Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Tuesday all but waved Republicans off from supporting a compromise immigration bill that is slated for a critical vote on Wednesday.
Speaking on The Hill TV’s “Rising,” Jordan, a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said that the conservative bill introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is the only legislation consistent with what Republicans promised voters in 2016.
“That bill is the right bill,” Jordan said. “It’s the one we told American people we would do and it had 193 votes last week based on who was here. We only needed 19 more votes to pass.”
The Goodlatte bill was rejected in a floor vote last week, though in gaining 193 GOP votes against united Democratic opposition, it did better than expected.
But Jordan had little of anything good to say about the compromise measure GOP leaders are brining to the floor on Wednesday.
He insisted that the substance of the conservative bill — reducing legal immigration and funding construction of President Trump’s border wall — needed to remain in tact.
“If there are small tweaks we can make to that bill, let’s do it,” Jordan said. “But that’s the one that’s consistent with the mandate of the election.”
Jordan also appeared skeptical on Tuesday of the possibility of a more narrow immigration bill, saying Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had already ruled out measures pushed by conservatives.
“Chuck Schumer has said there’s no way we’re going to pass Sen. [Ted] Cruz’s (R-Texas) bill, in the House, Mr. [Mark] Meadows (R-N.C.) has a bill that would deal with the separation issue and reform our asylum laws,” Jordan said.
— Max Greenwood
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