There is no Republican work group quietly assembling a comprehensive immigration reform bill to take the place of President Barack Obama's November executive actions on amnesty, a GOP congressman says.
Rep. Jeff Denham of California, at a Republican House-Senate meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania, denied a Breitbart News report and termed any such effort a "non-starter,"
National Review reports.
Texting from the meeting, a Republican legislator told National Review that "Denham actually took to the microphone to dispute the
Breitbart article and to admit that a comprehensive bill is a non-starter."
Breitbart News reported that Denham said: "We've had a working group for quite some time on the various pieces of immigration on doing everything from a comprehensive bill to a step-by-step approach, but finding out who in our conference is actually open to debate and discussion."
Denham, one of the House's most vocal proponents of immigration reform, told Breitbart: "I think leadership's commitment is not only to bring up immigration reform, but to bring it up in multiple different bills. The question is the timing of that and the sequence of those bills.
"We've gotta be able to discuss the DREAMers, the 11.5 million that are here today, as well as a Guest Worker program, in the overall discussion of border security."
The House recently tacked amendments onto the bill authorizing funding for the Department of Homeland Security which would roll back Obama's executive actions granting stays of deportation and work permits for up to five million illegal immigrants and delay deportation for "DREAMers," illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as children.
"I think as we move a real bill forward, not only will we be able to win those votes within our conference but I think the ultimate bill that will get to the president will be a true bipartisan bill that will fix reform altogether. It's going to take several months to get there," Denham told Breitbart News.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to attempt to gain
Senate approval for House legislation on the Homeland Security budget that undoes Obama's executive amnesty, the National Journal reported.
"We're going to try to pass it," McConnell said.
Passage is unlikely, the National Review noted, because Senate Republicans may not be able to muster the 60 votes needed to block a filibuster. Obama already has stated that he will veto the bill if it is passed. Funding for the DHS expires on Feb. 27 if a funding bill is not passed.
Passage of the House bill would "be our first choice," McConnell told National Review.
"If we're not able to do that, then we'll let you know what's next."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.