The Washington Post notes today that pro-immigration advocates are beginning to worry that the drive for gun control legislation will push their issue onto the back burner. The article quotes an activist saying the immigration reform push will have to start in the beginning of the year to have any hope of eventual success. That is looking increasingly unlikely though:
Obama, who won 71 percent of the Latino vote, said during his first news conference after winning reelection that he expected to have a comprehensive legislative bill introduced in Congress “very soon after my inauguration” on Jan. 20.
But that was before a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, prompting Obama to declare that he will use all the powers of his office to reduce gun violence. Last week, the president appointed Vice President Biden to head a commission to develop new proposals that Obama will “push without delay” in January.
Adding further complications to the timetable over the White House’s immigration strategy is the deadlocked negotiations over the looming “fiscal cliff” that could drag into the new year. Asked last week about Obama’s increasingly bloated agenda, White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to rank priorities.
Elsewhere, the Post notes that the history of gun control efforts by Capitol Hill is a “cautionary tale” for its advocates even when the efforts are sparked by a tragedy like Newton’s. Legislative drives have been long and hard-fought with the eventual bill usually a highly watered-down version of what they started out to regulate.
