At some point, John Boehner is going to have to step up and actually lead his caucus.
House Republicans held a big closed-door meeting Wednesday to discuss what they were going to do about immigration reform. And since while the meeting was closed-door, they apparently all came out and started dishing to every reporter in sight, we know quite a lot about what was said. The bottom line was a given: House Republicans don't like brown people, they don't like immigration, they don't like President Obama, they would like insane amounts of border security. Beyond that, well, they're in disarray.
As much as Republicans emerged from the meeting railing against an Obama administration that they say "cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises to secure the border and enforce laws as part of a single, massive bill like the one passed by the Senate," there are also clear signs that many Republicans still know they're going to be in electoral trouble if they don't do something significant on immigration:
“I think the majority of Republicans want to get something done,” said Rep. Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, adding that he thinks the majority of the conference stands behind perhaps not a pathway to citizenship but at least a pathway to legalization that would grant status to so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.
Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who opposes any immigration overhaul, described the party’s split over a citizenship or legalization pathway as about “fifty-fifty.”
But given the conflict between those who know the party's future will be endangered by inaction and those who want to take punitive action against immigrants, Republicans seem inclined to kick the can down the road:
Lawmakers are also still divided on whether it’s even necessary to pass immigration reform in the 113th Congress. Though the Senate passage creates some sense of urgency for the House to act, many Republicans don’t believe that action is crucial. As it is, the new school of thought is that no action on a House immigration measure would happen until after the August recess.
Because when you're in this much disarray, delay has to look good. The question then is
how the passing time will wear on John Boehner.