Pelosi says immigration reform will be finished by summer recess

SACRAMENTO -- Pointing to an agreement reached between farmworker unions and growers on a migrant worker program, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Saturday that she expects immigration reform to be completed before Congress takes its summer recess.

“It just seems like things are being worked out,” she told reporters at the annual convention of the California Democratic Party. “The eloquent voice of 70% of Hispanics voting for Democrats in the last election explained it really clearly to Republicans.”

The agreement, reached late Friday, would establish a new “blue card” for workers already in the country, one of the last major components of sweeping legislation being drafted in the U.S. Senate.

Pelosi also said that she disagreed with a portion of President Obama’s proposed budget – indexing Social Security benefits to inflation. However, she praised the overall proposal as “one of the finest values-based, forward-looking budgets that I have seen.”

Pelosi addressed delegates during the morning session and also headlined a luncheon celebrating Democrats winning six tough congressional races in California.

“California Democrats are not done yet,” she told about 3,000 delegates and guests at the Sacramento convention center. “We are just getting started!”

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