Congress is returning to Washington for the final two weeks of the legislative year to work on a farm bill, the budget and water projects. Immigration reform does not show up on the agenda of Speaker John Boehner.
Still, Democratic Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva is hopeful the speaker will give the issue a shot.
“Boehner’s got to put it on the floor and call for a vote and I’m very, very, very confident in saying if that were to happen, we’d have enough votes to on immigration reform to move to conference,” Grijalva said.
The Senate has approved an immigration reform bill. Grijalva says House approval is being held up by Tea Party Republicans, the same group, he says, that is holding up progress on the budget and the debt ceiling.