As the debate in Washington continues on the bipartisan U.S. Senate bill aiming to bring about comprehensive immigration reform, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives could be looking to bring a compromise bill of their own to the House floor for debate.
U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Tex., pledged during a luncheon forum with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., to bring a compromise bill on immigration to the floor of the House.
"The president's set you up and you're going to stick your neck out," said Rep. Carter, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, as he described the anxieties that fellow GOP members have felt towards the bill. "I'm kind of like Davy Crockett: They can go to hell and I'll go to Texas."
Carter and Gutierrez serve on an informal bipartisan group that is studying the bill. His offer to bring a bill on immigration reform to the House floor could be meaningful, especially considering the recent opposition from opponents of the senate's compromise bill.
Some are arguing that the bill should be looked at cautiously due to the information on the suspected Boston Marathon bombers being immigrants, and others in the House are sticking to their guns that they will only consider immigration reform in smaller bills. Meanwhile, President Obama, the bipartisan senate panel and immigration advocates are pushing back, calling for the bill's passage.
The GOP has been split on the whether or not to pass immigration reform, despite the fact that minority voters, Latinos in particular, handed the Republicans stinging defeats among their demographic at the polls in November.
Regarding whether Latinos would be more inclined to vote Republican should they pass immigration reform, Carter suggested that "free enterprise will bring our share to the Republican Party," while noting that conservative voters were not likely to agree with the current senate bill, as it looked too much like "amnesty."
For his part, Rep. Gutierrez, with immigrant roots of his own, believes that the punishment for being in the country illegally should be within reason.
"If I don't put enough money in the meter, they put a ticket on my car," he said. "They don't take my car away."
Meanwhile, in Arizona on Monday, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., key member on the bipartisan senate panel, spoke on immigration at a somewhat heated town hall meeting in Arizona where they took questions on the bill.
"We have a right as a country to say who comes and on what terms," Graham said, according to Arizona news site KTAR.com. "We have lost our sovereignty as a nation. When you have 11 million people in your country and you don't know who the hell they are, you've lost your sovereignty and we are going to regain it in a balanced way. "
Graham added that reforming immigration was vital for the country's economic health in years to come.
The site notes that "tempers flares and at times the discussion grew heated," while adding that others at the meeting thanked Sen. McCain for his work on the immigration bill.
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