President Barack Obama’s draft immigration proposal is nothing more than a backup plan in case Congress fails to produce comprehensive legislation of their own, a White House official said Monday.
“The administration will be ready to move forward in the event the bipartisan process gets bogged down and is not able to produce a bill,” the administration official said. “But our focus remains on supporting the congressional process.”
The president set off a firestorm Saturday night when USA Today reported it had obtained a draft of the White House immigration plan. Republicans in Congress quickly panned the administration for leaking the proposal with no bipartisan input.
But the White House official said the administration was not “floating anything” and was “surprised” to find out the press had obtained the details. Instead, the official said, the White House was simply preparing for the possibility that the current political climate could cause gridlock that would delay or prevent the president from following through on one of his campaign promises.
“We’ll be prepared in the event that the bipartisan talks going on on the Hill -- which by the way we’re aggressively supporting -- if those do not work out, then we’ll have an option we’re ready to put out there,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/18/17007676-white-house-says-leaked-immigration-plan-a-backup-if-congress-doesnt-act?liteI'm not sure what the uproar is; it's not like they could put in in place without needing to consult Congress anyways.
