House Dems may try long-shot tactic to advance migrant reform
Immigration activists probably shouldn’t count on a seldom-used procedural tactic called a discharge petition to jump-start stalled immigration-reform efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Friday that House Democrats intend to pursue the strategy, which also recently was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the chief Democratic negotiator on the bipartisan comprehensive immigration-reform bill that passed the Senate last year.
But Hoyer also suggested such a petition would have a tough time attracting the 218 lawmaker signatures required to discharge the legislation from committee and allow Democrats to bring it to the floor in spite of House Republican leaders. The effort likely would need the cooperation of 15 to 19 House Republicans, assuming all 199 House Democrats sign the petition and depending on which party wins four vacant House seats. Only three Republicans have signed on to the Democratic House immigration bill, which basically is the Senate-passed measure with a less-stringent border-security section.
“The problem with a discharge petition ... is it borders on treason to sign a discharge petition that the other party puts forward,” Hoyer said during a meeting with The Arizona Republic and 12 News editors and reporters. “Why? Because a discharge petition turns control over the issue to the minority party.”
However, circulating a discharge petition would turn up the political heat on House Republicans who have said they support immigration reform, he added.
“Now, some of them will sign the discharge petition, but probably short of 218,” Hoyer said. “The closer they get to 218, the more pressure people will be under.”
The discharge-petition maneuver is one of several responses under consideration in response to the Feb. 6 announcement by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that immigration legislation is unlikely this year. Many immigrant-rights advocates also have been urging President Barack Obama to unilaterally halt deportations of undocumented immigrants who possibly could benefit from a proposed pathway to citizenship. Boehner cited deepening GOP mistrust of Obama’s commitment to enforcing immigration laws as the main impediment to House action.
U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, pro-reform Arizona Republicans who collaborated with Schumer on the 2013 Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, flatly dismissed the House discharge petition as a viable option.
“I neither support it nor oppose it — it’s not going to happen,” McCain said Friday. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s helpful.”
Flake, who served 12 years in the House before moving to the Senate, also doubted many rank-and-file House Republicans would risk alienating Boehner and other GOP leaders and colleagues in order to boost the Democratic immigration bill.
“You can always find a reason not to sign a discharge petition, and they’ve just made that easy here,” Flake said. In other developments: » Hoyer was in the state last week for a fundraiser for U.S. Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema, both D-Ariz. He told The Republic that Obama’s 2010 health-care reform law, despite its rocky rollout, will be a boon for them and other House Democrats who might face vigorous reelection challenges this year.
“The Affordable Care Act is ours,” Hoyer said when asked what advice he’d give to potentially vulnerable House Democrats grappling with the issue in the midterm elections. “You’re not going to hide. You’re not going to duck. It is ours. We promoted it. We believe in it. Sell it. It is good for the country. It is good for Arizona.”
» Hoyer also said he has become “pretty good friends” with actor Kevin Spacey, who portrays the murderous House Democratic Whip Frank Underwood in the acclaimed Netflix series “House of Cards.” Spacey consulted with Hoyer about the whip job, and Hoyer has offered tips and advice.
“He’s a good guy, and he’s a wonderful actor, of course,” Hoyer said. “... I hope people don’t think I’m the whip in that sense. Frank Underwood is not Steny Hoyer.”
» After Flake identified himself as a Republican NPR listener during an appearance on the news-quiz program “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me,” the website BuzzFeed highlighted a 2011 Flake vote to cut off federal funding to NPR. The suggestion was Flake is a hypocrite.
Flake took to Twitter to respond: “I also voted to defund a program that spent $1 million in ‘13 to promote U.S. candy abroad despite my notorious sweet tooth.”
Along the same lines, Matthew Specht, Flake’s state director, added in a Twitter message that although his boss loves ice cream, “he doesn’t think Ben & Jerry’s ought to be federally subsidized.”