After resisting for months, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte Robert (Bob) William GoodlatteBottom line No documents? Hoping for legalization? Be wary of Joe Biden Press: Trump's final presidential pardon: himself MORE (R-Va.) is proposing changes to his conservative immigration bill to attract more support before the measure receives a floor vote next month. While it’s unclear whether Goodlatte is working under the direction of GOP leadership, the effort follows a conference call over the weekend — and a flurry of leadership meetings over the last week — designed to find a path forward on the hot-button issue. ADVERTISEMENT Goodlatte’s immigration and enforcement measure, which leaders agreed to bring to the floor in June after facing pressure from conservatives, is currently shy of the 218 votes needed to pass. But the retiring chairman has been floating a modified version to try and bring moderate Republicans and other offices onboard, according to a copy of the text obtained by The Hill. “We continue to have discussions with members and build support for the bill so that we have the votes needed to pass the Securing America’s Future Act in the House," a Republican aide for the Judiciary Committee said in a statement to The Hill. The proposed changes would address areas that drew criticism in earlier drafts, particularly from business-minded conservatives and the agricultural sector. Still, the modified version would move the country's immigration system toward the merit-based structure preferred by immigration hard-liners. “I’m glad there’s lots of attention being paid to [my bill],” Goodlatte told reporters last week. GOP leaders are grappling with an insurgent effort by centrist Republicans to force a series of immigration votes on the House floor using a discharge petition. The frustrated lawmakers, who appear to be within striking distance of the 218 signatures needed to force the votes, are desperate for action on legislation providing a permanent solution for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE is ending. But Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanPaul Ryan to headline Kinzinger fundraiser Biden's relationship with top House Republican is frosty The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Emergent BioSolutions - Facebook upholds Trump ban; GOP leaders back Stefanik to replace Cheney MORE (R-Wis.) and his top lieutenants have warned rank-and-file members that a discharge petition would hand over power to the minority and would likely result in legislation passing the House that is mostly carried by Democrats. In recent days, GOP leadership has floated an alternative plan to hold a series of immigration votes on bills picked by Republican leaders the week of June 17, according to sources familiar with the discussions. One of the bills that would get a vote under that scenario is the hard-line measure from Goodlatte that includes a basket of conservative immigration and enforcement priorities. The initial proposal would have provided DACA recipients with a temporary, three-year legal status that could be renewed indefinitely, but immigrants would not be offered a path to citizenship. The measure would authorize $30 billion to build a border wall and invest in other border security measures, end family-based migration and end the diversity visa lottery program. It also would mandate the use of E-Verify, a system that crosschecks every new employment contract with a federal immigration status database; allow the Justice Department to withhold grants from so-called sanctuary cities; and increase the criminal penalties for deported criminals who return to the U.S. illegally. But despite buy-in from key committee chairs, the bill has so far failed to attract enough Republican support to pass the House, which is why leadership had been reluctant to put it on the floor. "We are going to bring the Goodlatte–McCaul bill to the floor. I think that’s the right answer," House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Stephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseGOP leaders face new calls to boot Greene Kinzinger calls for Greene to be removed from GOP conference after Holocaust remark Auschwitz Memorial calls Greene Holocaust comments a 'sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline' MORE (R-La.) told Fox News on Sunday. "Unfortunately, the votes aren’t there yet to pass it. We are working on some other alternatives with President Trump so that we can be in sync." Now, with the legislation likely to receive a floor vote next month, Goodlatte is hoping to win over more lawmakers by softening some aspect of the legislation. One of the major proposed changes would expand the renewable legal status for DACA recipients from three years to six years, though they still would not be granted citizenship. The modified version also doubles the cap for the family-sponsored green cards from 7 percent to 15 percent; creates a new green-card category to allow for 6,000 nurses; and allows children who are U.S. citizens and sponsoring their parents to come to the U.S. to sign an affidavit of support. Goodlatte already made some minor tweaks earlier this year to appease the agricultural industry's concerns over the guest worker program that is established by the legislation. But lawmakers from agricultural regions said the changes weren’t enough. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who represents the Golden State’s agriculture-heavy Central Valley and is leading the discharge petition push, said at the time that the cap on seasonal workers was still too low and the “touchback” provisions did not provide strong enough guarantees that workers will be able to come back to the U.S. once they return to their home countries. Goodlatte’s new proposal would make additional tweaks to the bill’s agriculture section, such as eliminating a requirement that guest workers prove they have a residence in a foreign country that they don’t intend on abandoning; ensuring that guest workers don’t need to wait for a visa while they touch back to their home countries; and providing 40,000 new visas for meat and poultry processors. But it’s unclear whether the changes will be enough to win over Denham and other moderate Republicans who are aggressively pushing for a DACA fix. Goodlatte met with the leaders of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), Freedom Caucus, Tuesday Group and Republican Main Street Partnership on Monday to discuss some of the proposed changes to his bill, among other issues, according to RSC Chairman Mark Walker Bradley (Mark) Mark WalkerThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden to country: 'Turning peril into possibility' Budd to run for Senate in NC Former North Carolina chief justice launches Senate campaign MORE (R-N.C.). In addition to the Goodlatte bill, GOP leaders have also promised to hold a floor vote on more moderate immigration legislation that could get 218 votes — the details of which have not yet been hammered out. Reaching a deal on that second bill, however, is likely to be challenging. And there are also questions about whether the far-right House Freedom Caucus would even support a rule allowing a moderate immigration bill to come to the floor, especially if it grants citizenship to so-called Dreamers. After the caucus torpedoed a GOP farm bill last week because they wanted stronger assurances about the vote on Goodlatte’s measure, leaders warned that more frustrated Republicans were likely to sign on to the discharge petition. “Don’t be surprised if there’s a discharge petition that comes out as a result of this, because I think there are a lot of members on my side of the aisle concerned that they are not relevant anymore,” Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), a senior member of the GOP whip team, said Friday. “I think you’re going to see some members on the Republican side who are more inclined to do a discharge petition in order to at least get something done.” —Rafael Bernal contributed. Updated at 6:56 p.m.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Republicans leaders late Tuesday night managed to pull together a long-awaited immigration agreement that satisfied both moderates and conservatives in their ranks, just moments before a self-imposed but significant deadline expired for a moderate-led insurrection on the issue. The deal involved an agreement to vote on two immigration bills next week – a conservative proposal that is not expected to have enough support to pass and a to-be-written bill that leadership is drafting based on weeks of closed-door negotiations among the two wings of the party. The proposal is aimed at offering a solution for recipients of the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as well as additional resources for border security. It is yet to be seen if that latter bill – right now solely an outline of the negotiations – would even have the votes to pass the House among Republicans, as Democrats are not expected to support it. If it were to pass the House, the Senate has made no indication it would take up the bill, rendering the votes largely a political exercise. Still, the promise of votes on the floor of the House in the summer before midterm elections was unthinkable just months ago, something that moderates claimed demonstrated that their procedural efforts to force a vote by petition, which fell just two members of Congress short of crossing its threshold, was still successful in forcing talks forward. As the negotiations wore on Tuesday, discussions moved away from policy – which had some general agreement but could take days more to sort out – toward what would be enough to stop a procedural move that would force the issue to the floor at the end of June on moderates’ terms. “Members across the Republican Conference have negotiated directly and in good faith with each other for several weeks, and as a result, the House will consider two bills next week that will avert the discharge petition and resolve the border security and immigration issues,” House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong said late Tuesday. “The full conference will discuss tomorrow morning and we’ll have more to share at that point.” The deal came after shuttle diplomacy between moderates and conservatives who met with leadership, then separately, then communicated with each other back and forth. The late-night meetings were largely about the procedure for moving forward, even as a bill was a “week” away from being fully drafted, according to a leading conservative. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, emerged from the conservative meeting late Tuesday saying he’d talked to moderates about what conservatives could accept, offering a promise that his members would support a vote on the to-be-written negotiated bill if they got a vote on their preferred conservative bill. “I think their concern – and I don’t want to speak for them because obviously they are very capable of speaking for themselves … is if they turn off the discharge petition and then we voted against the rule, it would set them back to ground zero, and so I’ve tried to let them know the terms in which we could support a rule to move a bill moving forward,” Meadows said. Negotiations halt petition from crossing threshold The deal was announced as the House floor gaveled out for the evening – running out the clock on moderates’ deadline on their discharge petition, a rarely used procedural maneuver they’ve been working on for months, which would bypass leadership and force a vote on four different immigration proposals. Under House rules, moderates needed to reach 218 signatures on their petition by Tuesday evening if they wanted to hold a vote by the end of June, but the remaining moderates had held off on signing in hopes that all parties could strike a deal. If enough signatures were gathered in the coming days, the vote could still be scheduled for next month, but passing the deadline would have been a significant blow to moderates, who have threatened for weeks to deliver enough signatures. The House gaveled out without a deal, as the remaining moderates who were considering signing on said they were satisfied by Ryan’s promise. “I spoke with Speaker Ryan today, who assured me that our conference will vote, as early as next week, on an immigration bill that will give certainty to DACA beneficiaries and secure our border,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse, a moderate Washington Republican. “Given this significant progress, I will not sign the discharge petition today.” Newhouse said Ryan also promised a vote in August on a bill that would address immigrant guest worker visas, a major need for agriculture districts. A deal emerges to offer a DACA solution After a more than hourlong meeting with leadership Tuesday, moderate Republicans emerged cautiously optimistic that they were moving toward a deal that would bolster border security in exchange for a permanent solution for DACA recipients. President Donald Trump decided to end the program but it’s been limbo amid court challenges. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Republican from Florida, an original backer of the moderate discharge petition, said as he emerged from that meeting that all that was outstanding were “a couple minor issues … of substance” and “some questions on process” – a reference to the discussion about how to sequence votes. “We think that at some point the group has to trust that the leadership has refereed these discussions for a number of weeks and that based on all the information that they have on the many points that we’ve agreed on, that they can begin putting a product together for consideration on the floor of the House,” Curbelo said of moderates’ deciding to hold off on the discharge petition. Talks were stuck for weeks on the issue of what would happen to the young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children that were protected under DACA, but in the past week there has been a growing consensus around a plan put forth by conservative Rep. Raul Labrador, an Idaho Republican, that would create a new kind of visa that would be usable by DACA recipients but also by other immigrants, thus not creating a “special” path to citizenship for only undocumented immigrants. Along with that proposal is billions for border security and a suite of legal changes that would give the government far more immigration enforcement powers. Also in order to create the new visa, there would be cuts to the current legal immigration quotas?, including in some family categories. Key to the negotiations, said conservatives, was that the procedure for the votes would be free of “trickeration,” as Meadows put it. “If everything’s on the up and up I think that straight rule vote will be OK – but the rule’s got to be straight, no funny business,” said Pennsylvania’s Rep. Scott Perry, a Freedom Caucus member who has been in the negotiations. “We want to be clear, we don’t want any funny business.” In a statement after the announcement, Curbelo called the agreement a “major development” for immigration. “For many years, and for different reasons, leaders from both parties have refused to allow the House to act to secure a future for young immigrants brought to our country as children, while making Americans safer and more prosperous by strengthening border security,” Curbelo said. Still, he said the discharge petition would be kept alive, for now, saying it was “vital our colleagues remain committed to the discharge petition” until the final details were inked on the compromise. Curbelo has repeatedly said the petition could have a window in July if moderates miss their chance in June. CNN’s Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
House Republican leaders will bring a pair of immigration bills to the floor next week, sinking a push from reform-minded centrists to force votes on bipartisan bills opposed by GOP leadership. The House will vote on a conservative immigration bill authored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and a more moderate compromise measure that is still being put together after weeks of closed-door negotiations facilitated by Republican leaders. ADVERTISEMENT “Members across the Republican Conference have negotiated directly and in good faith with each other for several weeks, and as a result, the House will consider two bills next week that will avert the discharge petition and resolve the border security and immigration issues,” AshLee Strong, spokeswoman for Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanPaul Ryan to headline Kinzinger fundraiser Biden's relationship with top House Republican is frosty The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Emergent BioSolutions - Facebook upholds Trump ban; GOP leaders back Stefanik to replace Cheney MORE (R-Wis.), said in a brief email. “The full Conference will discuss tomorrow morning and we'll have more to share at that point." While leadership’s announcement throws a wrench into moderates’ plans, Rep. Carlos Curbelo Carlos Luis CurbeloCheney fight stokes cries of GOP double standard for women House Democrats call on Republicans to return Marjorie Taylor Greene donation Republicans race for distance from 'America First Caucus' MORE (R-Fla.), sponsor of the discharge petition, said they will continue to pursue their discharge efforts. “While the legislation to be revealed in the coming days is based on the productive negotiations hosted by House Leaders over the last several weeks, it is vital our colleagues remain committed to the discharge petition,” he said in a statement. “While we believe all parties have negotiated in good faith, until and unless we confirm the proposed legislation fully addresses the interests and concerns that unite us we must and will keep up the pressure.” They could relaunch the discharge effort, having one more shot to force votes on the issue on July 23. Yet the discharge route would only get tougher in the weeks ahead, as former Rep. Charlie Dent Charles (Charlie) Wieder DentThe Memo: What now for anti-Trump Republicans? Influential Republicans threaten to form new party Loyalty trumps policy in Stefanik's rise, Cheney's fall MORE (R-Pa.) won’t be around to sign it. And at least one other endorser, Rep. Chris Collins Christopher (Chris) Carl CollinsTrump denies Gaetz asked him for blanket pardon Gaetz, on the ropes, finds few friends in GOP Schumer to recommend three Black lawyers to head US attorney offices in NY MORE (R-N.Y.), said he’s been pushing for a vote on the Goodlatte bill all along. The decision to bring the two bills to the floor is backed by GOP leaders and the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Mark Meadows Mark MeadowsBoehner finally calls it as he sees it Stephen Miller launching group to challenge Democrats' policies through lawsuits A year with the coronavirus: How we got here MORE (R-N.C.). Yet it’s unclear if the centrist GOP immigration reformers — whose discharge petition was the driving force behind any shot at immigration votes this year — are all on board. Indeed, Ryan’s decision to side with Meadows and bring the Goodlatte bill directly to the floor would effectively quash the centrists’ discharge petition — and with it, much of their leverage to dictate the debate over the fate of the so-called Dreamers, or young undocumented immigrants brought the U.S. as children. And it remains unclear if the compromise option — which is yet finalized — will win the moderates’ backing. Rep. Will Hurd William Ballard HurdFirst Democrat jumps into key Texas House race to challenge Gonzales Will the real Lee Hamiltons and Olympia Snowes please stand up? The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Biden, Congress drawn into pipeline cyberattack, violence in Israel MORE (R-Texas), one of the early champions of the discharge petition, took to the House floor late Tuesday night with a warning: an immigration bill that doesn’t have bipartisan support, he said, is sure to fail. “The only way that this body gets things done [is] if we work across the aisle to get things done,” Hurd said. GOP leaders have been scrambling to avoid a divisive immigration fight less than five months out from November’s midterm elections.