Claiming a full plate for the rest of the year, House Republicans have tabled trying to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013. President Obama has declared his openness to taking a piecemeal approach to reform, which many Republicans support, however only if all of the main components of CIR are addressed. To interpret, this means that the President will support addressing issues such as increased border security only if Congress also agrees to deal with the 11 million undocumented. The latter is of course the sticky issue for CIR–the one that right wing Republicans shun, and the one that is the key factor for the Latino vote, with a midterm election year coming up in 2014.
While President Obama’s statement seems to tie the undocumented to any deal on reform, thus most likely ending the government in a deadlock once again, it could show that there is some flexibility in how reform could be handled; depending on what order individual bills are addressed and/or passed, this could mean that other components of reform that are positive for business–such as new types of visas and green cards and a higher H-1B quota for professionals–may get dealt with individually, and possibly prior to the great debate on the undocumented.
For more information see the following article in the International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/immigration-reform-bill-2013-obama-says-piecemeal-deal-1477808
