Immigration Reform News 2013: Obama Optimistic About Passage of Reform Bill in Republican-Led House

Perhaps it's just necessary political optimism, but President Obama says he believes the bipartisan immigration reform bill currently being debated in the Senate can also pass the House of Representatives.

"I think we can get it through the House. It's the right thing to do. It's the smart thing to do," Obama said in an interview with Univision (transcript, en Espanol).

It's likely that the bill will eventually pass the Senate in more or less the same shape it's in now. But the House is controlled by the Republicans, and many conservatives have expressed strong misgivings about the proposals in the bill -- the very things Obama said are necessary for him to sign it.

"What I'll be watching for is do those four things that I mentioned. You know, a pathway to citizenship, making sure that we're fixing the legal immigration system, dealing with borders and dealing with employers," the president said.

Obama was unequivocal on the first point, bluntly stating that he would refuse to sign any immigration bill that did not include a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country.

Obama's position closely mirrors that of congressional Democrats, who are largely of one mind on the immigration reform issue. The wild card is the Republicans, particularly in the House.

The Democrats are almost assured the 60 votes they need to pass the bill in the Senate, and they can block any amendments they don't approve of. In fact, reform proponents are hoping for a 70-vote majority, which remains a definite possibility.

But prominent Republicans, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have been using the looming House vote to apply conservative pressure. "This bill will not pass the House and, quite frankly, I think, may struggle to pass the Senate" if border security measures aren't increased, said Rubio.

Some House Republicans are even questioning the path to citizenship, though that it a fringe viewpoint, even in Congress.

If immigration reform doesn't pass, for whatever reason, the Republicans suffer far more than the Democrats, and undocumented immigrants suffer even more. Their friends and relatives in the U.S. won't forget, and the Republicans will lose the country's growing Latino vote for the foreseeable future.

Obama says reform if the smart thing to do, but many representatives in Congress have proven to be more interested in ideology than intelligence.