Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has blamed House Speaker John Boehner for destroying any chance of an immigration bill being passed this year.
The Nevada Democrat accused Boehner of holding up a vote on immigration reform while saying, "It’s gone until next year," the
Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"The American people agree that we should do something positive on comprehensive immigration reform," Reid said. "Republicans in the House, led by John Boehner, have done nothing — nothing."
Reid said that a comprehensive immigration bill could be introduced after the midterm elections in November if vulnerable Republicans win re-election and then support reform.
"Maybe we’ll get something in the lame-duck" session, Reid said after a speech to a small Hispanic audience at Doña Maria Tamales Mexican Restaurant in Las Vegas.
Reid blasted Boehner for telling Obama that he will not be introducing immigration legislation in 2014, and took a shot at Nevada Republican Rep. Joe Heck for not bringing pressure to bear on GOP leadership on the issue.
"The Republicans should suffer at the ballot box," Reid said, while adding that Heck, who is running for re-election in November, "has not been helpful."
Reid said Obama told him last week that Boehner had informed him last week that the speaker wouldn’t allow a House vote on immigration, even though it has been a year since the Senate had passed a sweeping reform package.
The senator said that Obama then told him, "So I’m going to have to do it" through executive order.
Reid claimed that by giving 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States the opportunity to become American citizens would result in $1 trillion being added to the economy.
"I can’t imagine why the Republicans are doing what they’re doing," Reid said. "They’re always whining and crying about the debt."
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