Reid and Schumer say there's time for the House to pass a bill. | John Shinkle/POLITICO House pressed on immigration

After months of being on the receiving end of criticism that they’re not doing enough on immigration, Senate Democrats are aggressively pushing the focus back to House Republicans.

Liberal activists and lawmakers have largely concentrated on President Barack Obama recently, urging his administration to ease deportations. Now, some of those same voices are training their fire on the GOP lawmakers in the House — taking seriously threats from congressional Republicans that major executive action could kill the prospects of reform altogether.


The rhetorical pressure was on full display Wednesday with twin speeches on the Senate floor, as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took turns blasting House Republicans for not moving on immigration reform so far this year and warning them that time is running out.

“I want to be clear what our window is for the House to pass immigration reform — it is the window between early June and the August recess,” said Schumer, a member of the Senate’s Gang of Eight that produced a comprehensive reform bill that cleared the chamber nearly one year ago. “If Speaker [John] Boehner, [Majority] Leader [Eric] Cantor and other Republican leaders refuse to schedule a vote on immigration reform during this window … it will not pass until 2017 at the earliest.”

( Also on POLITICO: Tea party leader backs immigration reform)

Reid noted that Wednesday marked 321 days since his chamber passed a sweeping comprehensive reform bill.

“We need to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform,” he said. “We can only do that if the Republicans in the House, led by Speaker Boehner, do the right thing.”

The strategy reflects a renewed hope that at least some type of immigration reform legislation is still possible after the issue has stalled on Capitol Hill for the past year amid intense opposition from conservatives in the House.

Buzz about a potential reform effort is growing this week. Speaking in San Antonio on Monday, Boehner said he still wants to do immigration reform and noted that lawmakers in both parties are “getting closer on the policy side.”

But the window for a new law — or even smaller pieces of a comprehensive bill — is rapidly closing. Obama noted on Tuesday that lawmakers have just “two, three months to get the ball rolling.”

Despite hope from immigration backers, the likelihood of a reform bill landing on Obama’s desk this year is still exceedingly dim. House Republicans have a deep distrust of the president that at times seems almost insurmountable — a problem that GOP lawmakers have named as their chief obstacle. And logistically, not much time remains before Capitol Hill becomes consumed with campaign politics ahead of the midterm elections.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama: 2-3 months for immigration)

“Realistically, there’s not enough time to do it between now and November,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican, said Wednesday.

Still, pro-reform lawmakers say they have some time to press their case with House Republicans and are easing up — at least slightly — on their push for Obama to use his executive authority to make changes to the immigration system. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who said in March that Obama should act to stop deportations “today,” now wants to focus the pressure on the House GOP.

“I’m all for administrative action if we cannot get immigration reform,” said Menendez, another member of the Gang of Eight. “But I also don’t want to give Republicans any excuse not to finally pass immigration. It’s just a question of timing.”

Those who still believe some type of immigration overhaul is possible in the next few months point to a few developments that they believe bolsters their cause.

For instance, a vast majority of filing deadlines for primaries have already passed, and even if primaries were a concern, few Republicans have drawn challengers who are actively going after incumbents on immigration. One exception is Cantor, who has a conservative challenger attacking him on a variety of issues, including immigration. His primary in his Virginia congressional district is June 10.

Adding to the boost in optimism, there has also been a recent surge of support for immigration reform among conservatives. The latest came Wednesday when Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo penned an op-ed that urged House Republicans to get going on immigration reform.

“It’s in conservatives’ interest to change our current broken system,” Russo said Wednesday.

Boehner has repeatedly expressed openness to reform but has encountered stiff concerns among conservatives in his conference. On Wednesday, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said if Democrats “want to make progress on this issue, they need a plan to increase the American people’s trust that the president will enforce the law as written.”

While House Republicans have been the prime target on immigration, Democrats are under considerable pressure as well. Obama has been criticized for the number of undocumented immigrants he has deported during his tenure, and top Senate Democrats were targeted by an advocacy group of young immigrants who believe the party’s lawmakers haven’t done enough to demand Obama halt deportations.

United We Dream, which led a protest Tuesday against Democrats near the Capitol, believes key Democratic lawmakers haven’t done enough to pressure Obama on deportations. But key Hill Democrats also recognize that sweeping administrative action on deportations is likely to kill the prospects of legislative reform on immigration altogether.

“Democrats have done everything possible to pass immigration reform legislation this Congress but now need to bring that same exhaustive pressure to fight for administrative relief and reform for our families,” said Lorella Praeli, United We Dream’s director of advocacy and policy. “We are pressing for action now and are prepared to hold Democratic leaders accountable on delivering for our families.”

A handful of immigration groups are scheduled to huddle next Tuesday with Reid and Democratic members of the Senate Gang of Eight to strategize on the way forward over the next few months, several people familiar with the meeting said. Aside from Schumer and Menendez, the Democratic members are Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Michael Bennet of Colorado.

If the House doesn’t act, Schumer predicted that Republicans will take a “shellacking” in 2016, giving a Democratic Congress and president the chance to pass their own bill. He highlighted remarks Monday by U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue that the GOP “shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016” if it doesn’t pass an immigration bill.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a tireless critic of the Senate’s immigration bill, accused Democrats of doing the “bidding” of the business lobby and added in his own floor oratory: “It seems Mr. Schumer’s party has been hijacked by special interests and they’ve lost sight of who they claim to represent — working Americans.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican member of the Senate Gang of Eight, suggested a simple time frame for the House to act on immigration reform: “the sooner the better.”

Still, he didn’t appear to think the comments from Reid and Schumer would do much to move House Republicans.

“I always rely on Sen. Reid and Sen. Schumer’s expertise on the House of Representatives, which has majority Republicans,” McCain said dryly. “I always rely on them.”