On Tuesday, a Republican congressman said that he has gathered enough co-sponsors from GOP to force several immigration votes in the House.
Representative Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) has said in a statement that he has gathered support from around 40 House Republicans to vote on a resolution, which would permit voting on 4 different immigration proposals.
Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) has authored the above-mentioned 4 bills – one being a democratic measure that would become the DREAM Act, the other that is provided by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which would mirror the immigration plan put forth by President Donald Trump, and the bipartisan USA Act – a bill that refers to providing security measures for the border and the protection of the Dreamer immigrants.
“It’s time for us to have a full debate in front of the American public,” said Denham in a statement.
The resolution put forth by Denham will be initiating the supposed “Queen-of-the-Hill” rule, which makes it possible for the bill receiving the most votes and surpassing the threshold to be approved by the House. If, however, the bills fail to reach the threshold, they would all have to be rejected.
Since there are around 41 Republican votes and the Democrats are supporting the movement, the rule will eventually be accepted without the need for gaining approval from the higher authorities.
The announcement by Denham came on the exact same day when Ryan was having a private discussion with his members regarding the immigration issues, according to the GOP leaders.
The leaders claimed that they are trying to tweak the bill in order to make it more appealing to the vast majority in the GOP conference. Currently, the legislation does not have enough votes needed to pass the House.
The leadership discussion was stimulated by the tweets made by President Trump and other comments made by the public. President Trump canceled the DACA program and urged the Congress to find a replacement for the legislative.
DACA recipients will still be getting their benefits due to the court injunction. While the undocumented immigrants and so-called dreamers, who entered the country as children, will have to be deported.
“We continue to work toward a viable solution that addresses both DACA and securing our border,” stated AshLee Strong, the spokeswoman for Ryan.
Border security will be tightened due to the Goodlatte bill, and it will be offering 3-year permits that are renewable to the DACA recipients, however, they won’t be offered citizenship.
Representatives Lucille Roybal Allard (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) have co-sponsored the Dream Act, which would grant citizenship to around 3 million so-called Dreamers, who are undocumented immigrants who came into the country as juveniles.
Representatives Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Peter Aguilar (D-Calif.) have co-sponsored the USA Act, which would offer border security provisions but no enforcement for inferiors.
“If it’s a viable solution and it doesn’t cross our red lines, then we’d be willing to get on board with it. And this qualifies,” claimed a House Democratic aide who has knowledge of the issue.