Fifty years after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. moved the nation with his historic "I Have A Dream" speech, in the same spirit President Obama delivered a speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that focused on economic justice and equality in America.
Although President Obama focused on expanding economic opportunity for all, he mentioned America's immigrants, whose contributions have made us stronger and more stable.
"The test was not and never has been whether the doors of opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few," Obama said. "It's whether our economic system provides a fair shot for the many, for the black custodian and the white steel worker, the immigrant dishwasher and the Native American veteran."
On Wednesday, Cecilia Muñoz, a senior Latino White House official and domestic policy director for the Obama administration, stressed the correlation between the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and today's fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
According to Munoz, the commemoration of the March on Washington "is about celebrating how far we've come and recommitting to the work that is ahead," she told Fox News Latino, adding that just as the civil rights movement of the 1960s addressed jobs, so does immigration reform.
"Immigration reform is just one piece of the agenda," she said, "we can now quantify what it means for creating jobs, not just for immigrants, but for the rest of us."
Despite the need for reform, Muñoz notes that is it unlikely immigration reform legislation will pass before October since there are few legislative days in September. Additionally, after Congress returns from summer recess, it's likely that their focus will be on the debt ceiling and the budget. As a result, the passing of an immigration reform bill may not happen until 2014.
Multiple senior House Republican leadership aides have confirmed with POLITICO that the mid-October debt ceiling deadline is lined up in a way that could hurt the chances of passing reform by December.
"If we have to deal with the debt limit earlier, it doesn't change the overall dynamics of the debate, but - just in terms of timing - it might make it harder to find time for immigration bills in October," one House Republican leadership aide said.
However, not all Republican congressional members have given up hope in spite of looming battles over funding the government and increasing the debt ceiling.
"It's very important that we try to act before the end of this year," Republican Sen. John McCain McCain said at a town hall in Arizona, on Tuesday, reports MSNBC.
"I remain guardedly optimistic that our friends in the House of Representatives will agree to their legislative process and then we can get to conference," he added.
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