Paul Ryan: No immigration reform until Obama is out of office
A new speaker is in the House. But if you thought Paul Ryan would be more likely to pass some kind of immigration reform than his predecessor John Boehner, well, it looks like you’ll be disappointed.
Immigration reform will not be debated on the House floor until there’s a new president in the Oval Office, Ryan told a conference call of reporters from his home state of Wisconsin on Friday morning.
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It would be “ridiculous” to pass any kind of reform bill when the country has “a president that we can’t trust,” Ryan said, according to Wispolitics.com.
He said he wouldn’t bring any measure to the floor that didn’t have the support of the majority of the Republican caucus, and it seems pretty unlikely that any substantive bill would win that anytime soon. The Republican conference “needs consensus to proceed” on such a “controversial issue” Ryan said.
In terms of working with Obama, “I believe we have an obligation to look for common ground where we can find it,” Ryan said, while also adding that he wouldn’t hesitate to criticize the president.
His statements against immigration reform are hardly out of character. The new speaker, who at 45 is the youngest to hold the chair since 1869, signed a pledge not to pursue a reform bill earlier this week at the behest of conservative House members.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Ryan’s opposition to reform was “a source of deep disappointment.”
“I don’t know that there’s anybody around here that’s surprised by this recent declaration from Speaker Ryan,” Earnest said at his press briefing on Thursday.
Casey Tolan is a National News Reporter for Fusion based in New York City.