Thread: Ryan scraps 'abolish ICE' vote

Ryan scraps 'abolish ICE' vote


By RACHAEL BADE and KYLE CHENEY
07/16/2018 08:07 PM EDT
Updated 07/16/2018 08:48 PM EDT

Speaker Paul Ryan quashed a rank-and-file effort to force Democrats to take a politically toxic vote to abolish the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, sources familiar with the matter told POLITICO.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) last week floated the idea of forcing Democrats to vote on a bill that would eliminate ICE, a proposal backed by the far-left but is unpopular with most voters. Republicans, the thinking went, would win either way: Democrats would either back the bill and watch Republicans use it against them in the midterms. Or a portion of Democrats would oppose it, depressing the liberal base.

But Ryan (R-Wis.) was concerned about a third option: that Democrats wouldn't vote at all, or uniformly oppose it, making Republicans look silly. Last Friday, he told House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) he didn’t want to put the measure, sponsored by Progressive Caucus co-Chairman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), on the floor — even though McCarthy told reporters just hours before that House Republicans would do just that.

But McCarthy, according to one leadership source, came to agree with Ryan. Since Democrats said they would vote against their own measure, he figured they already had a victory of sorts.

“It became obvious it would backfire and take away rather than advance the issue,” said one GOP source allied with Ryan on this matter.

Instead, GOP leaders will hold a vote on a bill sponsored by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) expressing support for ICE, a move McCarthy announced publicly Monday.

“We will vote on Wednesday … talking about all the things ICE has done saving the children, the human trafficking, the more than 980,000 pounds of narcotics” seized, McCarthy told reporters. “I gave Pocan an opportunity to vote on the bill … They don’t want to vote for their own bill.”

POLITICO reported on Thursday that Pocan would not back the bill, even after he and other liberal Democrats introduced it and have been rallying the base with the proposal for days.

"After being called on their bluff, Democrats ran scared from their own bill," said Ryan's spokeswoman, Ashlee Strong. "Democrats will now have the chance to stand with the majority of Americans who support ICE and vote for this resolution, or follow the extreme voices on the far left calling for [abolition] of an agency that protects us."

GOP leaders now argue that allowing lawmakers to support ICE rather than rebuke it will put Democrats on record in the same manner. The Higgins bill includes language condemning the idea of abolishing ICE.

But that might not be enough for some conservatives who want to press Democrats on the issue. Multiple conservative members were balking on the floor late Monday at the sudden change of plans.

The matter will almost certainly come up during a House Republican Conference meeting on Tuesday.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...abolish-725071

House to vote Wednesday on resolution to support ICE