Biden administration proposed eclectic immigration bill on Wednesday

The White House on Wednesday introduced an immigration bill that would have an eight-year path to citizenship easing millions of migrants residing in the country alleviating faster track for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.

On Wednesday evening administration officials argued that the legislation was an attempt by the president to restart a conversation on overhauling the US immigration system and said he remained open to negotiation.

The legislation faces an uphill climb in a narrowly divided Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has just a five-vote margin and Senate Democrats do not have the 60 Democratic votes needed to pass the measure with just their party’s support.

“He was in the Senate for 36 years, and he is the first to tell you the legislative process can look different on the other end than where it starts,” one administration official said in a call with reporters, adding that Biden would be “willing to work with Congress.”

“There are things that I would deal with by itself, but not at the expense of saying, ‘I’m never going to do the other.’ There is a reasonable path to citizenship,” Biden said at a CNN town hall in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

“The President is committed to working with Congress to engage in conversations about the best way forward,” one administration official said.