Biden will speak at a naturalization event Thursday at The King Center in Atlanta, the White House said. About 8,000 new U.S. citizens will be naturalized during 120 ceremonies at the beginning of November.
A day earlier, Biden and President Barack Obama plan to huddle with religious leaders to urge the House to act on immigration. Among the leaders that will meet with Obama, Biden and top aides at the White House Wednesday morning are megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, National Association of Evangelicals President Leith Anderson and Jim Wallis of the social justice group Sojourners.
Biden and Obama are backing an immigration overhaul that passed the Senate in June with bipartisan support. The bill has stalled in the House, where GOP leaders prefer a piecemeal approach.
Hoping to dissolve the impasse, the Obama administration has been stressing the support the legislation enjoys from a broad range of groups, including business and religious groups that traditionally have been in lockstep with Republicans. Biden spoke Tuesday to Catholic leaders on a conference call about immigration, following pressure the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has placed on the House to pass the bill this year.
But a top House Republican leader has told immigration advocates that lawmakers won't vote this year on the issue, raising the prospect that immigration will be postponed until 2014, when looming midterm elections may make it more difficult to pass a bill.
In Georgia, Biden will address the need for a path to legalization for 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, the White House said. Such a path was included in the Senate bill but has faced stiff resistance from House Republicans.
While in Atlanta, Biden will also headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/11/267811