Politics

Boehner snaps at reporter over immigration question

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Speaker of the House John Boehner snapped at a reporter Tuesday when the journalist accused the lawmaker of playing no substantial role in the immigration debate on Capitol Hill.

During a weekly House GOP press availability, the Ohio Republican appeared annoyed when he interrupted a reporter who asserted as fact that Boehner has taken a “hands off approach on immigration.”

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, stop,” Boehner said, not letting the reporter finish the question. “Just stop.”

“Let’s get back to the premise of the question,” he said. “Nobody has spent more time trying to fix a broken immigration system than I have.”

Continuing, Boehner said: “I talked about it the day after the election. And I’ve talked about it a hundred times since. While some may disagree about how we’re going about fixing the broken immigration system, it’s been a big goal of mine.”

While the Senate passed the Gang of 8 immigration bill that includes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Boehner says the bill is too big and says he won’t bring it to a vote in the House. But he has dodged questions about his personal views on a pathway to citizenship, saying his role in Congress is to facilitate discussion of the issue among legislators.

“We believe that a common sense, step-by-step approach to addressing this problem makes a lot more sense than one big massive comprehensive bill,” he said.

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