Harry Reid: We Have The Votes To Pass Immigration Reform

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he believes that he has the votes to pass immigration reform in the Senate:

In the wide ranging, 30-minute interview, Reid also disputed a recent claim by Sen. Bob Menendez that the Senate does not have 60 votes to pass the Gang of 8’s immigration reform bill, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

“I talked about this to a number of my senators today, and what he wanted to say is they haven’t done a whip count on this yet,” Reid said. “I think we have 60 votes. Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats. I think the most I’ll lose is two or three. Let’s say I wind up with 52 Democrats. I only need eight Republicans, and I already have four, so that should be pretty easy.”

Reid’s optimism may seem like a case of counting your votes before their cast, but it’s always been the case that the Senate was likely to be friendly ground immigration reform, even on the Republican side. Thanks in no small part to the active involvement of Marco Rubio in the process, much of the conservative argument against the bill. Even Rand Paul, who has been critical of the Senate bill in some respects, has said recently that he may end up voting for it after all. The real question is what happens in the House of Representatives, and there the fate of reform is far from certain and it’s unclear that the House leadership is really committed to guiding the bill through to passage.

FILED UNDER: Borders and Immigration, Congress, US Politics, , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. stonetools says:

    I’m surprised at this prediction of easy passage in the Senate. But the anti immigrant forces know that their real line of defense is in the House, and that the House will be impregnable.

    I expect defeat in the House will be as easy as passage in the Senate.

  2. PJ says:

    I’m certain that a lot of Democrats are hoping for a defeat in the House, not because they want the bill to fail, but because they want an issue to get Hispanics to vote in 2014. And then they can pass the bill in 2015.

  3. legion says:

    That’s nice, Harry, but-

    The real question is what happens in the House of Representatives

    Exactly. Whatever the Senate passes, Obama better step out on day one declaring it to be worse than the plan that sent the Jews to the concentration camps. That’s the only way it’ll ever get through the House…

  4. stonetools says:

    @PJ:

    I’m certain that a lot of Democrats are hoping for a defeat in the House, not because they want the bill to fail, but because they want an issue to get Hispanics to vote in 2014. And then they can pass the bill in 2015.

    If the Democrats can execute. But this is the Democrats we’re talking about, so my expectations are low….

  5. Olivia says:

    Harry Reid, Obama, and Nancy Pelosi just can’t give the illegal aliens enough.

    http://www.limitstogrowth.org/articles/2012/05/23/senators-sessions-and-vitters-try-to-end-tax-loophole-for-illegal-aliens-reid-blocks/

    If you wish to take a minute of your time to save our country from illegal aliens, please join:

    numbersusa.org