Obama Calls GOP Senators on Immigration

By Jared A. Favole

President Barack Obama placed a round of calls to Republican senators working on legislation to revamp the nation?s immigration system just days after some of the lawmakers panned the president?s own immigration overhaul.

Mr. Obama called Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Tuesday to ?to discuss their shared commitment to bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform and to commend the senators for the bipartisan progress that continues to be made,? the White House said in a written summary of the calls released to reporters.

Mr. Obama didn?t speak to Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) but plans to soon, the White House said. The four Republicans are half of a bipartisan group of eight senators that has crafted a plan to overhaul the nation?s immigration system. Their plan is similar to the president?s but differs in key aspects.

Over the weekend, Mr. Rubio said Mr. Obama?s plan would be ?dead on arrival? if proposed to Congress, calling it ?half-baked and seriously flawed.? He was speaking in response to new details of the president?s plan reported by USA Today. The White House has said the new details weren?t released intentionally.

Alex Conant, a spokesman for Mr. Rubio, who is traveling in Israel, said that ?The senator told the president that he feels good about the ongoing negotiations in the Senate, and is hopeful the final product is something that can pass the Senate with strong bipartisan support.?

Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Conant said neither Mr. Obama nor his staff is working with Republicans on immigration, and that is the way Republicans prefer to proceed because they want Congress to write the policy. Mr. Conant also said the White House?s proposal isn?t a permanent solution and, if passed, the U.S. would likely draw millions of new, illegal immigrants unless the border with Mexico is secured. The president?s plan wouldn?t create a guest-worker program, something Mr. Rubio said must be part of an immigration overhaul.

A spokesman for Mr. Graham said he had a ?short, cordial? conversation with the president at about 2 p.m. about overhauling the immigration system.

Like Mr. Obama?s plan, the proposal from the bipartisan group of senators includes a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. But it differs from the president?s proposal in key ways: ?It requires reaching certain benchmarks for securing the U.S.-Mexican border before a path to citizenship kicks in. Mr. Obama has rejected tying citizenship to any benchmarks for border security.

Mr. Obama has said if Congress doesn?t act to overhaul the immigration system, he?ll submit his own plan. That?s a recognition that past talks on revamping the system have fallen apart.

Laura Meckler contributed to this post.

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Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/02/19/obama-calls-gop-senators-on-immigration/?mod=WSJBlog

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