Add another complicated legislative challenge to the long list President Obama is giving himself: As he works to overhaul the nation's health care system and economic regulatory system, the president is promising to rewrite the nation's immigration laws too.
At a Hispanic prayer breakfast today, the president reiterated, in emphatic terms, his support for a sweeping new immigration measure -- that sounds a lot like the one that produced major political gridlock last year in the Senate, despite the support of such powerful and politically disparate leaders as then-president George W. Bush, GOP presidential nominee-to-be John McCain and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
"I'm committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform as president of the United States," Obama said at this morning's Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. That includes a path to citizenship for millions who are now living in the shadows, the president made clear.
"We must clarify the status of millions who are here illegally, many who have put down roots," he said. "For those who wish to become citizens, we should require them to pay a penalty and pay taxes, learn English, go to the back of the line behind those who played by the rules. That is the fair, practical, and promising way forward and that's what I'm committed to passing as president of the United States."
Obama's statement is being viewed as a politically significant signal because a planned White House summit on immigration has been twice postponed. It's now on for Thursday, when the president plans to meet with congressional leaders about immigration.
Immigrant rights advocates are "Having the president firmly committed to comprehensive immigration reform puts pressure on Congress to act," Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said in a statement.
Update, 2:40 p.m. ET: One of the Republican Party's rising young stars, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., also appeared at the Esperanza Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. Cantor, the No. 2Â GOP leader in the House, expressed regret "that at times during the immigration debate the rhetoric has gotten overheated.
"The undertones in select circumstances have alienated many communities of Hispanic Americans," Cantor added. The shift of Hispanic voters from the Republican to the Democratic column was widely regarded as a key to Obama's victory in last year's presidential election.
USA TODAY religion writer Cathy Lynn Grossman sent the Oval a note to point out that Obama's being selective about his prayer breakfasts: Last month, the president skipped the National Day of Prayer ceremony that Bush, his predecessor in the Oval Office favored. At the Hispanic Prayer breakfast, Obama urged the audience to respect the fact "that this is a nation of Christians and Muslims and Jews and Hindus and non-believers.
"It is this freedom that allows faith to flourish within our borders," Obama said. "It is this freedom that makes our nation stronger."
