Boehner Won’t Bring Immigration Bill to Floor Without Majority of Republicans On Board

Guy Benson:

The ‘Hastert rule’ holds?  A significant development, via the Examiner’s David Drucker:

House Speaker John Boehner is not going to bring a comprehensive immigration-reform plan to the floor if a majority of Republicans don’t support it, sources familiar with his plans said. “No way in hell,” is how several described the chances of the speaker acting on such a proposal without a majority of his majority behind him. Boehner, R-Ohio, does not view immigration in the same vein as the fiscal cliff last December, when he backed a bill that protected most Americans from a tax increase even though less than half of the GOP lawmakers were with him, said multiple sources, who spoke anonymously to allow greater candor.

Over the last few months, Boehner has rankled conservatives by calling votes on bills that were opposed by a majority of the conference he leads.  He relied on dozens of votes from Democrats to pass a number pieces of legislation, including the fiscal cliff deal, Hurricane Sandyfunding, and a controversial version of the Violence Against Women Act.  These breaches of tradition violated the so-called ‘Hastert rule,’ which stipulates that a Speaker only brings bills to the floor that will garner majority support among the majority party.  On the super-charged issues of immigration, Boehner won’t play with fire, according to Drucker’s sources; any plan that emerges from the House will have to attract support from a majority of GOP members.  Though the House has its own ‘gang’ working on a bipartisan solution, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has signaled a strong preference for breaking any “comprehensive” package into smaller, manageable pieces.  He’s also stressed the importance of reversing the Gang of Eight’s legalization two-step, wherein widespread provisional “amnesty” is granted before enforcement triggers are met.  I spoke with Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program last night (I’m guest-hosting all week), and he said he believes a sound majority of House Republicans will insist on an “enforcement first” paradigm:

GB: Congressman, let’s start with a report today in the Washington Examiner. We’ve been talking about it throughout the program. David Drucker, who’s just made the jump over from Roll Call, reports that sources close to the Speaker’s office who understand what the machinations are inside the Speaker’s strategy moving forward, they say there is ‘no chance’ that Speaker Boehner will allow a comprehensive immigration reform bill, such as whatever emerges from the Senate, be it the Gang of 8 or what have you, he will not allow that to come to the floor of the House unless he knows that a majority of the Republican majority conference backs whatever the bill is going to be.  Meaning he’s going to stand by the Hastert rule, which he has jettisoned on a number of occasions over the last year or so. Your reaction to those reports?

TC: Those reports, if true, reflect, in my opinion, Speaker Boehner simply reflecting the will of the House Republican Caucus. I don’t think you’d find a majority of support, even a small number of Republicans, voting for any kind of bill that has amnesty first and enforcement second…maybe. So I am not surprised by the report. I suspect it probably is correct, and it also reflects the Speaker’s oft-stated desire that the House will move forward trying to fix our broken immigration system on areas where we have bipartisan agreements. It’s just border security or improved E-verify programs or improved entry/exit visa programs, that those areas should not be held hostage towards a massive, complicated bill like what’s moving through the Senate right now.

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