The Republican Party cannot agree on how to approach immigration, an internal conflict that has already derailed the farm bill, and could hurt the GOP in November, CNN reports.
Last Friday, a conservative group demanded a vote on an immigration bill before they would vote for the farm bill, a move that caused the legislation to fail.
"The farm bill would not have gone down if somehow we had figured out immigration reform before," said one unnamed GOP source of CNN's, adding that "people are touching the third rail and it's taking everything else down with it."
In response, a group of Republican moderates championed a "discharge petition," that would force a House floor vote on four different immigration bills. As of Monday morning, 20 Republicans and 176 Democrats have signed the petition, 28 short of the 218 required to proceed. If all 193 Democrats end up signing it, only five more Republicans would have to join them.
However, CNN's sources in the GOP cast doubt on whether enough Republicans can agree on any immigration legislation, let alone one with enough Democratic support to pass through the Senate.
House conservatives like Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte met with moderates like Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, but neither group could reconcile their differences.
"We were never close," the source said. "it was just like we were talking two different languages. ... People couldn't agree on what they were giving as equal to what they were getting. No one could agree what that calculus was."
The retirement of Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, and Rep. Martha McSally's campaign to replace him, has further affected the negotiations.
"That group shows you that there is not 218" votes, the source added. "It's a microcosm of the conference and it showed you -- if those guys could agree, then you have 218."
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