Continuing his recent push to have Washington pass comprehensive immigration reform into law, President Obama told Univision Wednesday that he expects a bill on immigration overhaul to be ready by April.
Obama sat down with the Latino TV network to talk about the recent developments on the immigration reform front, including the progress of the bipartisan senate group known as the "Gang of Eight," which has been working on a compromise bill on immigration.
Amid reports that the group has reached an impasse, President Obama assured that the group was still making progress and are actually very close to finalizing a deal on a formal immigration bill.
"I'm actually optimistic that when they get back they will introduce a bill," Obama said during the interview. "My sense is that they have come close and my expectation is that we'll actually see a bill on the floor of the Senate next month."
The forecast stayed true to the senate panel's desire to have a bill issued soon after the Senate reconvenes after Easter vacation.
If a bill is presented by the start of April, President Obama expressed confidence that the bill could be passed and signed into law by the end of the summer. However, with his own proposal on immigration law ready as a backup, the president reiterated a previous promise to submit his version of the bill to Congress should they fail to come up with a feasible immigration plan.
The March interview was the latest in a string of public appearances that Obama has made since January, when he began his push for immigration reform as part of his campaign vow to pass comprehensive immigration laws. Both the President and Republicans in Congress have been pressured by Latino voters, who voted for Obama in record numbers during the November elections, to make immigration overhaul a priority after years of delays on Capitol Hill.
However, there still remain some Republicans who are weary over the rapidly approaching deadline that Obama has mandated on immigration reform. Recently, six Republican senators sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging them to allow legislators more time to read and analyze an immigration bill.
Recent word on a deal for the bill suggest that the panel and Congress have been at odds over exactly how to bring about a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, with the senate panel insisting on issuing a path to citizenship only after the border is secure, which Obama insists is important, but told Univision that progress had already been made on tighter security at the southern border.
In addition, the AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have been at odds over the contentious issue of how much immigrant workers should be paid, the union wanting higher wages than the chamber has agreed to.
However, Ana Avendano, a lead AFL-CIO negotiator, told Fox New Latino Wednesday that negotiators for both sides are back at the table to continue talks and are "back on the right track.
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