Senator John McCain is trying to
pressure Arizona’s four Republican House members to back broad
changes to U.S. immigration law by getting the state’s most
influential business and religious leaders to do it for him.

The five-term Republican is enlisting their help to
persuade his home-state House members to support the first
significant immigration revision in a generation. The Greater
Phoenix Economic Council, the Arizona Restaurant Association,
the state’s banking and small business trade groups, and local
evangelical and Catholic leaders are among those McCain met with
during a 36-hour Phoenix-area visit this week.

“My plea to you is to give this the highest priority for
the next several months,” McCain told about a dozen local
business leaders Aug. 28 at the Greater Phoenix Economic
Council. “I would like you to petition our members of Congress
and those 30 percent out there who are still not convinced of
the need for this legislation.”

His push emphasizes how the immigration debate has split
the Republican Party, along with the House and Senate. Arizona’s
four Republican House members — Paul Gosar, Matt Salmon, Dave Schweikert and Trent Franks — are among those in McCain’s party
who raise concerns about the plan, with a path to citizenship
for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., that the
Democratic-controlled Senate passed June 27.

McCain, who describes Arizona as “ground zero” for the
immigration debate, said gaining the support of at least one of
his state’s Republican representatives could help change the
minds of other opponents in their party.

‘Very Helpful’

“It would be very helpful if they just agreed to sit down
and negotiate with us,” McCain, who turned 77 yesterday, said
during an Aug. 27 interview in his Phoenix office. “All four of
them have been rather quiet.”

House opposition is imperiling the immigration revision
effort. McCain, a co-author of the Senate plan, has dedicated
much of this month’s congressional break to activating business
and religious groups, saying they are “pillars” of the party
whose support could change reticent lawmakers’ minds.

“We would like to convince them that this legislation is
necessary for the good of Arizona,” McCain told the business
leaders. He said Republican House members “should respond to
the business interests that we represent.”

In many ways, McCain is in the best position to push for
House action among the four Republican senators who, along with
four Democrats, wrote the Senate bill.

Other Republicans

His fellow Arizona senator, Jeff Flake, has far less of a
national profile, having joined the Senate in January after
serving six terms in the U.S. House. Florida’s Marco Rubio, who
is contemplating a 2016 presidential run, has been careful not
to alienate Tea Party Republicans, who oppose a path to
citizenship. South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham is preoccupied with
primary challengers he’s drawn for his 2014 re-election race, in
part because of his advocacy of the Senate bill.

At the national level, many Republicans say the party needs
to reconnect with Latino voters after President Barack Obama won
71 percent of the Hispanic votes cast in the 2012 presidential
election. That position has caused a rift with the small-government, Tea Party faction, many of whom prefer Republican
nominee Mitt Romney’s self-deportation approach.

To bolster the arguments, McCain urged business leaders to
cite data provided by Regional Economic Models Inc., an Amherst,
Massachusetts-based economic modeling firm. It said the
immigration measure establishing a citizenship path and
expanding visas would provide a $5.5 billion boost to Arizona’s
economy by 2045 and increase total personal income for Arizona
families by $2.5 billion by 2020.

‘Economic Upside’

“There’s a huge economic upside, and securing the border
and regulating the immigrant workforce in Arizona — and Texas
and California — is key to our economic growth,” Barry Broome,
president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, said in an
interview this week.

The group has provided business leaders, mayors and city
council members with data showing how immigration changes would
help stem workforce shortages in sectors like construction.

“What I don’t understand is why Congressman Gosar and
Congressman Schweikert aren’t coming around more quickly on this
issue for us,” Broome said.

None of Arizona’s Republican House members have endorsed
the Senate bill, and all have said relatively little about it.
Some people at an Aug. 27 immigration forum in the Phoenix
suburb of Mesa criticized the citizenship path for undocumented
workers.

‘Regular Rules’

“Why do they get in when other people have to go through
the regular rules? I don’t think it’s right,” said Helen Henry,
70, who lives near Schweikert in Fountain Hills, Arizona, about
a 30-mile drive from Phoenix. She said undocumented immigrants
in Arizona were straining public resources, including health
care and education.

Many House Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner of
Ohio, have said the Senate plan doesn’t require strong enough
border security before undocumented immigrants could gain
citizenship.

Republicans “don’t want to be seen as the pro-amnesty
candidate,” while Democrats in swing districts may worry that
supporting immigration-law changes will aid their Republican
opponents in 2014, said Nathan Gonzales, political editor for
the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report in Washington.

Gosar “believes we need immigration reform, but like many
of his constituents, he will not be sold on promises of future
border enforcement that will never occur,” spokesman Orlando
Watson said in an e-mail.

‘Clear’ Message

Kristine Michalson, a spokeswoman for Salmon, said in an e-mail that during meetings this month, “the message from his
constituents has been clear: Congress can do better than the
Senate immigration reform bill.”

Schweikert and Franks’s offices didn’t respond to requests
for comment.

Chris Zaharis, executive vice president at Empire Southwest
LLC, an Arizona-based Caterpillar and John Deere dealership,
said he met with Salmon and Gosar.

They cited political and procedural concerns, “which are a
bit frustrating when you are just trying to make some
progress,” Zaharis said.

Boehner and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte of
Virginia favor a step-by-step approach on immigration.

“We are not going to vote on the Senate bill in the
House,” Representative Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and
his party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, said in an Aug. 28
interview.

Push’s Effect

Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a network
of business groups that favor legal immigration, said it was
“hard to tell” whether the push from business and religious
groups was having an effect with House Republicans.

“The ingredients are still there for the right thing to
happen” though it is too early to “see whether the ingredients
come together,” Jacoby said in an interview.

Tennessee is the only other state with two Republican
senators — Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker — who supported the
Senate bill. There, too, it is opposed by House Republicans.
Alexander has drawn a primary challenger with Tea Party backing.

Immigration advocates credit McCain with keeping the issue
visible.

He’s “trying to lead his party out of the wilderness” on
its relationship with Hispanic voters, said Frank Sharry,
director of America’s Voice, a Washington group that backs a
path to citizenship. “If they don’t adapt to a changing
America, they will cease to exist as a viable national party.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Kathleen Hunter in Phoenix, Arizona at
khunter9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jodi Schneider at
jschneider50@bloomberg.net