House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) are resisting Rep. Carlos Curbelo's (R-Fla.) decision to file a Discharge Petition for Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) resolution (H.Res. 774) yesterday, which could force a vote in the House on DACA amnesty legislation.
"I'm not a believer in discharge petitions because you're turning the floor over to Democrats," Rep. McCarthy said. "I hope the discharge petition doesn't get the signatures and we continue to work the legislative process to solve this problem ...
"I've talked to some Members about the importance of keeping control of the legislative vehicle and solving the problem on our terms where we focus on solutions, not politics."
Rep. Scalise promoted Rep. Bob Goodlatte's H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act, which he and 96 others have cosponsored.
"We have a regular process that we've been working through and Goodlatte-McCaul, I still think, is the right answer to the problem -- I'm a cosponsor of the bill -- but there's still work being done," he said.
"I know there are some people that might want a different approach [to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program], and that's really where our conference has been the most divided ...
"The good news is on Goodlatte-McCaul, the McCaul portions of the bill, we pretty much have a widespread agreement on how to secure our border."
If every Democrat were to sign onto the Petition, only 25 Republicans would need to sign on to force a floor vote.
If the petition garners the required number of signatures, a House vote would be required on four proposals -- Rep. Bob Goodlatte's Securing America's Future Act, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard's (D-Calif.) Dream Act, an amendment of House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) choosing, and an amendment of Rep. Denham's choosing.
The proposal that receives the most votes and exceeds 218 votes would be passed by the House.
For more on this story, see The Hill.
