House GOP leaders struggle to push immigration bill
WASHINGTON — As badly as things have gone for immigration legislation in the Senate, it’s not looking any easier in the more conservative House.
Republican leaders there are scrambling to find enough GOP votes to pass a measure that’s even more restrictive than a proposal by President Donald Trump that flopped spectacularly in the Senate on Thursday. Compounding those divisions are pressures from some of the House’s most conservative members, who are casting the effort as a pivotal test for Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
“It is a, the, defining moment for this speaker,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, which helped force former Speaker John Boehner from his job in 2015. “If he gets it wrong, it will have consequences for him but it will also have consequences for the rest of the Republican Party.”
Ryan aides did not respond to a request for comment on Meadows’ remark. But underscoring party rifts, some Republicans defended the speaker and his work on the issue.