The last few weeks of partisan politics and the 16-day government shutdown may surprisingly give leeway for immigration reform to reemerge as an issue in the national discourse.
The political showdown in Washington ended Wednesday when the House GOP conceded to reopening the government and passing a last-minute bill that narrowly avoided a national default. Now President Obama is using the political capitol he gained during the standoff to call on Congress to revisit the country's broken immigration system and pass comprehensive legislation by the end of the year.
In a speech on Thursday, Obama called for a renewed, bipartisan effort to pass immigration reform.
"This can and should get done by the end of this year," he said at the White House, reports NPR.
He continued stating, "There's already a broad coalition across America that's behind this effort of comprehensive immigration reform--from business leaders to faith leaders to law enforcement," he said. In fact, he added, the Senate has already passed a bill, and "economists estimate that if that bill becomes law, our economy would be 5 percent larger two decades from now. That's $1.4 trillion in new economic growth."
In June, the Democratic-led Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill which fell flat in the GOP-lead House as many Republicans refused to vote on the bill. Since then, the faltering issue has remained mainly buried under the radar in Washington politics.
However, Republicans aren't optimistic that reform will happen before 2014. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Id., a key House immigration reform supporter, dismissed the idea that immigration policy would return to the agenda.
"Absolutely not," Labrador told Breitbart.com. "I think it would be crazy for the House leadership to enter into negotiations with [Obama.] He's trying to destroy the Republican Party, not to get good policies. I don't see how he would in good faith negotiate with us on immigration."
Labrador, like many other House Republicans, argues that the shutdown and the one-year delay of Obamacare's employer mandate prove that the president would only pass immigration reform in bad faith.
In addition, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the "Gang of Eight" bipartisan Senate panel behind the Senate bill, told Slate that he's not exactly optimistic that the impasse and resolution will lead to the passage of immigration reform.