Immigration Reform 2013: Obama Says He Will Push Immigration Reform After Debt Ceiling Resolution

President Barack Obama told the Los Angeles affiliate of Univision on Tuesday that he would go back to pushing immigration reform after conflicts over the debt ceiling and the government shutdown had been resolved. "Once that's done - you know, the day after - I'm going to be pushing [Congress]to say, call a vote on immigration reform," he said. But his push will likely encounter intensified opposition from a Republican majority in the House, where Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has refused to introduce a comprehensive, bipartisan bill passed in June by the Senate.

On Wednesday, Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), once a key conservative player in immigration in the House, told the Huffington Post that animus between House Republicans and the president had intensified to such an extent during the debt ceiling standoff that compromise on immigration reform would be unlikely. "I think it is," he said in response to the question of whether it was dead. "For us to go to a negotiation, to the negotiating table with President Obama after what he has done over the last two and a half weeks, I think would be probably a very big mistake."

Labrador, who left the House's bipartisan group dedicated to crafting comprehensive legislation on the issue in June due to disagreement over funding for health care for immigrants granted legal status, later added that he doesn't want even small, Republican-crafted bills on the issue to pass because the Senate would try to combine them with their own comprehensive bill. "It would be crazy" to let that happen, he said. "I think what [President Obama] has done over the past two and a half weeks -- he's trying to destroy the Republican Party," Labrador said of Obama. "I think that anything we do right now with this president on immigration will be with that same goal in mind, which is to destroy the Republican Party and not to get good policies."

Obama pointed the finger at Speaker Boehner during the Univision interview for not introducing the Senate's bill to the House for debate and a vote. "We had a very strong Democratic and Republican vote in the Senate," he said. "The only thing right now that's holding it back is, again, Speaker Boehner not willing to call the bill on the floor of the House of Representatives." The president has said he thinks if it were introduced, it would garner enough votes to pass the House and come to his desk to be signed into law.

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