I laughed the biggest laugh of all laughs this afternoon when I read this.
While Speaker John A. Boehner says his conference “by and large” backs the immigration outline the leadership presented in January at the GOP retreat, a poll of every House Republican conducted by CQ Roll Call found only 19 who would confirm their support.
We surveyed Republican lawmakers’ offices and combed through member statements to see if they supported the immigration principles, which include a pathway to legalization for illegal immigrants and a pathway to citizenship for children brought here illegally. The tally found 19 backing leadership’s standards, two more who said “possibly yes,” 30 Republicans openly opposing the principles, 22 who refused to say and 25 who were undecided. Three others had nuanced responses. The other 131 did not respond to calls or emails over a two-week period.
Speaker Boehner along with several other congressional Republicans have indicated that the primary reason they won’t tackle immigration reform in a serious way is because they can’t trust President Obama to enforce the laws they pass.
If this poll from Roll Call is accurate, the real problem is only 19 out of over 200 House Republicans will publicly support a proposal put forward by Republicans at their own policy retreat.
Moreover, if 30 House Republicans openly oppose it, that by itself is enough to kill legislation without significant Democratic support.