ABC News, reporting on the handful of Republicans who have in recent days expressed their support for immigration reform including a path to citizenship or legal status,
delivers this nugget:
Both Webster and Shock say they would support a pathway as long as certain pre-conditions are met, bringing the total to 21 House Republicans in support of a measure to bring the 11 million undocumented out of the shadows and into legal status and citizenship.
In one sense, the fact that there are just 21 Republicans publicly taking this position is pathetic. That's less than 10 percent of the Republicans in Congress—it means there's an order of magnitude more Republicans who aren't willing to support reform.
But while Republicans may be in charge of the House, it's not like Democrats don't exist. And if you take the number of Democrats who voted against Steve King's legislation to resume DREAM Act deportations (195), add the number of Democrats who missed that vote but who would vote voted against it had they been present (3), and then then combine that with the 21 House Republicans who say they support reform ... you end up with 219. And that's more than 218, which represents a majority of the House when all seats are filled.
You can slice and dice this issue however you want, but the one thing that's absolutely clear is that the votes are there for immigration reform. A majority exists. And that means the only thing that could stop immigration reform from happening is if Republicans, for purely partisan reasons, decide to kill reform. Gridlock isn't an obstacle: It's a choice.
The math is simple. And the question is even simpler: Do Republicans want to spend the next three years explaining explaining why their biggest "accomplishment" in Congress was overruling the majority to kill immigration reform?
Sign our petition urging U.S. House members to bring comprehensive immigration reform to a floor vote, with or without Speaker Boehner.