Most GOP Lawmakers See No Urgency on Immigration

Charlie Cook:
“It’s hard to be optimistic about the prospects for comprehensive
immigration reform when you talk to House Republicans. My conversations
suggest that if anything passes the House, it will most likely be small,
bite-sized morsels of largely noncontroversial
ideas–lowest-common-denominator items that bear little resemblance to
the sweeping immigration measure that passed the Senate on June 27.”

“All of this high-minded stuff–that Republicans need to get the
immigration issue off the table if they want to win and hold a Senate
majority or win the White House–matters little to many GOP House
lawmakers who sit in very white, very conservative congressional
districts and who have much more to fear from a conservative primary
challenger than from a Democrat.”

Greg Sargent: “Democratic aides say they are discussing the possibility of having Dem lawmakers invite House Republicans to do joint, bipartisan town hall meetings on immigration reform in August. The idea — which is in early discussion stages — would be to offer Republican lawmakers an opportunity to show they are genuinely serious about doing something about our immigration problems, even if deep differences over how to proceed remain.”