John Boehner has given mixed signals on whether or not he will push immigration reform legislation through the House.
As the Hill notes
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday told a private Republican Party meeting that there was no “secret conspiracy” to jam through an immigration overhaul, according to one member in the room.
Boehner used the meeting to walk back his comments last week seen as mocking his own members for lacking the courage to tackle immigration reform that he has advocated but that many conservative in the House Republican conference continue to resist.
One major reason why Boehner is viewed as reluctant to push comprehensive immigration reform is that he fears a conservative rebellion would topple him.
For Boehner, this isn't an abstract fear. As many people may have forgot, Boehner was one of Gingrich's lieutenants, and when Gingrich was ejected, Boehner was booted from the Congressional leadership in 1999 and didn't regain a seat in leadership again until 2006
See here for more details http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Conservatives have threatened to remove Boehnerif he pushes immigration reform.
But there's a more audacious option on the table, according to conservatives involved in the deliberations. They say between 40 and 50 members have already committed verbally to electing a new speaker. If those numbers hold, organizers say, they could force Boehner to step aside as speaker in late November, when the incoming GOP conference meets for the first time, by showing him that he won't have the votes to be reelected in January.
The masterminds of this mutiny are trying to stay in the shadows for as long as possible to avoid putting a target on their backs. But one Republican said the "nucleus"of the rebellion can be found inside the House Liberty Caucus, of which he and his comrades are members. This is not surprising, considering that some of the key players in that group—Justin Amash of Michigan, Raul Labrador of Idaho, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky—were among the 12 Republicans who refused to back Boehner's reelection in January 2013.
The way House leadership elections in either party have traditionally worked are as follows. The parties will hold internal elections, and whoever wins a majority , the losers will vote for the winner.
To provide an example , let's assume Jeb Hensarling were to challenge Boehner and there are 230 House Republicans. If Hensrling only gathers 90 votes, Boehner would be considered the presumptive Speaker of the House since he would retain 140 votes. When the full House votes for the speaker, the people who voted for Hensarling would be expected to vote for Boehner. To become Speaker, 218 of the 435 members need to agree on a candidate. A dead lock would occur if say 208 Dems all voted for Pelosi, 180 Reps voted for Boehner, and a renegade bloc of Republicans casted their vote for Hensarling in protes
So here's my question. If Boehner were to allow a floor vote on immigration reform, would you support or oppose a backdoor agreement between Boehner and Pelosi that she would release Democrats to vote for Boehner for speaker if there was a deadlock because of renegade Republcians?