DREAM Act Portal Forum - Discharge Petition to hit 215 signatures

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Discharge Petition to hit 215 signatures

http://thehill.com/latino/390761-imm...ldouts-sign-on

Quote:

Two Texas Democrats who resisted signing a petition to force a vote on a series of immigration bills will now join most Democrats and two dozen Republicans in supporting the motion, bringing the number of its signatories to 215.

With Reps. Filemon Vela and Vicente González's signatures, the petition would be just three short of the 218 needed to force votes on legislation that would offer shelter to so-called Dreamers that came to the U.S. illegally as children.

Vela and González withheld their signatures from the measure because of the possibility that it could end in legislation that funds a border wall, which they oppose.

"I don't like doing it, but I was with [Brownsville Bishop Daniel E. Flores] yesterday for like an hour and a half and I had meetings with Dreamers," Vela told The Hill. "That's pretty much it."
"I will vote for a clean Dream Act, but not for any measure that includes border wall funding. Republican moderates claim they have the votes to move their discharge petition forward. … Let’s see it,” Vela added in a statement.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is now the only Democrat not supporting the discharge petition.

If Cuellar signs on, supporters would need two more Republicans to join the effort to force the votes.

Reps. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) and Jeff Denham (Calif.), the petition's top GOP promoters, had said earlier that there were enough votes to go forward, with or without the three Texas Democrats.