Republican senators in the “Gang of 8” crafting an immigration bill are eager to unveil and pass their legislation as soon as possible, brushing aside concerns from within their party that they slow things down.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told reporters on Tuesday that he hopes a bill might be released as early as this week.
“We don’t have that many differences that need to be resolved and we need to get moving,” he said. “We need to get it over to the Judiciary Committee so that they can be part of the process. The time comes for every issue, and I’ve been involved in these many times, and it’s time we got our final issues resolved — or not resolved.”
A group of Republican senators has called on the Judiciary Committee to take its time in reviewing the bill, with some members going so far as to suggest scheduling several months of hearings. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has expressed some sympathy for their concerns and has called for multiple hearings on his legislation once it’s released — much to the chagrin of immigration activists.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Tuesday he was “optimistic” an immigration deal would be reached soon. And he didn’t sound very interested in the prospect of a drawn out set of hearings to review it before moving on to the amendment process and utimately a vote.
“We did [one hearing] in 2006,” Graham said, referring to past efforts at passing a bill. “It was good enough for us in 2006.”
McCain also sounded skeptical of additional hearings in an appearance on CBS’ Face The Nation over the weekend.
“Some are saying, wow, we’re not having enough hearings,” McCain said. “First of all, we know the issue. But second of all, the Judiciary Committee will act. There will be amendments. There will be debate. Then it will go to the floor of the Senate. There will be plenty of time for discussion and debate so I reject this notion that something is being railroaded through.”
