House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that lawmakers are working on another immigration bill that he believes could make it to the floor.
“We have been in the room, working together, conservatives, moderates and others to be able to put an immigration plan together that protects our border, secures border, ends catch and release, and deals with the DACA situation,” Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said on Fox News.
Republicans are ready to work together on the issue that took up much of the national debate in the first few months of the year, he said. He did caution against using a discharge petition, which some House Republicans have pushed, because he said it turns the control over to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
“I never believe in what is called a discharge petition,” Mr. McCarthy said.
The petition forces the bill out of the committee without a report from the committee. It would allow a vote on four bills, but Republican leaders have already suggested that any bill passed under this tactic would not be signed by President Trump.
Mr. McCarthy also touched on health care saying that Republicans did everything they could legislatively, and said they’re now focused on administrative powers.
“We never gave up on this. We repealed the individual mandate. Now we’re going through administratively what we can do. We want these association plans to be able to pool together, lower the costs, have small businesses work together,” Mr. McCarthy said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.