If John Boehner Isn't Bluffing, He Probably Just Killed Immigration Reform - Page 2

There's something called a discharge petition that if enough members of the House sign this petition, a bill can skip the committee and head straight for a vote in the full floor.

According to Wikipedia, which isn't exactly the best source, this needs 218 members for a discharge petition to work. I don't know if this will be part of any broader strategy by the House Dems, but it's there as an option.

Wait.... Do people seriously never look at what wiki cites?

I've always liked this Onion article about Wikipedia: Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years of American Independence

Wiki is convenient though and sometimes they're accurate but you have to double check.

Do you don't ever bother to look at the sources it cites. You already answered this when you said "according to wikipedia"

A DISCHARGE PETITION IS POSSIBLE! 218 house signatures needed! Source: Library of Congress

So there are 234 republicans right? That means that 118 would have to approve of it before it even goes to the floor...damn. Then there are the midterm elections coming up, and I bet a lot of those Republicans want to keep their jobs.

Didn't realize it, but Ianus mentioned the discharge petition idea first over on the Live CSPAN thread. It's kind of buried in there, but he did cite an article about Pelosi thinking of using this tactic.

If we want this reform we need to start picking up our phones and calling BOTH House Republicans and Democrats. Tell the Republicans to bring up the bill for a vote, and suggest to the Democrats that if the bill is not brought up by the Republicans to start a Discharge Petition. I'm calling and sending letters to the representatives. Lets give them a little push.

I was actually trying to explain the discharge petition to another member through the article.

However,the issue still stands.Gutierrez is the de-facto individual representing House Democrats on immigration and he also mentioned he believes the 218 votes are there while also being in the same Gang of 7.It makes me wonder how open he would be to the discharge petition.I've had the call list up since last month in May here so don't know if that has had any effect.The reality is also the anti-immigrant groups have also been solidifying House Republican members over the last few months as well so this will be very difficult!!!

The thing is Speaker Boehner can punish Republican members who sign a Dem initiated discharge petition by denying committee spots and seniority and stuff like that. Then again, he could be one of those "oppose but quietly support" Republicans, but on other hand, if you were Speaker, a successful discharge petition makes you look weak and not in control.