House Republicans said they have an “outline” of an immigration reform proposal they plan to float at a critical GOP conference meeting Thursday.
“I’m satisfied with what came out of that meeting,” said Rep. Mark Walker, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
Walker said the bill is a “50-50” split between a centrist GOP bill that gives Dreamers a pathway to citizenship in exchange for border security funding and a more conservative plan that includes immigration reforms as well.
The outline was produced after a meeting between about a dozen lawmakers from different immigration reform factions within the GOP.
Republicans are meeting Thursday morning to talk about how the party plans to proceed. Republican centrists are threatening to use a parliamentary procedure that would force a vote on a trio of proposals, including the moderate and conservative plans as well as a plan authored by Democrats. They have held back on pulling the trigger on the proposal, which is in the form of a discharge petition, because they want to encourage a GOP-only proposal that could actually pass the House floor.
“The conversation was very productive,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., a moderate behind the discharge petition said after the meeting. “There were some new ideas,” Denham said. “I don’t think there are a series of options; I think there is a potential plan that is going to be briefed but in the very macro sense.”
At the heart of the disagreement within the GOP is how to treat the Dreamers, who came here illegally as children and now face possible deportation.
Conservatives staunchly oppose a pathway that puts Dreamers in front of immigrants who come to the U.S. legally. Denham said he agrees with that but noted even the most conservative House proposal, authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., offers a pathway to citizenship.
“Some people may not like that pathway, but there is a pathway,” Denham said. He added he supports “one law that would apply to everyone in that country equally,” but he would not give specifics.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who is chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and is a key negotiator, said “a few concepts will be presented” to the GOP on Thursday.
“We’re still not in a situation where there’s an agreement,” Meadows said. “I think that there is great progress that is being made.”
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
