Politics

Reid: It ‘should be pretty easy’ to pass immigration reform

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Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid believes he has the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster and pass the Senate immigration reform bill.

In an interview Tuesday with the Nevada public affairs program “To the Point,” Reid explained that marshalling enough support to pass the legislation, which came out of committee last week, would be “pretty easy.”

“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, according to the Las Vegas Sun. “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.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has also sounded optimistic about passing an immigration reform bill, telling the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet Monday that her timetable for immigration reform would have a bill on Obama’s desk by August. Pelosi noted that the she would like to have the House offer its own immigration bill.

In recent days, House Speaker John Boehner has insisted that the Senate bill would not pass the House, which he said would craft its own immigration reform bill. “Gang of Eight” member and New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez has also expressed doubt about the legislation’s ability to pass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

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