House Republicans worked all weekend, but still unclear if the votes are there for bill of immigration



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During the weekend, assistants and members worked to see if they could include a provision to extend E-verify, a program used by the US government to check the immigration status of workers, as well that a visa program for guest workers. But there was little evidence that the changes would be enough to get the bill through.
The reality for the House conference – and Republican lawmakers in general – is that immigration policy has not changed. Long a problem that has revealed partisan schisms in their ranks, Republicans still disagree. Moderates the path to citizenship for people who have been illegally brought to the United States as children. The Conservatives have been wary of signing anything that can be interpreted by their base as an "amnesty". And, that's just the beginning. Divisions on legal immigration numbers, guest worker programs and even E-check have paralyzed the party to solve the problem countless times before.

"Republicans should stop wasting their time on immigration until we have elected more senators and congressmen in November Dems are just playing, do not have the ## 148 ## ########################################################################## Intention to do something to solve this decades-old problem! "Trump tweeted.

Trump's inconsistent support weighed on the members. On Tuesday, Trump visited the House Conference on Capitol Hill to tell them that he supported them "100%". But despite a massive government lobbying campaign on Wednesday to get the bill passed, Trump's support was declining, and by the end of the week, playing in the worst fear of conservatives that Trump could not protect them from critics of the bill.

"What I would like is that the president has the same message," said Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican who faces a difficult reelection in a pivotal district. "The message that he had when he spoke to us in camera against the message in terms of talking to the American people."

Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican from Oregon, told reporters that the tweet was "a bit of a surprise".

"The best way to pass a law is to systematically support a position," Walden added later.

Pressed if the president did that, Walden said, "I'll leave it there."

Over the weekend, Trump visited Nevada where he once again made his message on the borders a central part of his stump speech. But the president has not pushed lawmakers already to Congress to act in the House. Instead, Trump warned of the danger of softening his position on immigration.

"If they see a weakness, they will come by the millions," Trump said at the rally.

Republicans were supposed to have already voted on their immigration proposal last week, but in a last-minute decision, leaders chose to stay in the hope that a last-minute negotiation would bring them closer. of the passage.

Deputy Deputy Chief Patrick McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina and one of the GOP 's top tellers, disagreed with the prospects for a different outcome, saying that the policy of the GOP is to Immigration was the same as Friday.

For leadership, all the exercise of trying to solve immigration just five months before the mid-term elections has never been their choice. The scramble to find a compromise was the result of a surge of moderates in the House. Members had threatened to force a vote in the House using a rarely-rolled out petition, a procedure that would have forced a floor vote for a package of bills that included some that the leaders did not support. This triggered a quick reaction to neutralize the release request and negotiate on immigration – an issue that had not been comprehensively addressed since the late 1980s.

But as part of the pressure to find a compromise and appease the moderates, leaders also had to agree to put a Conservative immigration bill – generally at a disadvantage around Capitol Hill as the Goodlatte bill for the government. Author Bob Goodlatte from Virginia. Thursday, this bill received 193 votes, more than expected, but still below the necessary votes.

When asked why Republicans did not stop wasting their time after Trump's tweet, McHenry replied "it's a very good question".

He then added "votes were promised in order to disable the discharge petition".

"There was a promise that was made and the intention is to accomplish it," he said.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration issued guidelines on how families could be reunited on the southern border. There are still more than 2,000 children in the care of the Department of Health and Social Services. In the Senate, a bipartisan group of legislators is seeking their own narrow legislative option to end family separation more definitively, but these negotiations are ongoing.

Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, told CNN on Sunday to Jake Tapper that he would continue to deploy surveillance to ensure that children and families were reunited, but Johnson noted that "I do not want to be there. Obama administration had problems with children in the care of the Department of Health and Social Services. When asked if he was sure the Trump administration could unite families who are still separated, Johnson said "they say they do it".

"We will continue our surveillance on this," Johnson said.

CNN's Ashley Killough, Phil Mattingly, Manu Raju and Tal Kopan contributed to this report.

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