“We’re continuing to move forward as exhibited today with more members signing on, but … we’re trying to allow negotiations to continue to happen. We were very productive and very close yesterday,” said Rep. Jeff Denham, a Republican from California who is leading the effort.
As of the Thursday, the discharge petition has 213 signatures of the 218 it needed to automatically trigger a vote next month on a series of immigration bills. Only one Democrat has said he won’t sign the bill and 190 have signed it. If Democrats get 192 of their 193 members to sign it, only three more Republicans arek needed to break 218.
A source familiar with the negotiations told CNN that lawmakers were still stuck, however, on the question of citizenship and whether conservatives could support a plan that would give recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program a bridge to a green card that they could eventually use to apply for citizenship. Citizenship — among other things — has continued to be a key sticking point for moderates who say they won’t abandon their discharge petition unless they get a vote that includes it.
“For us, a bridge into the legal immigration system for young immigrants brought to the country as children through no fault of their own is non-negotiable, and if some colleagues want to continue insisting on denying that, well, there will be no agreement,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican who has been leading the moderate group’s efforts on the issue.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, told CNN in a phone interview Thursday that California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader, has been instrumental in trying to bring members together, going as far as seeking out individual members in person if he doesn’t get a member to pick up a phone call. (Meadows added it had happened to him.)
“I think having Kevin McCarthy on one day and then Kevin and the speaker in the next day bringing everyone together to try and negotiate an immigration solution is certainly to be applauded and it is one reason why we don’t have the full numbers on the discharge petition but it is also a reality that those who want to sign onto the discharge petition have several more days,” Meadows said.
Denham has insisted that the votes for the discharge petition are there, but that members holding back signing on because they really want to give leadership the benefit of the doubt that another deal could be worked out.
Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania said he doesn’t plan to sign because “at this point, I’ve been talking to some of my friends on it and we think there’s another way to do this.”
This story has been updated.
CNN’s Tal Kopan contributed to this report.
Source : CNN