House GOP leaders scramble on immigration bill

WASHINGTON — As badly as things have gone for immigration legislation in the Senate this week, it’s not looking any easier in the more conservative House.

Republican leaders there are scrambling to find enough GOP votes to pass a measure that’s even more restrictive than a proposal by President Donald Trump that flopped in the Senate on Thursday. Compounding those divisions are pressures from some of the House’s most conservative members, who are casting the effort as a pivotal test for Speaker Paul Ryan, R-wis.

“It is a, the, defining moment for this speaker,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. who leads the House Freedom Caucus. “If he gets it wrong, it will have consequences for him but it will also have consequences for the rest of the Republican Party.”

Ryan aides did not respond to a request for comment on Meadows’ remark. But underscoring party rifts, some Republicans defended the speaker and his work on the issue.

“Any time you allow one member or a small group of members to dictate overall policy for the country, it is an unfair scenario,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-calif., who’s opposing the conservative legislation, said Friday. “I just don’t think our speaker’s going to give into any type of threats.”

Even if House leaders manage to push the measure through their chamber, it would be dead on arrival in the closely divided Senate. Democrats there could ensure its demise because any immigration measure would need 60 votes to survive, meaning bipartisan agreement is mandatory.

Meadows said Friday that despite the Senate’s stalemate over immigration, “It is critically important that we demonstrate a conservative solution” that protects young immigrants in the country illegally from deportation. He said he believed that Trump’s support for immigration legislation would eventually result in “more concessions” from senators.

One possible fallback is temporarily extending such immigrants’ protections for a year in exchange for some money for border security.

“I think we’ll address the issue at some point in some way,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., told a reporter Friday when asked about the possibility of such a temporary extension.