With the U.S. House looming closer to a vote on the controversial immigration bill this fall, key legislators and advocates in favor of the bill have intensified the pressure on several fronts to persuade House Republicans to pass the legislation.
As reported by AZ Central via the Associated Press, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., part of the "Gang of Eight" bipartisan Senate group that sponsored the legislation, said Monday that he is seeking the help of Arizona business leaders in supporting the bill during the summer break for Congress.
Sen. McCain's argument for the legislation--which would put many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. on a pathway to citizenship--is that legalizing those immigrants will create jobs across the nation.
"We all respond to our constituents," McCain said. "Over 70 percent of the people in Arizona support a path to citizenship if they pay back taxes, learn English, get in line behind everybody who has waited legally, and so we hope to convince them without being disrespectful to my House colleagues."
A former presidential candidate in 2008, Sen. McCain is touring the state during the recess to stump for the legislation and held a discussion Monday at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
With the bill--which passed the Senate in June--facing a stiff challenge in the House from Republicans who are opposed to passing the bill, Sen. McCain is hoping to get some late support from key Republican legislators such as Sen. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., a former vice presidential candidate, and House Speaker John Boehner, who has previously been reluctant to give a formal position on the bill.
"There's 11 million people who are here living in the shadows and they're not going to deport them," Sen. McCain said. "That's de facto amnesty. And the path to citizenship is 10 years, it's a couple thousand dollars in fines, it's a long process towards citizenship, at least 10 years, just in order to get a green card. It's very tough and arduous."
Meanwhile, advocates around the country in favor of the legislation have been putting together a stronger push in an effort to convince House Republicans to pass the bill. However, activists face a huge challenge as certain Republican legislators opposing the legislation are in districts that are firmly against the bill.
"Most of the energy is being spent on the folks who are gettable," Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, told Fox News Latino. "We're not spending a lot of time on Republicans who are clearly going to vote 'no.'"
Once such example came recently at a town hall meeting north of Baltimore held by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., where he said that a pathway to citizenship in the bill would "not [go] anywhere fast," to the applause from the room.
However, there have been a handful of Republicans such as U.S Reps. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and Aaron Schock, R-Ill., who have made comments in recent weeks indicative of their potential support for eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently living within U.S. borders.
Yet some in the GOP aren't certain if that suggests a potential widespread switch in the Republican consensus on immigration reform inside the House.
"These Republican members are reflecting their constituents, so the challenge isn't pressuring the Republican members, the challenge is to come up with a convincing and compelling argument for their constituents to agree to," said GOP pollster and advisor David Winston.
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