Zippyjuan
06-21-2018, 08:18 PM
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/21/622229439/house-immigration-bills-set-for-thursday-votes-expected-to-fail
Would have allowed $125 billion for the wall construction- $100 billion more than intended. What other errors were hiding in it? Members complained they have no idea what is actually in the bill they were expected to vote on.
House Republican leaders delayed a vote on the "consensus" immigration legislation Thursday afternoon as they scrambled to convince enough GOP lawmakers to support the measure.
The vote on that bill was initially rescheduled for Friday morning. But after a closed-door meeting that lasted more than two hours, leaders delayed it even further — to next week, according to several House Republican sources.
A more hard-line immigration bill came up for a vote earlier Thursday, as part of a compromise approach crafted by Republican leaders to satisfy GOP lawmakers' competing immigration demands.
That measure failed, as expected, but the 193 votes it earned was far more than Republican leaders had anticipated. That development emboldened supporters of the more conservative measure to demand some items from their version be added to the leadership's bill.
"We just had a bill that got 193 though, though, without really any help, in my opinion, any real significant help," said Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry. "The attorney general didn't come while it's been sitting here for six months. The homeland security secretary didn't come while it's been sitting here for six months. And it got 193 votes. That seems like a pretty good starting point."
Both Cabinet members made trips to Capitol Hill in recent days, as did President Trump, who told Republicans he backed both immigration bills. Trump's approval didn't do enough for Perry and other holdouts. "I appreciate the president's opinion and his input. But I worked on the bill a little bit," Perry said. "To me, we voted today on a bill that I thought was more indicative of where the people are and what the president originally ran on."
In addition to the policy divides, several GOP lawmakers felt that they didn't know what was in the "consensus" bill as it was still being tweaked hours before they were scheduled to vote on it.
Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, one of the moderate members who has been working with leadership to craft the compromise bill, said the delay will give members a chance to clarify details of the bill.
"Immigration policy is complex. Most members are not expert at it," Curbelo said. "I think the more members understand this bill the more comfortable they will become with it."
Curbelo said members have raised questions about how it would address issues like border security and visas for those immigrants who are in the country illegally after being brought here as children, commonly known as DREAMers.
Members were also confused because leaders were forced to update their hastily written bill after a $100-billion error was discovered. The House Rules Committee was forced to hold a special hearing at 10 p.m. Wednesday because the bill contained nearly $125 billion rather than the roughly $25 billion leaders intended to include for a border wall President Trump promised the U.S. would build during the 2016 presidential campaign.
GOP committee members were able to quickly remedy the mistake but the incident sowed further doubt among skeptics who already worried about the contents of the sweeping legislation.
Thursday evening's Republican meeting was devoted to answering many of those basic questions. "We should have done this first before we put a bill together," said Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta. "It would have avoided what we're seeing right now."
The stalemate and delay underscore how far apart Republicans remain on immigration. If the issue continues to highlight disagreements within the Republican conference, it could ratchet up pressure on Ryan to step down as speaker.
Since President Trump ended the protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, last September and punted its future to Congress, lawmakers have failed to reach a consensus on any legislation to deal with the program or with the administration's push for stepped-up border security measures.
More at link.
Would have allowed $125 billion for the wall construction- $100 billion more than intended. What other errors were hiding in it? Members complained they have no idea what is actually in the bill they were expected to vote on.
House Republican leaders delayed a vote on the "consensus" immigration legislation Thursday afternoon as they scrambled to convince enough GOP lawmakers to support the measure.
The vote on that bill was initially rescheduled for Friday morning. But after a closed-door meeting that lasted more than two hours, leaders delayed it even further — to next week, according to several House Republican sources.
A more hard-line immigration bill came up for a vote earlier Thursday, as part of a compromise approach crafted by Republican leaders to satisfy GOP lawmakers' competing immigration demands.
That measure failed, as expected, but the 193 votes it earned was far more than Republican leaders had anticipated. That development emboldened supporters of the more conservative measure to demand some items from their version be added to the leadership's bill.
"We just had a bill that got 193 though, though, without really any help, in my opinion, any real significant help," said Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry. "The attorney general didn't come while it's been sitting here for six months. The homeland security secretary didn't come while it's been sitting here for six months. And it got 193 votes. That seems like a pretty good starting point."
Both Cabinet members made trips to Capitol Hill in recent days, as did President Trump, who told Republicans he backed both immigration bills. Trump's approval didn't do enough for Perry and other holdouts. "I appreciate the president's opinion and his input. But I worked on the bill a little bit," Perry said. "To me, we voted today on a bill that I thought was more indicative of where the people are and what the president originally ran on."
In addition to the policy divides, several GOP lawmakers felt that they didn't know what was in the "consensus" bill as it was still being tweaked hours before they were scheduled to vote on it.
Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, one of the moderate members who has been working with leadership to craft the compromise bill, said the delay will give members a chance to clarify details of the bill.
"Immigration policy is complex. Most members are not expert at it," Curbelo said. "I think the more members understand this bill the more comfortable they will become with it."
Curbelo said members have raised questions about how it would address issues like border security and visas for those immigrants who are in the country illegally after being brought here as children, commonly known as DREAMers.
Members were also confused because leaders were forced to update their hastily written bill after a $100-billion error was discovered. The House Rules Committee was forced to hold a special hearing at 10 p.m. Wednesday because the bill contained nearly $125 billion rather than the roughly $25 billion leaders intended to include for a border wall President Trump promised the U.S. would build during the 2016 presidential campaign.
GOP committee members were able to quickly remedy the mistake but the incident sowed further doubt among skeptics who already worried about the contents of the sweeping legislation.
Thursday evening's Republican meeting was devoted to answering many of those basic questions. "We should have done this first before we put a bill together," said Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta. "It would have avoided what we're seeing right now."
The stalemate and delay underscore how far apart Republicans remain on immigration. If the issue continues to highlight disagreements within the Republican conference, it could ratchet up pressure on Ryan to step down as speaker.
Since President Trump ended the protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, last September and punted its future to Congress, lawmakers have failed to reach a consensus on any legislation to deal with the program or with the administration's push for stepped-up border security measures.
More at link.