Fate of CIR - Conference Compromise or Post November Midterm National Election, That is the Question.
The CIR sailed through the Senate floor fairly peacefully last week. However, the process ahead is something which is a totally different matter. The gravity of the problem can be easily understood from the fact that allegedly all 435 seats in the House are up for grabs and a third of the Senate seats will be contested in the November midterm election. Each Senator represents the whole State, while each member of the House represents a small district in a city or county. For these reasons, the House members tend to represent a very narrow view for the broader "national" or "regional" issues than the Senators. The Senators and the Members of the House represent completely two different constituencies!
Reportedly, the members of the House who have to be more conscious of the "grassroots" and "neighborhoods" in a small district are somewhat concerned with the Senate passed CIR because of the illegal immigration issues. The grassroots are more easily vulnerable to manipulation of the opinion by neighborhood or community leaders.
The Senate leaders currently want to see no delays in the compromise process for the CIR, while the House leaders and members are reportedly struggling with the issue because of its potential deadly impact on their narrowly defined constituents. It is expected that there will be a lot of political process behind the scene during the next few weeks. From the immigrant community perspectives, the sooner, the better, for the CIR to survive before the midterm election. We will keep a close eye on the political process to detect which direction the wind will blow during the next few weeks. Please stay tuned.