discharge petition

House Republicans, boosted by some early procedural wins this Congress, are planning to try out another tool available to the minority to put pressure on Democrats — the discharge petition.

Discharge petitions can be filed by any member but are most commonly used by the minority party to highlight legislation the majority refuses to bring to the floor. If a discharge petition gets 218 signatures, the underlying measure can then be brought up for a vote over the objections of leadership.

In the month since moderate Republicans launched a discharge petition to force the House to take up immigration legislation to protect so-called Dreamers, they’ve continuously moved the goal posts on what it is they want to achieve. On Tuesday, they shifted the target again.

The moderates have effectively agreed to drop their discharge petition on the “queen of the hill” rule — which would set up votes on four immigration measures, with the one getting the most votes above a majority prevailing — even though there’s not yet agreement on alternative legislation that can pass the House. 

The immigration discharge petition signature deadline has arrived. All signs point to the petition reaching the required 218 signatures by the end of the day, but negotiations are continuing in an effort to block it from forcing a vote.

The discharge petition, led by moderate Republicans, is designed to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote on a series of controversial immigration bills to protect so-called Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. 

House Chief Deputy Whip Patrick T. McHenry on Thursday said an immigration discharge petition that GOP leaders oppose will get to 218 signatures after the recess, and the only way they can stop it is finding legislation Republicans can pass — something he acknowledges is a big reach. 

The discharge petition, which is just five signatures shy of the 218 needed, would force a vote on a queen of the hill rule that would set up votes on four immigration measures, with the one getting the most votes above the required simple majority threshold prevailing. The process is likely to produce a bill that a majority of Democrats and a minority of Republicans support.

Updated 7:35 p.m. | House Republican leaders and the conservative rank and file are desperately trying to kill a discharge petition that would trigger a series of immigration votes, likely resulting in House passage of a bill carried mostly by Democrats.

Moderate Republicans say they have enough support to force a vote on a “queen of the hill” rule that would set up votes on four different immigration bills, with the one receiving the most support above the required simple majority threshold advancing. But not all the members whose support they’re counting on have signed on to the discharge petition yet, partly because GOP leaders insist they’ll have an alternative solution.

An unspecified number of House Freedom Caucus members are looking to leverage their potential support for the farm bill to secure a House vote on a conservative immigration bill, a maneuver they say would kill a discharge petition moderate Republicans have started. 

“It was certainly a topic of discussion in trying to figure out what would get people to yes on a farm bill,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said of a vote on the conservative immigration bill by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte. “And I can tell you voting for the Goodlatte bill, whether it passes or is defeated, would move some of our members.”

At least 17 House Republicans are ready to put some force behind their calls for a “queen of the hill” rule to set up a series of immigration votes, signing a discharge petition that could launch the winner-take-all legislative process against GOP leaders’ wishes. 

The group of moderate Republicans, led by Florida’s Carlos Curbelo and Jeff Denham of California, are frustrated that the House has not voted on legislation to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation in the eight months since President Donald Trump announced he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shelters roughly 700,000 of the so-called Dreamers.

Keith Stern sat at a table in the Rayburn room outside Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office eager to start as director of floor legislative operations for the California Democrat.  

It was Oct. 9, his last day as chief of staff for Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, the second highest-ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee. He is replacing 28-year veteran Jerry Hartz, who left Pelosi's office in September for the nonprofit National Democratic Institute. It was fitting that as Stern sat with CQ Roll Call to discuss his career on Capitol Hill, in which strategizing has played a significant role, a bipartisan majority of House members were executing a rarely successful procedure, a discharge petition, to force a future vote on the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank — illustrating that with the right strategy, the patience to implement it and a strong knowledge of the rules, the minority can be effective.