#ThomHartmann @Thom_Hartmann blog: President Obama is Not Wasting Time
by Thom Hartmann,posted Feb 18 2013 10:42AM
Trying to accomplish the long list of goals he set for his second term. Just since his State of the Union speech, less than a week ago, he's already put forward a plan for universal preschool, called on Congress to vote on gun regulations, and now he's tackling immigration. According to USA Today, the White House is circulating a draft immigration bill, which would create a new visa for undocumented immigrants living in our nation, and shorten the path to legal residency down to eight years. The draft bill also includes more security funding, and would require businesses to utilize a new system for verifying the immigration status of new employees.
Despite the bill being very similar to the bipartisan immigration plan that came out last month, Republicans are harshly criticizing the President's plan. Florida Senator Marco Rubio said any legislation that didn't include Republican input would get no support, saying, “If actually proposed, the president's bill would be dead on arrival in Congress.” Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said the draft legislation was proof that “the president doesn't want immigration reform.” These statements are just more evidence that Republicans will vote against any legislation that President Obama puts forward, even when it's made up of their own ideas.
A spokesman for the White House said that the administration has not prepared a final bill to submit. Let's hope that Congress can pass their own version of the bill, so that they won't oppose a commonsense path to citizenship, just because the President supports it.
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