A frustrated House Speaker Paul Ryan called on the Republican conference to stick together and “act like a majority” at a closed-door meeting that followed Friday’s defeat of a major farm policy bill.
Ryan, R-Wis., plans to return to Wisconsin Tuesday in order to attend his son’s graduation, but he stayed in town long enough to deliver a warning to GOP lawmakers who have become increasingly defiant since he announced his intent to retire at the end of the year.
Ryan told lawmakers, “We need to start acting like a team,” Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., reported as he left the meeting.
A group of conservatives Friday helped sink the 2018 Agriculture and Nutrition Act, an $868 billion bill authorizing farm programs and policy, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.
“We’re all frustrated,” Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, said after Tuesday’s meeting.
Ryan called the defeat of the bill “regretful.”
Many of the lawmakers who voted against the bill said they first want a vote on an unrelated immigration reform measure that has enough support to pass. The bill is now on hold while Ryan oversees negotiation on another immigration reform bill. Leaders have promised the rank-and-file they will hold a vote the third week in June on a conservative immigration reform measure authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
[Also read: Farm bill on ice after House defeat]
But moderates say they want a compromise measure that has yet to be agreed upon and leaders are discussing a vote on immigration that also includes a moderate measure, angering the conservatives.
Moderates, meanwhile, have launched a discharge petition that would force a House vote on a series of immigration bills, including the Goodlatte measure and two more moderate bills, one of which may have a better chance of clearing the Senate.
“We want something that will actually be signed into law,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., a sponsor of the discharge petition, said Tuesday.
The Republican standoff over immigration has escalated, some believe, because of Ryan’s imminent retirement.
Many republican lawmakers Tuesday said they don’t want Ryan to give up the gavel early, which would trigger new leadership elections.
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., meanwhile, denied reports he is pressuring Ryan to step down now.
McCarthy said the farm bill is always difficult to pass and the defeat of the measure has nothing to do with Ryan’s retirement plans.
“I think you are building something in that’s not out there,” McCarthy told reporters, referring to news reports alleging he is trying to oust Ryan. “But, I understand the job you have to do.”
Ryan said he wants to negotiate an immigration bill that can pass the House and Senate and win the approval of President Trump.
“What we are trying to do is find where the consensus sweet spot is,” he stated. “It’s a very difficult issue.”
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who is the head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is negotiating with moderates.
“There is a real sense of trying to come together with a variety of opinions, and find some bill that gets to 218,” Meadows said, referring to the majority needed to pass legislation. “Hopefully we will find some kind of resolution on immigration over the next 30 days.”
