Obama Pushes Congress To ‘Finish The Job’ On Immigration Reform

President Obama today called on Congress to pass an immigration bill in the coming weeks, saying lawmakers need to “work up the political courage” to fix the nation’s broken immigration system.

“I expect a bill to be put forward. I expect the debate to begin next month,” the president said at a naturalization ceremony at the White House. “I want to sign that bill into law as soon as possible.”

Welcoming new citizens to the United States, the president argued “immigration makes us stronger. It keeps us vibrant. It keep us hungry. It keeps up prosperous.”

The president praised lawmakers for the bipartisan progress that has been made so far. “We’ve seen some real action in Congress,” he said. “There are bipartisan groups in both the House and the Senate working to tackle this challenge, and I applaud them for that. We are making progress. But we’ve got to finish the job.”

During the ceremony 28 people representing 26 countries, including 13 service members, took the oath of allegiance and became naturalized U.S. citizens.

“The promise we see in those who come from all over the world is one of our greatest strengths,” Obama said. “It’s helped to build the greatest economic engine that the world has ever known. And you think about the drive and the determination that it took for each of these 28 men and women to reach this moment. Imagine how far they’ll go from here, the kind of difference that they’ll be making on behalf of this country.”

Obama Administration Pushes For Assault Weapons Ban Vote, But Says No National Gun Registry Needed

Despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control, President Obama still supports the ban.(George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Obama Administration says despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control for lack of votes, the President still supports it and urges the Senate to vote publicly on the proposal to eliminate “military-style weapons” from American streets as an amendment.

Speaking in today’s White House Briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said “it will be a question for all 100 members of the Senate to ask themselves about whether or not they think that voting for and supporting an assault weapons ban would actually do something to reduce gun violence in communities all across the country. So, we’re — – going to have that — we’re going to have that debate.” 

Related: Reid Pulls Assault Weapons Ban from Gun Legislation

Earnest also made clear that despite NRA fears, the President does not support a National Registry of legal gun owners.

“That is not something that the president has supported”, said Earnest.   He said the White House has no intention of taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.  ”What we want to make sure is that we’re keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, but without interfering with the ability of law-abiding citizens to get their guns that they would like to buy.”

The President does support background checks, but asked if those could be carried out without a national list of all those owning weapons in the United States, Earnest said, “He’s not seeking a registry.”

Over the weekend Republican strategist Karl Rove insinuated otherwise on ABC’s This Week.  Rove told George Stephanopoulos “if there’s one thing that scares a lot of people who believe in the Second Amendment, is the federal government keeping a national registry of gun sales, and gun purchasers, and gun owners.”

Related: Karl Rove on ‘This Week‘

The Senate is expected to debate and vote on extending background checks to gun dealers and private sales when it returns from Easter recess.  The NRA opposes the measure with Wayne LaPierre saying on NBC’s Meet the Press, “It slows down the law abiding and does nothing to anybody else”. 

Still the White House indicated today it not only wants the Senate to vote on “universal background checks,” it wants members of the Senate and House to vote publicly on the now-dead assault weapons Ban.

Related: Bloomberg, NRA Brace for Showdown on Guns