Some GOP lawmakers see health law as means to stall immigration reform efforts

Jun 18 2013

On Capitol Hill, immigration reform, sequester cuts and abortion issues continue to grab headlines.

The Washington Post: Republicans Trying To Use Health-Care Law To Derail Obama's Immigration Reform Efforts
After spending years unsuccessfully trying to overturn "Obamacare," Republicans are now attempting to use President Obama's landmark health-care law to derail his top second-term initiative -; a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration system. Conservatives in both chambers of Congress are insisting on measures that would expand the denial of public health benefits to the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants beyond limits set in a comprehensive bill pending in the Senate (Nakamura and Somashekhar, 6/16).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: From Cancer Patients To Head Start, Impact Of Sequester Cuts Slowly Ripples Across Nation
The first warnings about the spending cuts were dire. In March, as the sweeping $85 billion reductions known as sequestration kicked in, President Barack Obama called them "stupid" and "arbitrary" and said they could thwart economic progress. Opponents said the administration was using scare tactics, predicting doom even though the cuts amounted to a tiny slice of the federal budget (6/15).

The Hill: House Rules Changes Abortion Bill To Allow Rape, Incest Exceptions
The House Rules Committee on Friday altered a controversial bill banning abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy, in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is threatened. The bill, from Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), was approved by the Judiciary Committee without this language. But on Friday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) hinted that this may change (Kasperowicz, 6/15).