With President Obama pushing back the immigration reform issue until after the 2014 mid term elections, members of Congress pressing for a comprehensive approach to fixing the immigration problem are upset that their message is being set on the President’s back burner.
Florida Congressman Joe Garcia (D) is one of those members of Congress who is not too happy about the move, considering that he sponsored a “bipartisan” immigration reform bill in the House earlier this year.
Garcia has been touting this H.R. 15 “bipartisan” immigration reform bill while he campaigns for reelection, but considering that his bill only garnered 3 Republican cosponsors, can it really be called “bipartisan?”
The bill, which is nothing short of amnesty for millions of illegal aliens has 200 cosponsors, of which 197 are Democrats, and as I mentioned, only 3 Republicans. (House.gov)
I guess you can call the bill “bipartisan” if at least one Republican supports it, right?
Garcia’s Republican opponent, Carlos Curbelo, also supports comprehensive immigration reform, but hawkishly leans in support of a bill that would first address the border security aspect of any immigration bill.
In case you are keeping tabs, the three Republicans who cosponsored Garcia’s bill are Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Jeff Dunham (CA), and David Valadao (CA).
This bill will most likely be voted down. And as for the race between Garcia and Curbelo, it is as contentious and close a race as can be expected in swing district.
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