House Rules Committee Considers King Amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In order to obtain more conservative votes some provisions might be added to the House border bill, according to House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions.

“I think the issue is whether there will be provisions added to get their vote, not provisions added that would diminish the bill,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Sessions said that a provision targeting President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – which allows certain illegal immigrants to live and work in the U.S. – could be one such provision added.

“I would guess that it’s DACA. It’s been a regular sounding board. DACA is essentially the President’s view of catch-and-release, and catch-and-release by the President is what has caused the problem that we have,” Sessions said.

The Texas Republican stressed the need to solve the problem and said that the Rules Committee will consider Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King’s amendment – which would add language to the legislation that would alter the way unaccompanied illegal immigrant children are processed and would prohibit funding for DACA or any expansion of the policy.

King told Breitbart News after his testimony before the Rules Committee that he believes if his amendment were brought to the floor it would pass.

“I’m hopeful that they will allow a debate and a vote on my amendment. If they do, my amendment will pass. It will pass this House of Representatives, and it will send a message cutting off the funding on DACA to the President of the United States, ‘Do not take out your pen and violate this Constitution,'” he said.

Sessions said his personal preference is to deal with DACA to solve the problem but that there is a need to get the Senate on board.

“There is an equal balance to this that says we’re trying to present a bill to entice the U.S. Senate to view what we did as very rational and reasonable,” Sessions added.

Florida Republican Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart – a member of House Speaker John Boehner’s border working group and an advocate for immigration reform – said Wednesday that he had yet to see King’s proposal. Though he balked at passing judgment on a measure he had yet to see, the Florida congressman noted that he is focused on solving the most immediate issue.

“There are a lot of things I think need to be fixed on the immigration front. A lot of issues, but right now we need to focus on the crisis at hand. We are not going to be able to fix all of the issues, all of the problems on this bill. So the question is, what should we do to deal with this crisis right now? And that’s what I’m focused on,” he said.

Wednesday the White House said that if the House bill were to make it to Obama’s desk he would veto it.