Speaker John Boehner has emphasized that the House of Representatives has grave concerns about the Gang of Eight immigration bill being debated in the Senate.
“We’ve made it perfectly clear that the House will not simply take up what the Senate passes,” Boehner told Laura Ingraham on her radio show Thursday morning. He is confident that the House will approach the bill through the standard process of debate and amendment.
“Border security is our first priority,” said the speaker, “and frankly I don’t think the Senate bill is sufficient in that regard.” He mentioned that there is discussion of reforming immigration laws “in chunks,” and believes that “none of this being talked about [in the Senate] has any chance of working” unless security comes first.
Boehner confessed to Ingraham that he is unsure “how much traffic the House can bear” on the issue of immigration as representatives are currently tied up in other concerns, such as the IRS scandal and the economy. Members are “starting to wonder” whether the broad immigration legislation that could be sent over from the Senate “is going to be worth it” in the long run, he explained.
Editor’s Note: This post has been amended since its initial posting.