House Dems launch discharge petition for immigration reform vote

By Balitang America Staff, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

March 26, 2014

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – House Democrats launched a formal petition Tuesday to force a vote on immigration reform.

Standing on the east steps of the capitol in the middle of wicked weather, supporters say they have the necessary votes in the House to get the bill passed. The bill would provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

A discharge petition can force a vote on a piece of legislation if a majority of House members, or 218 of the 435 members, sign it.

Republicans oppose a sweeping immigration bill.

They say the issue should be tackled in smaller, separate bills.

“It’s been six months since, in the House of Representatives, we introduced bipartisan legislation HR15 to try to move us forward in the House,” Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Xavier Becerra said. “Yet throughout that entire time, House Republican leadership has permitted not one single vote on a common sense solution to immigration reform. Not one vote.”