While many of us will be focused for the next two weeks on the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, there's another competition that's starting to heat up: Comprehensive Immigration Reform ("CIR"). At the beginning of the week, President Obama's White House Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough, provided his thoughts on the U.S. Cong.ress's House of Representatives' ongoing debate on CIR.
The news appeared to be positive given the great deal of animosity between the Democratic-controlled White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. However, later in the week, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the CIR ship:
Based on the Speaker's comments, CIR should be dead for 2014, right?
Without any trust between the House of Representatives and the White House,
there's simply no chance of CIR being passed, correct?
While some see the ending of a debate, others would see the beginning,
a beginning of a negotiation wherein the two sides are establishing their
top lines so to speak. Where and when the debate will actually end are
still a mystery. In the meantime, foreign nationals and their attorneys
will need to continue to utilize the various existing immigration-related
options, which as many would attest provide enough of a competition in
and of themselves.