Apparently undaunted by the perilous road ahead in the U.S. House of Representatives on the pending immigration reform bill, President Obama in his weekly radio address called for Congress to pass the bill, declaring that "the time for excuses is over."
"It's time to fix our broken immigration system once and for all," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
The remarks came in the aftermath of last week's U.S. Senate deal that would enact a widescale tightening of security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border.
As Fox News reports, the amendment passed, which was called a "Border Surge" amendment, would add roughly 70,000 more U.S. border agents and 700 additional miles of border fencing. The deal was meant as a way to appease right-wing legislators who decried the lack of security around the border and wanted it secured before any talks of immigration reform could take place.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney offered his praise on the Senate's deal, labeling it as "a breakthrough on the bipartisan effort."
"We're certainly pleased that Republicans and Democrats continue to work together towards common-sense immigration reform," Carney said.
However, the timing of President Obama's remarks also came as the Senate prepares for a possible preliminary vote either Monday or Tuesday this week on the legislation, which could put the Democrat-controlled Senate on target of passing the legislation by July 4.
While the bill has a strong chance of passing at the Senate, it is at the GOP-controlled House where the bill faces the strongest opposition. Some Republicans in the House have voiced their displeasure with top Republicans supporting the bill such as "Gang of Eight" members Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
With that in mind, President Obama, who pledged earlier in the year--the start of his second term--to make immigration reform a priority, appears to be kicking up the public pressure for Congress to go forward with the immigration proposal.
In his weekly address, the president cited the Congressional Budget Office's findings that the proposed immigration bill would actually cut the federal deficit by $197 billion over 10 years and $700 billion over 20 years as a reason for Washington to seriously consider passing the reform.
President Obama noted that the bill "definitively showed that this bipartisan, commonsense bill will help the middle class grow our economy and shrink our deficits, by making sure that every worker in America plays by the same set of rules and pays taxes like everyone else."
"According to this independent report, reforming our immigration system would reduce our deficits by almost a trillion dollars over the next two decades," he added. "And it will boost our economy by more than 5 percent, in part because of businesses created, investments made, and technologies invented by immigrants."
On Monday, President Obama is also due to host a meeting at the White House with CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs to talk about immigration reform and the business community's support in passing the bill.
"Business owners will meet with the president to discuss the importance of fixing our broken immigration system - and making sure that every worker in America is playing by the same set of rules and paying taxes like everyone else," a White House official told The Hill.com.