Group urges House immigration votes
240 members ask Ryan to put 4 bills on floor, let victor advance to Senate
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 240 U.S. House members have signed on to an effort to persuade Speaker Paul Ryan to let lawmakers debate four competing immigration bills and see which one can get the most votes.
Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., who is leading the effort, said getting 190 Democrats and about 50 Republicans together on anything related to immigration should show Ryan and President Donald Trump that most lawmakers and Americans are demanding legislative action on the stalled immigration debate.
“The point of this is: It’s time for a full debate,” Denham told reporters Wednesday at a news conference with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors.
But Ryan, R-Wis., has final say on whether to pursue the plan. He has said publicly that he doesn’t think this vote procedure is the best way to handle immigration because it gives the majority party — and congressional leaders — less control over the outcome.
Trump continues to tweet about the wall he wants to build on the border with Mexico, as well as the need for legislation to address the status of illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as children, known as Dreamers.
Denham’s plan would put four immigration proposals on the House floor, and the one that gets the most support would move on to the Senate. All of them include some elements of enhanced border security and protections for the Dreamers.
The plans include the Securing America’s Future Act, a conservative bill backed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia; the DREAM Act, a version of the bill backed by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., that would give broader protection to young illegal aliens; an immigration bill of Ryan’s choice; and the USA Act, a more narrow bipartisan measure proposed by Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas.
Trump sought to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which let some Dreamers get protected status that allows them to work and study without fear of deportation. He gave Congress until March 5 to come up with a legislative fix, but a court order has at least temporarily blocked Trump’s move to cancel the program, created under former President Barack Obama.
If the votes occur, many believe a bipartisan plan backed by virtually all Democrats and a small group of Republicans would be likeliest to win. Republican leaders facing November elections in which they might lose House control have little interest in opening the door to such an outcome.
Denham and the other Republicans touting his plan to move the legislation quickly to the floor are all regarded as among the most vulnerable GOP House members this year. Each represents a congressional district won in 2016 by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and each district has a sizable Hispanic population.
Denham and the others repeatedly refused to say whether they would translate their words into action. They said they were “considering options” and that for now they just wanted to “show how many Democrats and Republicans would sign on.”
Hurd; David Valadao, R-Calif.; Mike Coffman, R-Colo.; Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.; and Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., joined Denham at the news conference.
Hispanics comprise 45 percent of Denham’s district, 76 percent of Valadao’s district, 72 percent of Hurd’s district, 22 percent of Coffman’s district, 54 percent of Aguilar’s district and 49 percent of Lujan Grisham’s district.