Whoa. Did Congressman Joe Heck (R-NV) just rip his own House leadership for not being more active on immigration reform this year? Apparently, gossip that the House may not hold a vote on immigration this year (which is, by the way, contrary to what Speaker Boehner and leaders like Eric Cantor have themselves said) has moved Joe Heck to put out the below statement expressing his disappointment on the inaction. Either that, or he’s seen the recent polling we released finding that 74% of his constituents support immigration reform, and would support him more if he’d do something about it.
Here’s Heck’s statement from today, h/t to Seung Min Kim:
It’s extremely frustrating and very disappointing to hear reports that the House does not plan on voting on immigration reform legislation this year. This is yet another example of the leadership vacuum in Washington that rightly has so many people frustrated with this dysfunctional Congress. There is a clear, bipartisan consensus among House members that immigration reform is the right thing to do both for people in this country and for our economy.
There are bills that have passed Committee that could be brought to the floor next week, but the House Republican leadership may punt the issue until 2014 for political reasons. That’s very disappointing. The American people, and my constituents, expect us to tackle these important issues, come together, and get something done for the good of the country. It’s just a shame that won’t happen this year.
I have spent countless hours meeting with community members and addressing town hall meetings on the topic of immigration reform. There is no doubt in my mind that reforming our immigration system is right and necessary and I remain committed to enacting real solutions that will fix our current broken system. I will continue to urge the House leadership to move forward on immigration reform with all possible haste.
Heck is right about House leadership–Boehner and his crew have scarcely done anything on immigration reform this year, besides give Steve King a vote to deport DREAMers. They should be slammed for that.
But as we blogged this morning, we’re tired of talk. Now is the time for action. And there’s something very concrete that Joe Heck can do if he’s serious about supporting immigration reform. There is an immigration bill in the House, HR 15, and it needs some Republican co-sponsors. If Heck is serious about helping immigration to move forward, he should co-sponsor the bill immediately – and then demand that his GOP leaders bring it to the House floor for a vote. If we get a House floor vote on HR 15, we can pass real reform – this year.
