Is 'Gang Of Eight' Breaking Up? House GOP Members Threaten To Quit Talks Before Immigration Bill Deal Is Reached

The U.S. House of Representatives' own "Gang of Eight" -- a bipartisan group formed to craft an immigration reform plan legislation distinct from that of the Senate's "Gang of Eight" -- may split due to disagreement over the details of the plan.

Aides told the Associated Press that members of the group had reached what appeared to be an impasse on the question of whether how to allow immigrants to purchase health insurance as well as a Senate compromise between unions and the Chamber of Commerce to include both high tech and low-skilled worker visas. House Speaker John Boehner expressed concern that the group may not be able to reach a compromise.

The Senate released its own bill proposal at the end of April and the Senate Judiciary Committee is currently debating amendments to it.

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The four Democrats and four Republicans who comprise the House "Gang of Eight" say their working group is 95 percent there on an agreement. But Republican Congressman Raul Labrador of Idaho has expressed a willingness to walk away from the table, telling a southern California public radio station, "You just need to ask the Democrats if they are willing to -- actually for the first time -- put Hispanic groups ahead of the unions and ahead of Obamacare."

"You know, somebody's gotta be optimistic in this process because there's a lot at stake." said Luis Gutierrez D-IL to the same radio station, adding there is no split between Democrats in the working group and that he remains optimistic that the group will come to a compromise.

If no agreement is reached at tonight's meeting, Republicans say they will work on their own more conservative version of immigration reform.

At the end of April, Republican Representative from Texas John Carter had asserted that the House's "Gang of Eight" would craft an immigration bill which made a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants tougher and called the Senate's legislation "amnesty." Carter said then it was "not as easy as the Senate side" but also "not as bad as anybody might think it is".

"It has compassion," Carter told audience members at a discussion hosted by the National Immigration Forum and the Texas Tribune. "It allows people to be human beings, to live a normal life, to have a job, to take care of their family, to pay their taxes, to obey the law and go about their lives."

But members of the House group have remained largely tight-lipped about details on their plan.