Newly elected Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday he’s willing to work across the aisle with Democrats but won’t do immigration reform with President Obama in his final 14 months in office.
{mosads}“The president has proven himself untrustworthy on this issue, because he tried to unilaterally rewrite the law himself. Presidents don’t write laws. Congress does,” the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to Obama’s executive actions this year to ease immigration policies.
“The president’s proven himself to be untrustworthy on this issue.”
In recent closed-door meetings, Ryan has been making similar pledges about immigration to conservatives colleagues, who are wary of his past bipartisan work on comprehensive immigration reform.
The 2012 vice presidential nominee has vowed there will be no immigration vote while Obama is in office, and he said he won’t bring other immigration bills to the floor unless they have backing from a majority of House Republicans.
“I think if we reach consensus on something like border enforcement, interior security, that’s one thing,” he told NBC host Chuck Todd. “But I do not believe we should advance comprehensive immigration legislation with a president who’s proven himself untrustworthy on this issue.”