Although President Barack Obama and many others have recently made it a key priority to push immigration reform in the tail end of the year, House Speaker John Boehner squashed all hopes of progress before 2014.

Boehner, who opposes the immigration bill, remained firm in his stance on the issue.

"I'll make clear we have no intention ever of going to conference on the Senate bill," he said.

Boehner's words sounded much different than they did when he spoke after the 2012 election.

"I think a comprehensive approach is long overdue," he said in an interview with ABC News in 2012, according to CNN. "And I'm confident that the president, myself, others can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all,"

Now, however, he says he wants to do it in a "step by step way."

"This is about trying to do this in a way that the American people and our members can absorb," he said. "There are hundreds of issues involved in dealing with immigration reform, and we've got to deal with these in a common sense way where our members understand what we're doing and their constituents understand."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte was one of the most outspoken Republicans on the issue and he spent a great deal of time on immigration reform in recent months. He released a statement on the issue late last month.

"Legislation that does not adequately address enforcement, like the Senate immigration bill, will not fix the immigration system and is a non-starter in the House," he said.