House immigration bills will fail, say conservatives
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Thursday, June 21, 2018
House conservatives said Thursday that both immigration bills up for votes later in the day are doomed to defeat, blaming party leaders for failing to put their effort behind enforcement-heavy legislation.
Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, said there are changes that could be made to improve one of the bills, but he doubts they can be made in time for the Thursday afternoon votes.
“You don’t pass a major piece of legislation with there being errors in it, and so I don’t know there’s enough time,” Mr. Meadows said at a Heritage Foundation event on Capitol Hill.
The House is slated to vote first on an enforcement-heavy bill that doesn’t include a full pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and then on a bill that does include a pathway — coupling it with funding for a border wall, major changes to legal immigration avenues and policy changes that would reduce the incentives for future illegal immigration.
Neither plan is likely to get a majority of support.
Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, blamed Democrats, saying they should have been willing to vote for a bill that will legalize more than 1 million illegal immigrants.
“There are what, 170 Democrats? Why are none of them going to vote for something they’ve asked this president for for a year and a half?” he said.
But Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, said Republicans should have been able to wrangle the votes themselves. He said too many of them are betraying promises the GOP made in the campaign to stiffen border security.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...conservatives/