House Democrats still seeking to force immigration vote
In what House Democrats describe as their “last effort” to push immigration reform legislation, members are calling on Republican Speaker John Boehner to put their bill up for a vote.
Congress is away from Washington for the next two weeks, but in a conference call with reporters, the Democratic co-sponsors of a comprehensive immigration measure say they have 191 signatures on a so-called "discharge petition." They need 218 signatures to force a vote.
Eight Democrats haven't signed the petition and neither has any Republican — not even the two California GOP members who co-sponsored the Democrats' immigration bill, Jeff Denham of Fresno and David Valadao of Hanford.
Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu of El Monte, a cosponsor of the House bill, says pressure is mounting on her GOP colleagues. She says there's a "significant number" of Republicans who represent a district "where it’s important for them if they want to continue on in Congress to respond to this issue."
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/politics/2014/04/15/16375/house-democrats-still-seeking-to-force-immigration/