House GOP pushes hardline immigration plan as Senate deals fail
By Melanie Zanona and Scott Wong - 02/15/18 06:25 PM EST House GOP leaders are forging ahead with their own hardline immigration bill, as the Senate threw in the towel Thursday on legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.
The main author of the House bill, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), said Thursday that he’s building support for his measure, even as other GOP colleagues said an initial vote tally this week was well below the 218 votes needed to pass the bill.
Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) “instructions to me are ‘get this bill done,’ and we’re working hard to accomplish that,†Goodlatte said in an interview for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers†program.
Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) “are all in to get that done and we’re going to work very hard,†Goodlatte said, adding that his Securing America’s Future Act has White House approval.
“I feel good about it,†Goodlatte said.
Even if the House could pass the Goodlatte bill, there are clear signs the legislation would be dead on arrival in the Senate. The measure is further to the right than a conservative immigration proposal backed by the White House that overwhelmingly failed in the Senate on Thursday, 39 to 60.
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http://thehill.com/homenews/house/374145-house-gop-pushes-hardline-immigration-plan-as-senate-deals-fail