{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221160607/http://himes.house.gov/press-release/himes-urges-speaker-boehner-bring-immigration-reform-vote", "Himes Urges Speaker Boehner to Bring  Immigration Reform Up for Vote", "2013-11-20", "2013", "2013-11", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Jim Himes", "H001047", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, DC\u2014Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) today spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives urging Speaker Boehner to allow an up or down vote by the full House on comprehensive immigration reform. The Senate passed immigration reform in a broad, bipartisan vote in April, and Himes is cosponsor of similar legislation in the House. Click here to view the floor statement. A transcript follows this release.\n\u201cWhat if I told you that there was a jobs bill just sitting there ready to be passed, that would add almost $1 trillion to our economy in a 10-year period? What if I told you that this jobs bill would create 121,000 new jobs every single year for 10 years?\u201d said Himes in his speech. \u201cOf course I\u2019m describing the comprehensive immigration bill which the Speaker of this House refuses to bring up. There is no principled, no logical objection to this thing\u2014 there\u2019s just scare tactics.\u201d\nEarlier today, a Washington Post editorial also made the case for Speaker Boehner to bring immigration reform up for a vote:\n\u201cBut there are 11\u2009million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The country needs to deal with them in some way. When it does so, it needs to set up a sensible system for future immigration so we don\u2019t wind up in the same fix 10 or 20 years from now. That requires legislation of some complexity, it\u2019s true, but members of Congress are elected to solve complex problems.\n\u201cPresident Obama said Tuesday that he is open to dealing with immigration in a piecemeal fashion. But the House can\u2019t dictate that only border security and deportation are on the table. Mr. Boehner should let House Republicans vote on the parts of immigration reform they consider priorities and take that \u201csensible step-by-step\u201d approach into negotiations with the Senate. It is unserious, and unconstructive, to tell the Senate what it can and cannot bring to the table in negotiations with the House.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221160607/http://himes.house.gov/press-release/himes-urges-speaker-boehner-bring-immigration-reform-vote"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9330150205641985, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}