House Republicans have launched a discharge petition to force a vote on Congressman Heath Shuler’s immigration enforcement bill, which was introduced in November and has not been acted on yet. Launched on Tuesday, the discharge petition has quickly gathered 163 of the 218 signatures (as of this writing) needed to force a House vote. As Congress prepares for a two-week break in which many Members will return to their districts, backers hope that more will be prompted to sign on after hearing from constituents. It looks like this may force a difficult debate that Democrats have been trying to avoid:
There are currently some 5 Democrats who have signed the petition, out of perhaps 20-25 who will be needed to force a vote. Most Democratic cosponsors of the measure are currently declining to say whether they will sign, but the issue isn’t going to go away. Indeed, if people’s views of the economy get worse, the pressure is likely to increase. Of course, this sword isn’t exactly single-edged. If a debate seems likely to happen, pressure will increase on Senator McCain to take a position as well. It could lead to an interesting debate sometime between now and election day.
