John McCain: Adding LGBT Protections to Immigration Bill Would Be Like Adding "Taxpayer-Funded Abortion"
Senator John McCain (L), R-AZ, and Chuck Schumer (R), D-NY, take part in Politico’s Playbook Breakfast series January 30, 2013 at the W Hotel in Washington, DC.
At a breakfast sponsored by Politico, a shy and retiring John McCain and Chuck Schumer got into a few specifics about how immigration reform could move through Congress.
Easily said, not easily done. Republicans talk about this year’s first two big votes, on the “fiscal cliff” and on Hurricane Sandy relief, as outliers. They can’t break the “Hastert rule” on picayune social issues! But McCain admitted that immigration reform may only pass if they’re willing to pad their bloc with Democratic votes.
There were very few questions about potential poison pills, or “triggers,” which could sink the bill. All McCain said was that the “group of eight” (I still prefer Octogang, per my colleague Matt Yglesias) would band together to kill amendments that could kill the bill. Politico’s Mike Allen asked whether LGBT protections, part of the president’s framework, could be included in the bill.