Are pleas by Obama hindering the push?

As President Barack Obama re-engages on immigration reform, some of his allies disagree about how big of a role he should take in the debate on Capitol Hill.

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In Thursday remarks at the White House, Obama reiterated his position that "common sense" immigration reform is a politically popular way to "grow the economy and shrink our deficits" while securing the U.S. border, modernizing the visa system and offering a pathway to citizenship for most of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who have already settled in the United States.

Urging Congress to act this year, Obama also made it clear that he prefers the bipartisan approach of the Democratic- controlled Senate, which on June 27 passed a comprehensive package that has been languishing in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. House Democrats have offered similar legislation, but Obama added that "if House Republicans have new and different, additional ideas for how we should move forward, then we want to hear them."

The House has been working on its own series of smaller immigration-related bills but has yet to pass any. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has signaled that action on immigration is still possible, and several GOP lawmakers have indicated that they are exploring possible approaches to addressing the legal status of the undocumented population.

Obama's remarks earned applause in the immigrant community, but some observers said they want the president to move beyond prodding Congress and use his executive authority to halt deportations.

Other reform supporters, particularly in the business world, worry that his high-profile stand risks further alienating conservative House Republicans, many of whom are still nursing bruised egos from the recent government shutdown and debt-ceiling fight.

Immigration-reform advocates have considered 2013 their best opportunity to pass a comprehensive bill since the last serious effort failed in 2007, but time is running out.

The push is on to finish immigration reform in the next few months because by early 2014, Congress will be overshadowed by midterm-election politics. Those partisan atmospherics make bipartisan cooperation less likely, although some analysts and reform supporters are hopeful there may be another window of opportunity once primary-election ballots are set and Republican incumbents don't need to worry about challenges from conservatives who oppose "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.

"It doesn't make sense to have 11 million people who are in this country illegally without any incentive or any way for them to come out of the shadows, get right with the law, meet their responsibilities and permit their families then to move ahead," Obama said during his speech at the White House, where he was joined by Vice President Joe Biden and reform supporters.

"It's not smart," Obama said. "It's not fair. It doesn't make sense. We have kicked this particular can down the road for too long."

Growing support

For most of this year, Obama has kept his distance from the legislative action, giving the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight" of four Democrats and four Republicans the time they needed to craft their bill. The group included Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Because of the delicate political dynamics of the House, Obama's increasing presence in the immigration debate gives anxiety to some pro-reform business leaders who traditionally have a good rapport with Republicans. The fear is that some GOP partisans who might otherwise support reform could balk if they feel Obama is muscling them.

"It hurts more than it helps," said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who, with other business leaders, will travel to Washington next week to lobby lawmakers to pass immigration reform. "We understand and we appreciate that this is a big issue for him. It's a big issue for the country. This would be a good time for the House of Representatives to really pass out its vision for immigration reform."

In his Thursday statement, Obama acknowledged that his support could provoke new antagonism from his conservative critics, but he emphasized that immigration reform -- the top domestic priority of Obama's second term -- has broad-based political appeal and historically has attracted support from Republicans, including former President George W. Bush.

"I know that there are some folks in this town who are primed to think, 'Well, if Obama is for it, then I'm against it,'" Obama said. "But I'd remind everybody that my Republican predecessor was also for it when he proposed reforms like this almost a decade ago, and I joined with 23 Senate Republicans back then to support that reform. I'd remind you that this reform won more than a dozen Republican votes in the Senate in June."

He added: "I'm not running for office again. I just believe this is the right thing to do."

One leading national champion of immigration reform dismissed the idea that Obama should defer to House Republicans who dislike him.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro- reform organization America's Voice and an expert in immigration politics, said the restraint that Obama has shown thus far is testament to how badly the president wants a bill passed.

For example, Obama has refrained from trying to punish Republicans politically for holding it up, he said.

"Come on, he's the president. He gets to use the bully pulpit to try to set the agenda," Sharry said. "Obviously, it's only going to happen if the House Republicans decide to do it. Everybody in the world knows that everybody wants to get it done except for the divided House GOP. They have to decide whether they want to be the party of responsible governance or the party of confrontational nihilism. So, it's their call."

Another immigrant advocate called on Obama to show more leadership by curtailing his administration's "outrageous number of deportations," which affect many people who could benefit from reform, although such a step also could rile House Republicans.

Some GOP lawmakers already have suggested they don't trust the Obama administration to properly enforce any new immigration or border- security laws that might be passed.

"From our perspective, the president is definitely a big stakeholder and player in getting immigration reform done," said Cristina Jimenez, managing director of the immigrant-youth network United We Dream.

"We don't believe that for the president to step up and push Congress to get this done undermines the efforts," she said. "But we also believe that the president himself could do more."

Limited influence

Other observers, including Arizona's two members of the Senate Gang of Eight, suggested that Obama's powers of persuasion probably are limited with regard to many House Republicans.

"I don't know if it helps or hurts, to be honest with you," McCain said Tuesday when asked about a more active Obama role. "I think that the Republican Party understands the majority of Americans want this issue resolved. There are many members of Congress that represent districts where the majority do not support immigration reform, and we understand and respect that."

John J. "Jack" Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California, also said rank-and-file House Republicans are more likely to take their cues on immigration reform from their conservative base than from Obama or even the national GOP leaders who want to improve the party's image with Latino voters.

"For the average House Republican, the Number 1 concern is his or her own district, and most Republicans are not getting much clamor for the liberalization of immigration laws in their own districts," Pitney said. "You can argue that it's in the party's long-term interest to address the issue, but 'long-term interest' doesn't get a vote in primaries and general elections."

Flake, who served 12 years in the House before moving to the Senate, said time appears to be immigration reform's biggest enemy. "The president saying it isn't going to make it happen," Flake said. "Let's face it: The calendar is going to be tough this year."

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