House Republican plans to vote on two GOP immigration bills and a farm bill appeared on the brink of collapsing Wednesday evening because of persistent disagreements among GOP lawmakers.
The Majority Whip, Steve Scalise, R-La., is pushing to delay consideration of the immigration bills because the whip team did not have enough time to twist arms in favor of one of the two bills, authored by Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that is a compromise between moderate and conservative immigration reform provisions.
“Scalise is pushing to delay,” a GOP source told the Washington Examiner. “Speaker and [Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.], were hell bent on this crazy timeline. A one-day whip on something as big as immigration is insane.”
Another problem is that members of the House Freedom Caucus, a faction of the most conservative House members, got into an angry discussion on the House floor with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who they say did not honor an agreement to bring a particular version of a bill to the floor authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
The Goodlatte bill is the second of the immigration reform bills and was not expected to pass due to opposition from moderates. But conservatives say they are not getting a chance to vote on the Goodlatte bill they support.
Conservatives said they wanted to vote on a modified version of the Goodlatte measure that adds border wall funding, includes a religious liberty provision, and strips out a program for immigrant agriculture workers.
Conservatives said GOP leaders are instead planning to bring the original Goodlatte bill to the floor, which does not include the desired modifications.
“I am going to be asking leadership to move that to next week,” Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., head of the Republican Study Committee, a faction of conservatives, said of the Goodlatte bill.
Canceling a vote on the Goodlatte bill, however, would jeopardize passage of the farm bill, which GOP leaders also planned to vote on Thursday.
Conservatives blocked the farm bill in a May floor vote, insisting on a vote on the Goodlatte bill first. A Thursday re-vote would likely fail if the Goodlatte bill did not get a vote first as conservatives are using their votes as leverage. The farm bill requires most Republicans to back it because Democrats will vote against it over opposition to new work requirements for food stamps included in the measure.
The House Rules Committee is currently meeting to determine how the two immigration bills will be considered on the floor tomorrow, so there is no indication Ryan is planning to call off a vote yet.
