Yesterday, the president also nominated John Brennan to be the next director of the CIA. Right now, Brennan is the president’s chief adviser on counter-terrorism. He worked at the CIA for 25 years, so getting the job as director could be seen as kind of a homecoming for him. And just because President Obama nominates them doesn’t mean Hagel and Brennan will get those jobs. We mentioned they have to be confirmed. And that power belongs to the U.S. Senate. There will be confirmation hearings, where Senators will get to ask nominees questions before deciding whether or not to vote for them, to approve them for the jobs. 

 

Confirming presidential nominees is one of the responsibilities that can only be done by one part of Congress or the other. For example, the House of Representatives can decide if a government official should be put on trial, but the Senate is the group that holds that trial. On other things, obviously, the House and Senate work together, like coming up with laws. 

 

Yesterday, Athena Jones looked at the issue of gun control. Today, she’s putting the focus on another subject that could be a priority for the new Congress, immigration reform. 

 

What might comprehensive legislation look like? The president says it should include measures to beef up border security, punish companies that purposely hire undocumented workers and give the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants here a way to obtain legal status. Groups that want to restrict immigration are skeptical. 

 

The president himself has said he doesn’t think these laws are enforceable. How, how on earth is Congress ever going to be convinced to pass a package of, of the kind he’s talking about when no guarantees can be made to the general public that the laws will be respected? 

 

Doubts that could signal a long road ahead for this legislative push. 

 

Right now, what’s interesting on immigration is that everyone is talking the talk, and that includes Democrats and Republicans, but, again, there’s a big difference between talking the talk and walking the walk on policy. 

 

A big question is whether the parties can agree on how to approach this immigration issue. Should it be on big bill which many Democrats are pushing? Or several smaller ones which many Republicans favor, because they say this issue so complex. Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.