GOP House leader calls Senate immigration bill a 'pipe dream' [View all]

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/27/politics/immigration/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Washington (CNN) -- While the Senate is poised to pass sweeping immigration reform Thursday afternoon, top Republicans in the House are calling the Senate bill a nonstarter.

"The House has no capacity to move that bill in its entirety. It just won't happen, so it is a pipe dream to think that bill is going to the floor and is going to be voted on," House Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam, R-Illinois, told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the National Review.

Talking about his fellow House Republicans, Roskam said, "Our conference is all about trying to get a deal with a secure border. Once there is a level of confidence on a secure border then you can deal with moving forward on these other elements."

Roskam said the White House is "on its heels," ticking through the recent stories about the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, the attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, the National Security Agency's eavesdropping programs, and what he said was the "unraveling" of the president's signature first-term health care reform accomplishment.

Because of that political environment, the GOP leader said he would be surprised if the president used a lot of energy now to pass a bipartisan bill and instead expected him to use immigration as a political issue against congressional Republicans to try to win back the House.