House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said on Tuesday that he and the Freedom Caucus are considering leveraging their votes for the upcoming farm bill in an effort to block an amnesty Discharge Petition to force a vote on Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) H.Res. 774. He said that their group will likely pressure GOP House leadership to vote on Rep Bob Goodlatte's (R-Va.) H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act.
Rep. Meadows reminded GOP House leadership of their promise to vote on H.R. 4760 in exchange for support from the Caucus on a government spending bill last year. He went on to say that he'd like to see a vote on H.R. 4760 by next week and implied that the Caucus would be willing to throw off the farm bill if needed.
"You know we had discussions tonight about really encouraging our leadership to just stay true to the promise that they made during the CR votes," Meadows said. "If you recall there was a CR where they said they would give us a vote on Goodlatte. And so since we're whipping the farm bill very hard for a vote this week, we believe that it's probably time to call the question on the Goodlatte bill as well.
"The only leverage would be if it moved a significant number of 'yes' votes, and that's what we are checking with our Members to do."
The Discharge Petition, which Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) filed last week for Rep. Denham's "Queen of the Hill" resolution, could potentially force a series of votes in the House on several DACA amnesty proposals. Meadows said that bringing Rep. Goodlatte's H.R. 4760 to the floor for a vote would undermine the Denham Resolution since the resolution also calls for a vote on H.R. 4760.
For more on this story, see The Hill.
