Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) slammed leaked legislation that served as the first draft of President Barack Obama's immigration reform plan, saying it would be "dead on arrival" in Congress.
On Saturday, USA Today obtained the draft of Obama's proposal, which would provide a path for all illegal immigrants to become permanent residents in eight years. Rubio criticized the President's plan for a lack of emphasis on border security, saying in a statement that "does nothing to address guest workers or future flow, which serious immigration experts agree is critical to preventing future influxes of illegal immigrants."
"It’s a mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress," Rubio said. "President Obama’s leaked immigration proposal is disappointing to those of us working on a serious solution. The President’s bill repeats the failures of past legislation."
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough pushed back on Rubio's criticism Sunday on ABC's "This Week," saying it was up to Congress to come up with something other than Obama's plan.
"He says its ‘dead on arrival’ if it’s proposed," McDonough said of Rubio. "Well, let’s make sure that it doesn’t have to be proposed. “Let’s make sure that that group up there, the 'gang of eight,' makes the good progress on these efforts as much as they say they want to."
Appearing after McDonough on "This Week," Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also said that the White House leaking the proposal "sets things in the wrong direction."
"Look, the question that we always have to ask ourselves, particularly with this White House, is the president looking for a partisan advantage or is he looking for a bipartisan law?" Ryan said.
"And by putting these details out without a guest worker program, without addressing future flow, by giving advantage to those who cut in front of line for immigrants who came here legally, not dealing with border security adequately, that tells us that he's looking for a partisan advantage and not a bipartisan solution."
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