WSJ Slams Boehner for Caving on Immigration

The very conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page slammed House Speaker John Boehner for caving on immigration reform. Boehner blamed President Obama for his "lawlessness" despite the fact that Obama has issued fewer executive orders than recent Republican Presidents.

The latest evidence is John Boehner's punt on immigration reform. Only days ago the House Speaker floated a set of reform principles that opened the door to a potential compromise with Democrats and the Senate. But the response from the anti-reform right was so intense that he emerged at the Capitol on Thursday to more or less declare that nothing will happen on immigration this year. 

So great is the House GOP fear of a talk-radio backlash that it won't even pass smaller bills that 75% of Republicans agree on. There will be nothing to codify the legal status of children of illegal immigrants who have lived here for decades. And no expanded green cards for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges, a policy Mitt Romney endorsed. And no cleaning up the work-visa morass that has obliged U.S. farmers to hire illegals to harvest their crops.

Sahil Kapur reports on Talking Points Memo on the possible cost to the GOP.

But some veteran GOP operatives warn that if reform doesn't happen this year, it's less likely to happen next year, and so holding off on it will doom the party in the next several presidential elections.

"It's hard to predict the future with great exactitude, but I will tell you this: If we don’t pass immigration reform this year, we will not win the White House back in 2016, 2020 or 2024," argued John Feehery, a Republican lobbyist and former aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert.