Rep. Paul Ryan said that while the U.S. House of Representatives will chart its own course on immigration, Monday’s vote in the Senate is a positive sign that something will pass in the end.
“We’re going to take our time,” the Wisconsin Republican said on CBS’s “This Morning.” “The border-security triggers are very important. And so that’s going to be probably the keystone of the House legislation, which is first you’ve got to secure the border.”
Senators voted Monday to add 20,000 more Border Patrol agents to the southwestern border and require a total of 700 miles of fencing within a decade, clearing the way for the broad immigration bill to pass the chamber this week
“I think that that passing helps make this final passage even more likely,” Mr. Ryan said. “I think that making sure that we’re emphasizing the border is going to be secure and under control so that the rest of the immigration reform can come alongside it after the border is secured makes getting final law that much more likely. But the House will do its own legislation. It won’t do the Senate.”
Mr. Ryan said the plan is for the House to move on the issue next month. House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, has said he does not plan to bring a bill to the floor that does not have support from a majority of his GOP conference, which makes the Senate plan a nonstarter in the lower chamber and any far-reaching reforms more difficult.
“Look, we tried to fix immigration laws in ’86 — that didn’t work — then in ’96,” Mr. Ryan said. “We’ve been trying since 2006. We have a broken immigration system. It doesn’t work for anybody. So it’s very important that we fix our immigration system. Legal immigration is good for America. We also want to make sure that we know who’s coming and going in this country.”
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• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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