Boehner to Announce Immigration Plan By End of January (But Calm Down Till Then)

Here it comes. According to the New York Times, House speaker Boehner announced to the GOP caucus that he would be releasing his Ideas for immigration reform by the end of the month.

Though the “standards or principles document,” as Mr. Boehner of Ohio referred to the white paper in the meeting, has long been in the works, its imminent release reflects a broader push within the Republican conference to put forth its own proposals as a counterpoint to legislation in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

House Republicans hope to release their principles near the end of the month before President Obama’s State of the Union address, as well as before their annual retreat. Republican aides had previously said that their leadership team was unlikely to make any strategic decisions on immigration before the retreat.

According to the report,  Mr. Boehner told his leadership team that he would not use the Senate bill as a framework, nor would go to a conference committee with the other chamber.

“Speaker Boehner has consistently been clear for some time now that he supports step-by-step, common-sense reforms to fix our broken immigration system,” said Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman.

Now there are some who will read this and begin to do the OMG he is going to screw us!   Please relax, drink decaff for awhile.  Don't make assumptions what is going to be in his proposals yet.  Also understand the fact that he said he will not go to conference on the Senate bill nor will he use it as a framework for the house recommendations.

But understand this in the end there will be a pathway to citizenship not legalization but citizenship, it's going to happen whether we like it or not. The only question is what happens before...will there be a true sealing of the boarders first, will there be independent verification before the process moves ahead (unlike the Senate bill).

I suggest we calm down until we see what Speaker Boehner comes up with.