“What an asshole.”

— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by Texas Monthly, after Rep. Steve King (R-IA) compared young undocumented immigrants to drug mules.

“House Republican leaders are within weeks of releasing their principles for immigration reform — a blueprint that will detail positions on everything from border security to legal status,” Politico reports.

“The document, which has been kept under wraps until now, will call for beefed-up border security and interior enforcement, a worker verification system for employers and earned legal status for the nation’s undocumented immigrants, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. It will also call for reforms to visa programs and a system to track those in the country legally.”

Rep. John Carter (R-TX) said Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is making a mistake pushing for an immigration overhaul this year, Roll Call reports.

Carter, “one of four GOP congressmen who was part of bipartisan negotiations over comprehensive immigration policy changes last year, said voting on the matter this year would distract from the party’s efforts to highlight flaws in President Obama’s health care law.”

Said Carter: “I’m opposed to voting on a bill this year. I was in conference when John announced that. It was a surprise to me as much as it was a surprise to anybody else.”

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) told Georgia Public Broadcasting that Democrats need the support of illegal immigrants to win control of the state in future elections.

Said Broun: “It only helps the Democrats if we legalize all these illegal aliens in this country who the Democrats want to put on federal welfare programs – and actually, they are on federal welfare programs today. The Democrats want to make them all basically dependent on the federal government so they can continue their radical, big government agenda…”

He added: “The only way Georgia is going to change is if we have all these illegal aliens in here in Georgia, and give them the right to vote. It would be morally wrong, it would be illegal to do so, under our current law. Actually, all these illegal aliens are getting federal largesse and taking taxpayer’s dollars. That’s the only way this state is going to become Democratic again, in the next number of decades.”

Associated Press: “His agenda tattered by last year’s confrontations and missteps, President Obama begins 2014 clinging to the hope of winning a lasting legislative achievement: an overhaul of immigration laws… If successful, an immigration compromise could restore some luster to Obama’s agenda, tarnished in 2013 by failures on gun legislation, bipartisan pushback on his efforts to take military action against Syria and the disastrous enrollment start for his health care law.”

“Obama, whose support among Latinos has dropped from nearly 80 percent to 55 percent, has been under increasing pressure to use his executive powers to limit deportations. Obama’s Homeland Security Department has deported 1.9 million people during the president’s nearly five years in office, prompting protests ranging from a 22-day fast by activists in Washington to outbursts at Obama public events.”

Speaker John Boehner “has signaled he may embrace a series of limited changes to the nation’s immigration laws in the coming months, giving advocates for change new hope that 2014 might be the year that a bitterly divided Congress reaches a political compromise to overhaul the sprawling system,” the New York Times reports.

“Although the legislation would fall far short of the demands being made by immigration activists, it could provide the beginnings of a deal.”

Major Garrett: “Immigration is, after all, the last remaining domestic priority President Obama and Boehner share. Obama and Boehner’s relationship, while not warm, is less confrontational and more routinely civil. They’ve spoken twice since mid-November. Obama called Boehner to wish him happy birthday on Nov. 17 and after the House passed the budget deal. Dealings on Obama’s State of the Union address, previously a bit nettlesome at the staff level, were routine. This doesn’t mean immigration can or will pass. But irritants of the past are precisely that. New possibilities have presented themselves, and the political and tactical climate may, several months hence, be such that Obama and Boehner find passing immigration reform irresistible.”

The Hill: “Both
sides in the immigration debate are watching Speaker John Boehner closely
after Thursday evening’s emphatic House vote in favor of a bipartisan
budget deal. The calculus is clear in the minds of immigration-reform
advocates. They believe that Boehner wants to get some kind of deal done
on immigration, and any development that replenishes his political
capital helps their cause.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “is taking on a new and formidable immigration policy director, a sign that he could be more serious about passing immigration legislation than his critics suggest,” Roll Call reports.

Benjy Sarlin: “Becky Tallent, an immigration
policy wonk, is a well-known figure among immigration advocates, having
helped spearhead Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain’s efforts to pass
comprehensive immigration reform under President George W. Bush.”

New York Times: “A
consistent and solid majority of Americans — 63 percent — crossing
party and religious lines favors legislation to create a pathway to
citizenship for immigrants living in the United States illegally, while
only 14 percent support legal residency with no option for citizenship,
according a report published Monday by the nonpartisan Public Religion
Research Institute.”

President Obama said he “would accept a piecemeal approach to overhauling the immigration system, a move aimed at jump-starting a moribund process that reflects the realities of a divided Congress,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Obama has long favored the sweeping immigration bill that passed the Senate in June, but the House has made clear it wouldn’t consider that measure.”

Said Obama: “If they want to chop that thing up into five pieces, as long as all five pieces get done, I don’t care what it looks like. What we don’t want to do is simply carve out one piece of it…but leave behind some of the tougher stuff that still needs to get done.”

The White House “is intensifying its push to get an immigration overhaul through Congress this year, but House Speaker John Boehner cast new doubt Wednesday about the prospects for quick action,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“President Obama brainstormed at the White House Wednesday with religious leaders over how to persuade House Republicans to move on the issue… But Mr. Boehner said House lawmakers wouldn’t vote on any immigration bills while Republicans work on ‘principles’ behind legislation. Many advocates for an immigration overhaul read the Ohio Republican’s announcement as a setback.”

House Speaker John Boehner “says he will not allow any House-passed immigration legislation to be blended with the Senate’s sweeping reform bill, further quashing the chances of comprehensive immigration reform legislation being signed into law anytime soon,” NBC News reports.

Said Boehner: “We have no intention of ever going to conference on the Senate bill.”

The Hill takes a good look at how immigration reform died a quiet death in the House of Representatives.

The White House has reached out to former Bush administration officials for help in jump starting immigration reform in the House, Politico reports.

“In closed-door meetings, they have urged the White House to find a way to reach out to the GOP that doesn’t center on Obama banging the podium telling Speaker John Boehner to bring a bill to the floor. During the Senate debate, Obama mostly stayed out of the limelight, for fear his involvement would end any hope of a bipartisan success. But his staffers were heavily involved behind the scenes.”

Benjy Sarlin:
“Senator Marco Rubio is bailing on his own immigration bill. Not only
is the senator from Florida now telling House Republicans not to pass
the Senate legislation he co-sponsored and championed for months – he’s
urging them not to negotiate with the Senate at all.”

“A push to bring immigration legislation to the House floor, led by an unusual coalition of business executives, prominent conservatives and evangelical leaders, threatens to create another schism in the Republican Party and could have a noticeable effect on campaign contributions before the midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.

“Several Republican executives and donors who are part of a lobbying blitz coming to Capitol Hill next week said they were considering withholding, or had already decided to withhold, future financial support to Republican lawmakers they believe are obstructing progress on immigration.”

House Republican leadership “has no plans to vote on any immigration reform legislation before the end the year,” Politico reports.

“The House has just 19 days in session before the end of 2013, and there are a number of reasons why immigration reform is stalled this year.”