Republican has backing to force vote on ‘Dreamers’

California Rep. Jeff Denham hopes Ryan will take notice and voluntarily bring bills before the House.

WASHINGTON — California Republican Rep. Jeff Denham says he has the support needed to force a vote in the House on four immigration bills to protect socalled Dreamers, despite the objections of his own party’s leadership.

But he’s not committing to using it yet.

The Turlock congressman is hoping a show of support from at least 50 Republicans and most Democrats (totaling more than the 218 votes he’d need for a majority) will prompt House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (RWis.) to voluntarily bring up the bills for a vote, rather than risk the embarrassment of being forced to do so by a member of his own conference.

“I would hope that after we get to 218 that leadership will realize that a vote is imminent, and we bring it to the floor immediately,” said Denham, who could rely on a rarely used procedure to bypass leadership. “When you get to 218, it shows the will of Congress, and we expect to be well beyond that.”

But Ryan told reporters Thursday that he doesn’t support Denham’s idea of a “Queen of the Hill” vote, as the maneuver is known, on immigration because President Trump may not back whatever the House passes.

“I don’t want to spend our time bringing something through that I know is going to get vetoed,” Ryan said. Also, the Senate has already rejected versions of the bills Denham wants to vote on.

Ryan last year promised that Dreamers could “rest easy” because Congress would help them, and repeated the vow this year to take up the issue to help entice Democrats to vote for a spending deal. But he pledged to conservative members long ago that no immigration bill would come up without their support.

Democrats, who have largely supported Denham’s effort to buck his own leadership, are skeptical that Ryan will bring up immigration bills without being forced.

“He would have already done it,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (DN.M.) said. “The only way we get Ryan to do what we need to do is we have to jam him, and I think more and more people are getting ready to do that.”

Denham, who represents a heavily Latino and agricultural district, has worked on immigration issues for years and has publicly disagreed with his party’s leadership on the issue before. Even so, forcing a vote against the wishes of a House speaker of his own party would be a dramatic escalation.

It’s the latest example of California Republicans scrambling to show moderate positions in a state that is increasingly progressive and left-leaning, particularly under the Trump administration. Democrats are targeting 10 of 14 GOPheld districts in California, including Denham’s, in their bid to retake the House majority in November.

But what may have looked like something that could have helped his campaign may yet backfire. By acknowledging that he has the support needed to force a vote but then not following through, Denham could put himself in a political quandary in his district, where he faces a slew of opponents this fall. Democrats could accuse him of folding under pressure from his own party, while Republicans might see his moves as disloyal.

“This is something that is personal to me, it is important to my district, and yes, could there be repercussions? Absolutely, and I’m ready to take those on,” Denham said.

He said he was unsure when or if he might force a vote. “It depends on what the speaker does next,” he said.

To no avail, Denham pleaded with Trump last fall not to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provided temporary deportation relief and work permits for hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children.

Congress made a few attempts at a solution, but action stalled after a federal judge temporarily stopped the program from shutting down pending legal challenges. The Supreme Court refused the Trump administration’s request to expedite the case.

Denham’s resolution would invoke a parliamentary procedure to prompt debate and votes — without the approval of committees or leadership — on four different immigration bills: one favored by the Trump administration, one preferred by Democrats, one bipartisan proposal and another of Ryan’s choice. Whichever got the most votes would move forward to the Senate.

All four would help Dreamers to some degree, but they differ on border security and immigration enforcement. For example, the Trump-backed bill would dramatically reduce legal immigration, and the Democrats’ would only deal with legal status for Dreamers.

At least five California Republicans have signed on as cosponsors of Denham’s resolution; a majority of Democrats in the California delegation are expected to be cosponsors as well.

Even if Denham moves forward and the bills get a vote, there’s no guarantee that any of them would get the needed 218 votes, or that either of the two bills he supports would be the one that passes.