Is Marco Rubio stalling on immigration reform? The freshman senator says he
wants immigration reform to happen, just not too quickly By Jon Terbush | 5:
46pm EST
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After pushing immigration reform, Sen. Marco Rubio is suddenly raising
concerns about the pending bill. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
A
s a bipartisan group of senators prepares to unveil a wide-ranging
immigration reform bill, a key Republican member of that group may be
putting the brakes on his own legislation.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has been one of the most vocal lawmakers from
either party to push for immigration reform this year. The freshman senator
broke with the majority of his party in January by saying he was open to
bestowing legal status to undocumented immigrants, a crucial sticking point
in the debate.
However, with Congress moving swiftly on the issue, Rubio has repeatedly
cautioned his colleagues to slow down.
Last week, his office issued a statement warning that reports of an imminent
immigration deal were "premature." That was "a deliberate attempt by Rubio
to slow down the momentum toward a deal on immigration," say the Washington
Post's Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan, who point out that the statement
dropped the same day that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was scheduled to
discuss the pending legislation on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Rubio has also raised concerns about the potential cost of immigration
reform. And last Friday, he said the pending bill would be a "starting point
, not a take-it-or-leave-it proposition," fueling fears among reform
advocates that a protracted debate would give opponents sufficient time to
rally and defeat the legislation.
So why is Rubio raising these concerns now?
Immigration reform is still deeply unpopular with many conservatives, and
publicly calling for a slower, more deliberative process would give Rubio an
easier sell to the party base once a final compromise is reached.
Here's the Post's Sullivan on that point:
Sure, immigration reform is a political necessity, but caving in to
Democratic demands and embracing new laws conservatives will grouse about is
politically perilous too — especially for someone who might run for
president. In other words, if Rubio is to embrace the final proposal the '
Gang of Eight' comes up with, it can really only be after extended
consideration, and the perception that he regularly pushed back against the
Democrats in the group. [Washington Post]
Others have similarly attributed Rubio's newfound hesitancy to his presumed
presidential ambitions.
"One word, or rather number: 2016," says Bloomberg's Francis Wilkinson. "
Rubio's call to slow down the process on an issue that has been negotiated
on both sides of the Capitol for the better part of a decade aligns him —
momentarily — with the party's all-important conservative base."
There's also been much speculation that Rubio is prepared to ultimately walk
away from the legislation he helped to create. According to Politico, that
prospect, "more than any other dynamic," has been driving the proposal's
fine-tuning.
For now, Rubio is still expected to sign on to the final bill. However,
spurning the legislation could be a political win-win, since it would allow
him to "say that he wanted to make a deal, but the other side was too
unreasonable in its demands," says the American Conservative's Daniel Larson.
As Talking Points Memo's Benjy Sarlin notes, there is some recent historical
precedent for Republicans initially supporting controversial Democratic-
backed bills, only to wind up voting against them. However, he argues that
Rubio's actions are more likely "a wink to conservatives without any actual
substantive concerns behind it." Rubio has already placed himself to the
left of his party on the issue, so there's no real benefit to turning back
now, Sarlin argues.
Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin made a similar
argument Monday, writing that Rubio's communications director told her that
the senator has only been angling for more leverage in the negotiations, not
attempting to stall the bill into oblivion.
"No one has more to gain than Rubio if immigration reform passes — and
passes with a good share of the GOP support," says Rubin. "And, in turn, the
Republican Party has much to gain by jump-starting legislation that
President Obama did not champion in his first term."
