After nearly four years of secret talks, the bipartisan group of representatives tasked with hashing out a comprehensive bill overhauling the nation's immigration system has been virtually finished for over a month now. But the "Gang of Seven" House members - now down to four Democrats and three Republicans after Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) quit the group in June - still haven't given a firm date on which they'll present their work. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), a Democrat member and outspoken voice on the issue, said this week that he was done with working on the bill and called on the three Republicans to "step forward and announce a date".
"I will be very clear and succinct: I have already signed off," Gutiérrez told the Hill in an interview. "It is now time for my Republican colleagues to step forward and to announce a date. If they give me a date, I'll be there, and we'll present legislation and present it to the public...I'm done. I'm ready. They need to step forward." The Illinois Democrat also admitted that he was disappointed with lawmakers' progress on immigration reform, saying, "I was hopeful we would be in a better place today."
On Friday, the International Business Times reported that a Democratic staffer close to the group said the Gang of Seven was ready to release its legislation sometime in October. All four Democrats, the staffer said, are behind the bill and are waiting for their Republican peers to sign off on it as well. "I think the work has been done," the staffer told the IB Times. "I think they've got a good proposal." But the staffer also seemed to suggest that the Republicans - Reps. John Carter of Texas, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida and Sam Johnson of Texas - were hoping political winds could soon shift. As it stands, most of the GOP opposes a comprehensive approach to legislation. "I think they're waiting to see whether there is any chance that a comprehensive bill is going to be looked at, or components of this bill could be looked at. But I think there are probably some additional machinations that have to happen first."
But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) says he won't introduce any legislation to the House which doesn't have the support of most of the chamber's Republican majority. And as the bill is said to offer a path to citizenship for many of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, an idea anathema to even much of the House's GOP leadership. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) put the problem simply when talking to the Hill earlier this week. "There's a lot of good conversations taking place, but right now we don't have the votes to move forward," Diaz-Balart said. "But we'll get there."
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