As of November 27, 2013 there are only eight legislative days left for the House of Representatives in 2013. Although they haven’t fled Washington for their winter retreats quite yet, it is a near certainty that any progress towards comprehensive immigration reform is on the back-burner until the House re-convenes on January 7, 2014. It will be up to the second session of the 113th Congress to keep the conversation moving forward; a monumental task given the tenor of Congress post government-shutdown and the Affordable Care Act website rollout/fumble.
House Speaker John Boehner recently ended speculation that the Senate CIR bill (passed in June 2013) would be considered by the House. In feigning a compromise, Speaker Boehner has mentioned the potential for piecemeal immigration reform; however any immigration-reform appears to be momentarily frozen. Let’s hope the Spring thaws out negotiations, although bipartisan cooperation in 2014 may get worse given the upcoming mid-term elections.
At least the government is back open and paying their bills. For that, we can all be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving!
