Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen of Minnesota signed a petition Wednesday that would force the House to vote on a series of immigration proposals, including a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) fix.
Paulsen is the latest of 21 Republicans and 183 Democrats to sign the discharge petition. If all the Democrats in the House sign, which they are expected to, the petition only needs four more Republicans to force a vote.
More Republicans are likely to sign in the next two days. The movement is led by Republican Rep. Jeff Denham of California. “Congress must do its job and have the debate we have avoided for years,” Denham said on the issue in a press release. (RELATED: Big GOP Donor Heats Up Amnesty Fight)
The proposals include an extension of the DACA program, which protects children brought into the country illegally from deportation.
“Obviously, we do not agree with discharge petitions” to force a vote, Speaker Paul Ryan said on May 16 in his weekly news conference. “We think they’re a big mistake. They dis-unify our majority.”
A discharge petition bypasses congressional and committee leadership by pulling a bill out of a committee and automatically onto the floor for a vote. Only 35 discharge petitions been successfully filed since 1935.
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