President Obama slammed the GOP on Wednesday for playing political ping pong on immigration and encouraged the opposition party to work with Democrats to pass a comprehensive reform bill.
“The Democratic party consistently has, in its platforms, in its conventions, has taken a strong stance that we need to fix a broken immigration system,” the president said. “And the blockage has been very specific on one side.”
Obama challenged former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate and supporter of immigration reform, to stop criticizing him and instead confront his own party.
“I appreciate Mr. Bush being concerned about immigration reform,” he said. “I would suggest that what he do is talk to the speaker of the House and members of his party, because the fact of the matter is that even after we passed bipartisan legislation in the Senate, I gave the Republicans a year and a half — a year and a half! — to just call the bill.”
However, many Republicans, including Texas Sen. John Cornyn, weren’t so receptive of the president’s criticism.
“We have already won and POTUS has lost the debate over his executive order on immigration in federal court,” the Texan tweeted.
Here’s what Congress tweeted about immigration reform:
Joseph Neese