Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Luis Gutierrez Talk GOP Principles & Next Steps in the House
While the first part of the week focused on President Obama’s State of the Union address and the responses from House Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), it finished up in Cambridge, Maryland where the House GOP held its annual issues conference. With the release of House GOP immigration “standards” just yesterday, House immigration champions Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) discussed next steps on the America’s Voice weekly “Office Hours” press conference today.
Said Rep. Diaz-Balart:
This great nation deserves a commonsense solution to a broken immigration system. By first securing our borders and enforcing those laws, we can move forward to an answer that strengthens the economy and respects the rule of law, while bringing the 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. I continue to work Rep. Gutierrez and other colleagues on both sides of the aisle to solve this critical problem.
Added Rep. Gutierrez:
There is a long road ahead, but we can get something done. Some Republicans want to take action for political reasons now and in 2016, some for economic and security reasons; and many see it is the right thing to do morally. I am optimistic that for all of those reasons, they will produce legislation and we’ll begin seeing how Democrats and Republicans negotiate to get a good bipartisan bill passed and signed by the President.
To Listen to a Recording from Today’s Call, Click HERE.