When it comes to Washington, a word not many people aren’t used to hearing these days is “compromise.” But it seems that the bipartisan immigration bill will get the 60 votes necessary on Tuesday to defeat a filibuster and get a floor vote.
Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire has joined fellow Republican Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake to endorse the measure. “Our immigration system is completely broken,” Senator Ayotte said on Sunday’s CBS’s Face the Nation. “This is a thoughtful, bipartisan solution to a tough problem.”
Conservative Senator Rand Paul has hinted that he could come on board too, but says the bill needs more border security measures. “Republicans are slowly coming around,” NBC Latino’s Raul Reyes said on Monday’s show. “Marco Rubio, even though it seems at times he backs off it, for better or worse he’s so associated with this bill. He is all in and I think he may be making the calculus that he needs to keep talking that he’s against it just to reassure his base.”
Another Republican with a vested interest is Speaker John Boehner, who, Reyes argued, is “getting a little bit worried and anxious” about the outcome of the bill. While an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that 52% of those polled support a proposed pathway to citizenship, all members of the GOP are not onboard.
Speaker Boehner may believe that it will hurt the GOP if the bill doesn’t pass. “It’s not good for the party for the long term, and it’s certainly not going to be good in terms of retracting the Latino Vote and repairing their image,” Reyes said. “He’s trying to corral [the GOP], trying to get them in line and get them on board.”
Abby Borovitz