House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan said Tuesday he is negotiating with a key GOP holdout in hopes of drafting an immigration bill that can help unlock the ongoing floor impasse.
Jordan (R-Ohio) said he is speaking with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who is leading a block of hard-line conservatives who are upset GOP leaders have not yet called up a vote on a tough immigration and border crackdown.
The talks, Jordan said, have included potentially using a bill cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities that has already advanced out of the Judiciary Committee as a base, then adding elements of the much broader billRoy is pushing.
“I think that’s just good policy and would be helpful, so we’re looking at that,” Jordan said.
The House is set to vote on a procedural measure Tuesday afternoon that would effectively reopen the floor after weeks of GOP infighting.
But it’s not clear whether the Jordan solution would placate Roy, who said as recently as Monday that he was not yet satisfied with how party leaders were responding to his demands.
Those leaders have struggled to find a solution that would both appease hard-liners like Roy and more moderate Republicans who are wary of a border crackdown and want provisions such as an expanded agricultural guestworker program added.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday that Republicans are “not in agreement on the next approach” to the immigration issue but will keep talking among themselves about a way forward.
Those talks continue as Speaker Mike Johnson appears to have satisfied a separate group of GOP holdouts who had pushed leaders to do more to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act.
The leader of that bloc, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, indicated Monday she would stand down so long as House GOP leaders move to attach the controversial elections bill to every major bill headed to the Senate this year. Another member who had previously aired concerns, Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, also said he planned to vote Tuesday to reopen the floor due to “different dynamics” this week.
Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
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