Op-Ed Details How Immigration Standoff Illustrates "Key Crossroads" in the New Congress

Immigration

The contentious debate in Congress over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before the Feb 27 deadline may shed some light on how things will work in the new Congress, according to an op-ed by former Congressman Rob Andrews, who will speak at the Association's CHRO Summit on March 6 and 7.  The key riddle for Congressional leaders over the next two years, as Andrews writes, will be "what bill is conservative enough for the House, but progressive enough to muster the support of a sufficient number of Senate Democrats to survive the 60-vote rule and then to gain the signature of the President Obama?"  This episode has offered a very public glimpse of the divisions "not only between Republicans and Democrats on what to do next, but also between House and Senate Republicans."  Though it is easy to be cynical at this point, and argue that House leaders should have foreseen this quandary and passed a more moderate bill that would not have garnered so much opposition from Democrats and stalled in the Senate, Andrews argues that this view misses the point.  Compromise positions are difficult because "Congress is filled with people who believe deeply in their respective points of view.  They are not easily given to being steered away from their passionate positions. I say, thank God for that! It is called 'democracy.'"  However the issue is eventually resolved, the tensions on display now illustrate the maze of conflicting interests Congressional leaders must now navigate, and offer a framework for how work will get done, or not, in the 114th Congress.