Thread: House members try to force vote on legislation to protect DREAMers

House members use rare maneuver to try to force vote on legislation to protect DREAMers

Alan Gomez and Eliza Collins, USA TODAY Published 11:18 a.m. ET May 9, 2018 | Updated 1:07 p.m. ET May 9, 2018


(Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images)

A group of Republican lawmakers used a rare congressional maneuver Wednesday morning to try and force the House to vote on a series of bills to protect DREAMers.

Nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children have been in limbo ever since President Trump ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last year.

Federal courts have forced the administration to keep the program running, setting up a possible Supreme Court showdown later this year.

Democrats in Congress tried several times to pass permanent protections for DACA recipients, even prompting a brief government shutdown in January. But now a handful of moderate Republicans are trying to restart the DACA debate in the House.

Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Jeff Denham of California and Will Hurd of Texas filed what's known as a "discharge petition" on Tuesday. That is a procedure that allows a bill to reach the floor of the House even if it hasn't been approved by a committee, or scheduled for a vote by the speaker of the House. If a majority of House members sign on to the discharge petition, it bypasses the committee process and goes straight to the House floor.


There are 193 Democrats in the House, and most are expected to support the measure. That means at least 25 Republicans are needed to sign the petition.

"This is an issue that’s too important not to have a debate on," Hurd told USA TODAY. The Texas Republican — his district represents more than 700 miles of the Mexico border — said no matter where Republicans are on the ideological spectrum they should support the measure because it would bring up a variety of bills for a vote.

Hurd said that GOP leadership was "aware" of their maneuver "but in the history of discharge petitions, leadership has never been supportive."

“We continue to work with our members to find a solution that can both pass the House and get the president’s signature," said AshLee Strong, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman. Strong did not say if the Wisconsin Republican was informed the group planned to file the petition.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., praised his Republican colleagues for taking such an extraordinary step that bucks the party leadership by trying to force a vote on DACA.

"I appreciate their commitment and resolve with that," said Aguilar, who is a co-sponsor of one of the bills that could be voted on if the petition is successful. "I give them a lot of credit for undertaking this effort and we'll see how broad of a support they can receive within the Republican conference."

If they get enough signatures, the process gets even deeper into arcane congressional tactics. The sponsors of the petition are proposing a "Queen of the Hill" maneuver to require the House to vote on four different DACA proposals.

The "Queen of the Hill" is a special rule that allows several bills to be brought to the House floor to be voted on. The one that receives the most votes is the only one adopted.

The maneuver has been used only seven times since it was first introduced in 1995, according to the Congressional Research Service. It followed a "King of the Hill" procedure that was used primarily to allow members to vote on multiple budget resolutions that featured many amendments and many votes.

The sponsors of the maneuver say they already have three bills lined up for consideration.

One is the DREAM Act, which has been unsuccessfully filed in Congress for nearly 20 years and would grant U.S. citizenship to DREAMers. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a bill from Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which includes cuts to legal immigration and strengthens border security. A third bill, co-sponsored by Hurd, would serve as a middle ground, granting U.S. citizenship to some DREAMers and strengthening border security.

Ryan would be given the authority to offer the fourth bill.
Wednesday's filing of the discharge petition drew quick praise from groups that have been frustrated by Congress' inability to pass, or even debate, a DACA solution.

"It's time for our elected officials to finally do their jobs and show voters where they stand," said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an advocacy group created by tech companies that has pushed for a DACA fix. "We urge every member of Congress to sign onto this discharge petition, and stand up and vote."

To qualify for DACA, created in 2012, DREAMers had to undergo a thorough background check, prove they arrived in the U.S. before their 16th birthday, were 30 or younger, were attending school or in the military, and had not committed a felony or serious misdemeanor. The program provided work permits and two-year reprieves from deportation that could be renewed.

Federal judges have ruled that the Trump administration used flawed legal arguments to end the program in September, forcing the Department of Homeland Security to continue honoring DACA protections and to process renewal applications.
Another federal judge ruled last month that the administration will have to start processing new applications for the program, but gave the administration 90 days to come up with a stronger argument against that.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ote/593963002/

What is wrong with you? Are you out of your minds? NO DACA VOTES! NO DACA AT ALL!! Illegal is illegal. GET THEM OUT HERE!!!

The American people do not want DACA. We do not want amnesty, we do not want a path to stay!


VOTE IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN, VETO IT!

SUE THEM AND THROW IT OUT!

Trump to support path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers

Call DC To Stop New Amnesty Plot: Queen of the Hill Rule
https://www.alipac.us/f8/call-dc-sto...l-rule-358478/