Obama offering immigration plan as backup

The White House is downplaying its draft immigration proposal as merely a backup plan if lawmakers don’t come up with an overhaul of their own. It won’t be necessary, Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are telling the Obama administration. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough says President Barack Obama wants to “be prepared” in case the small bipartisan group of senators fails to devise a plan for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. In response, lawmakers assured the White House they are working on their own plan—and warned that Obama would be heading toward failure if his administration gets ahead of them. “We will be prepared with our own plan if these ongoing talks between Republicans and Democrats up on Capitol Hill break down,” McDonough says, adding that he’s optimistic they would not crumble. But he was equally realistic about the fierce partisanship on Capitol Hill. “Well, let’s make sure that it doesn’t have to be proposed,” McDonough says of the president’s pitch. Even so, the administration is moving forward on its own immigration agenda, should one of Obama’s top priorities get derailed in Congress. The administration’s proposal would create a visa for those in the country illegally and allow them to become legal permanent residents within eight years. The proposal also requires businesses to know the immigration status of their workers and adds more funding for border security. It drew immediate criticism from several Republican lawmakers. Read the full story here.