http://www.nationalreview.com/node/426097/print Paul Ryan Pledges: No Immigration Reform under Obama
By Elaina Plott — October 27, 2015
Paul Ryan has signed off on a letter promising restless members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) that he won’t bring immigration-reform legislation to the House floor while President Obama remains in office.
The letter, obtained exclusively by National Review, formalizes pledges that Ryan made last week in a closed-door meeting with select members of the HFC who were skeptical of his promise to maintain an “open” and “inclusive” relationship with the caucus. Specifically, it extracts Ryan’s word that he will not bring up comprehensive immigration reform “so long as Barack Obama is president” and, as speaker, Ryan will not allow any immigration bill to reach the floor for a vote unless a “majority” of GOP members support it.
Alabama representative Mo Brooks wrote the letter and will enter it into the Congressional Record on Tuesday morning. He says his intention was to record the pledges Ryan made in the meeting and earn Ryan’s confirmation that the record was accurate, so he could vote for the Wisconsin Republican in good conscience come the congressional-floor election that will determine the next speaker.
It’s been widely reported that Ryan has promised to uphold the second promise in the letter — the so-called “Hastert Rule,” which is designed to ensure that legislation brought to the House floor has broad support in the Republican conference — but by agreeing to the letter’s substance, he’s giving his first endorsement of that policy as it specifically applies to immigration reform.
