Politics & Government

Connolly: Immigration Reform Probably Won't Be Addressed in House This Session

Connolly said that the 113th Congress is on its way to being "the least productive Congress in history."

Northern Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) doesn't expect to be voting on an immigration reform bill in the near future. Connolly told members of the Greenspring Retirement Community in Springfield on Tuesday that the Republican-led House will not likely pass, much less vote on, the Senate immigration bill that passed 68-32 last month. 

"This Congress right now is on record for being the least productive Congress in recorded history. We passed 18 bills into law, nine of them inconsequential name-changing types of bills," said Connolly. "I would be surprised if the House dealt with comprehensive immigration reform this year, but I do believe soon or later we are going to have to deal with it."

The Senate Bill would double the number of U.S. border patrol agents from 22,000 to 44,000. 

"I happen to believe that is bad public policy. I believe they will be tripping over each other," said Connolly. "When you have a mass hiring real quickly… Your standards get lowered to fill your quotas, training gets cut back and problems can occur."

There are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Last month, the House voted 224-201 (to block a Presidential order) that resumes the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought into the United States as children. 

What do you think? What should an immigration reform bill look like? 


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