“A comprehensive, single piece of legislation on any topic, but especially on immigration, is going to be very difficult to achieve … We keep talking about the same issue now for 15 years, and everybody is doing this all-or-nothing approach. And all-or-nothing is going to leave you with nothing.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), quoted by Politico, on the prospects for immigration reform.
This quote reveals what is fundamentally wrong with the understanding of the legislative process among Republicans. The reason you have comprehensive big bills on subjects like immigration is BECAUSE there is a divide of opinion on the issue. So a bill becomes comprehensive in order to accommodate compromise. You see, in simple terms, the Republicans want more money for enforcement and stricter deportation laws. On the flip side, Democrats want a pathway to citizenship for those undocumented immigrants who are not violent criminals. Republicans like Rubio say, hey, let’s pass what we want, more enforcement, and then maybe we can pass the other pieces of the comprehensive bill later. That is code for we get what we want and you get nothing. And the House could just pass an enforcement only bill, but it is dead in the Senate and would be vetoed by the President. But if you pair more enforcement with a pathway to citizenship, which is what the Senate did, then both sides get something they want. Compromise. That is how legislation works.