The efforts of two House Republicans in tough re-election races to push through a DACA fix for Dreamers was exposed Thursday as a total sham. While GOP Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida and Jeff Denham of California led a rebellion that fell two members short of forcing a vote on deportation protections for Dreamers, they subsequently became chief sponsors of a so-called "compromise" immigration bill negotiated in concert with the White House's chief nativist adviser, Stephen Miller.
Miller was so hot on the bill, he dubbed it "the best thing we've seen since 1965." It meets Trump's "four pillars," which includes legal status for DACA recipients but also border wall/security funding, ending the visa lottery, and curtailing family reunification.
Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan openly admitted the legislation was nothing more than a show vote to "give members their ability to express their positions.” That was even more obvious as Ryan downplayed the chances of either bill passing on Thursday just hours before the intended vote. Meanwhile, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Donald Trump shot down the entire effort.
"What's the purpose of the House doing good immigration bills when you need 9 votes by Democrats in the Senate?" Trump tweeted, right as the House began debating two competing Republican bills.
In taking aim at the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, Trump also exposed the House vote as the scam everyone knew it was—a scam the endangered Republicans who were supposedly making a good-faith effort to protect Dreamers signed up for.
House Republicans have passed more than 300 of those useless bill this Congress, knowing full well they would die in the Senate—and Ryan has actually touted the practice as if it means he's doing his job.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi disparaged the tack taken by the the so-called “moderate” Republicans during a Thursday press conference, saying they were “too afraid to stick to their discharge petition pledge, and now are folding with this fake bill."
As Politico’s Jake Sherman pointed out, the Curbelo and Denham cohort had a choice—execute their discharge petition and get four guaranteed votes on immigration in the House, or trust the GOP leadership to negotiate an immigration compromise that could become law. They put their faith in the leadership, which created a bill that may or may not pass the House (the vote’s been postponed until Friday), but it’s DOA in the Senate.