry said. As for legislation, he added, "It's very debatable about whether we do it now or later."
On the Affordable Care Act, conservatives pushed the party to coalesce around a single alternative to the law that would come to a House vote this year. Moderates resisted that position over concern that it would open a line of Democratic attack that would deflect from what they see as the failings of the president's health care law.
With respect to tax reform, other Republicans said an overhaul of the tax code would unify the party and capture the attention of voters, but House leaders worried about the political cost of taking on popular tax breaks like the mortgage interest deduction.
"We should be a party that's for things," said Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and the architect of a tax overhaul proposal that he hopes to make public in the coming weeks.
"I don't think it's good strategy to divide ourselves," he said.