The main author of the House bill, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), said Thursday that he’s building support for his measure, even as other GOP colleagues said an initial vote tally this week was well below the 218 votes needed to pass the bill.

Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) “instructions to me are ‘get this bill done,’ and we’re working hard to accomplish that,” Goodlatte said in an interview for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program.

Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) “are all in to get that done and we’re going to work very hard,” Goodlatte said, adding that his Securing America’s Future Act has White House approval.

Scalise informed the GOP conference during a meeting this week that the whip count on the Goodlatte bill came back below the 218 votes needed, according to a source in the room.

Leaders are still working to build support for the measure, sending bill sponsors back to the drawing board to explore whether they can make changes to win over more Republicans.

Goodlatte already made some tweaks to appease the agricultural industry's concerns over the guest worker program that is established by the legislation.

But lawmakers from agricultural regions say the changes aren’t enough. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who represents the Golden State’s agriculture-heavy Central Valley, said he’s still opposed to the bill because the cap on seasonal workers is still too low and the “touchback” provisions do not provide strong enough guarantees workers will be able to come back to the U.S. once they return to their home countries.

Ryan’s options on immigration are limited, given that he promised to put an immigration measure on the floor only if it has a majority of the GOP’s support and only if Trump would sign it.

Lawmakers acknowledge that the Goodlatte bill wasn’t going to pass the Senate, but they wanted to have a strong starting point in the DACA negotiations if there was a conference — a scenario that now looks far less likely.

Some of these votes are tough votes. But you want to take a tough vote that is going to matter.”

Democrats and even some Republicans will certainly continue to fight to resolve DACA by the next government funding deadline on March 23, when Democratic support will be needed to pass an omnibus spending bill.

“We’re still serious about trying to get to a common position here,” said Cole, a senior appropriator. “Eyes are turning pretty rapidly to the omnibus.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/37...ate-deals-fail