The move pits House GOP moderates/centrists against conservatives….
And the move is progressing as House GOP Speaker Paul Ryan tries to hold it back….
The WILL occur if the Republicans for the vote can get enough support to align with the Democrats to vote to codify the DACA/Dreamers program….
The Senate most assuredly will vote to keep the program and some Republicans are afraid that Trump will sign a guarantee for the Dreamers program to become law….
Centrist Republicans are within striking distance of forcing immigration votes in the House, setting the stage for a dramatic election-year clash.
More than 200 lawmakers — including 20 Republicans — have now signed a discharge petition to circumvent leadership and trigger a series of votes on the floor dealing with immigration.
As of Tuesday evening, petition proponents needed just 15 more signatures to reach the magic number of 218, but it will be this last group that will be hardest to get with GOP leaders trying to defeat the effort.
If all 193 Democrats sign the petition, as they are expected to, the centrists would need only five more Republican signatures for the petition to succeed.
Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) is withholding his support, but may change his tune if he’s the last lawmaker blocking the effort.
“We’re having more and more members sign on. … We’ve always been confident we have the votes, so it’s just signing more members up this week,” Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who is leading the insurgent effort with Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), told The Hill on Tuesday. “We have a strategy all week long.”…
The fight between the two Republican factions appears SERIOUS.…
Some moderate House Republicans are threatening to use a tactic typically employed by conservative hard-liners in the Freedom Caucus: voting down a rule to block what they view as bad legislation.
Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and other centrist Republicans are fighting for a vote on bipartisan legislation to shield young undocumented immigrants from deportation. They’re now within striking distance of the 218 signatures needed for a “discharge petition” to trigger a vote on the bill by Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).
But under pressure from the Freedom Caucus, Speaker Paul Ryan(R-Wis.) and his leadership team have promised a separate vote on a more conservative immigration alternative authored by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).
Freedom Caucus leaders have warned that a vote on the Goodlatte bill would effectively kill the centrists’ efforts to circumvent leadership and force a series of votes on four immigration bills, including their bipartisan USA Act and the Goodlatte bill.
So now, the centrist lawmakers are putting GOP leadership on notice: If Ryan and his team bring the Goodlatte bill to the floor — without allowing a vote on Hurd-Aguilar — the centrists say they will vote “no” on the rule. If enough Republicans defect and defeat the rule, the Goodlatte bill would be prevented from coming to the floor….