Obama: I Want to Sign Immigration Reform Bill as Soon as Possible

On Monday, President Barack Obama tried to jumpstart the process for getting comprehensive immigration reform–and a path to citizenship for the 11-12 million illegal immigrants in the country–passed and said he wanted an immigration bill as soon as possible.

“I expect the debate to begin next month. I want to sign that bill into law as soon as possible,” Obama  said. “We know that real reform means continuing to strengthen our border security and holding employers accountable. … Let’s get this done.”

The Senate’s “Gang of Eight,” which is composed of Senators like John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), left town last week without agreeing on a more comprehensive framework. 

As the Los Angeles Times notes, though, “even if the bill comes to the floor next month a vote would not necessarily follow quickly” in the Senate and “there remains no clear path for the bill through the House.”

Obama, though, has insisted that a path to citizenship must be included in any bill and seems to not want the legislative process to play out, as he has urged lawmakers to cobble together a “comprehensive” bill as soon as possible.

Last week, Rosemary Jenks, the director of government outreach for Numbers USA and a participant in Breitbart News’ acclaimed “The Uninvited” Panel at CPAC, told Breitbart News that elites who want amnesty and comprehensive immigration reform without much debate or input from the American public want to piece together an immigration bill quickly so they can “ram it through Congress” before the American people find out what is in the bill.

And just like with Obamacare, Obama seems intent on signing into law a comprehensive immigration reform bill before Americans have a chance to consider the potential ramifications of the bill. 

“We are making progress but we’ve got to finish the job,” Obama said. “We’ve all proposed solutions and we got a lot of white papers and studies. And we just got at this point to work up the political courage to do what’s required to be done.”