Politics

Obama pushing for immigration bill, Carney says

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
Font Size:

President Barack Obama has been working hard behind-the-scenes to push the far-reaching immigration law over the finishing line, White House spokesman Jay Carney said today.

“The president has been working very hard on this matter. He’s had numerous conversations with lawmakers in both parties,” he said during the daily press conference.

Previously, White House officials downplayed the president’s role in the immigration debate, partly because polls show that GOP-leaning voters are more likely to oppose the measure when it is backed by Obama.

Obama has said passage of the bill would be a “historic achievement.”

Carney’s claim came in response to a question about Sen. Marco Rubio’s statement on Fox News that the bill doesn’t have enough support to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle.

“No, and I think even the Democrats would concede that,” Rubio told Fox.

“One of the things we’ve learned over the last few weeks … is how little confidence people have that the federal government will enforce the law,” said Rubio.

“People don’t trust the Department of Homeland Security to the job or to come up with a plan to do the job,” he added.

This week, Rubio suggested that Congress should write a border security plan, instead of delegating the task to the White House’s appointees.

Rubio’s proposal has been derided by critics, who say Obama’s deputies won’t implement any part of a border security plan that they don’t like. The critics say the security plan could be enforced if the any  amnesty process is delayed until the security plan is fully operational.

Democratic advocates of the bill, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, say they’ll get more than 60 votes to approve the bill in early July.

Carney’s statement came as the administration launched a series of initiatives and fights that can advance the presidents’ agenda, and also push several scandals — such as the IRS targeting scandal — off the front pages.

If passed by the Senate, the bill would have to be approved by the House before it could be signed into law by Obama.

Follow Neil on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel